The Courage Tree - Diane Chamberlain [86]
“Please,” Sophie said. “Can’t you find a phone somewhere and get somebody to come here and get me? I don’t want to go into the woods again.” Her lower lip was trembling.
Zoe sat up on her air mattress and ran her hands through her hair. “I think you’re a very brave girl, Sophie,” she said. “Or else you wouldn’t have made it for three days all by yourself in the woods. This time, you’ll have me with you, honey. You won’t be alone. And it will be daylight. You’ll be fine.”
Sophie looked toward the trees again. “Is there a courage tree out there?”
“A courage tree?” Zoe asked. “What’s that?”
“It’s a tall tree with big sort of leaves, and it has these flower kind of things on it that fall to the ground. Lucas…that’s my mom’s boyfriend…says that if you put a flower from the courage tree under your pillow while you sleep, you’ll be braver when you wake up.”
“Well, I don’t know,” Zoe said. She thought of the trees she’d seen in the forest. She’d never known much about trees and plants, especially those that grew in the east. “Does it have another name?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” Sophie said. “I think it’s just called a courage tree.”
“And does it really work? Putting the flower under your pillow?”
Sophie nodded. “Lucas brings me one the night before I get Herbalina—that’s a medicine—and then I’m not afraid to take it. They put it in your veins.” She lifted her arm into the air again, and Zoe could see the small, dark bruise near her wrist.
She felt a prickle of fear. The catheter, the dialysis and now this. “Is that medicine—Herbalina—for your kidneys?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“How often do you need to get it?”
“Mondays and Thursdays. But I also take a lot of other medicines every day, to help me grow bigger and to keep me from getting too much phosphorus and potassium. I don’t have them with me, though. I had enough for camp and that was all.”
“Wow,” Zoe said. “You sure do know a lot about your medicine.”
“My mom teaches me all about it,” Sophie said.
“Today is Thursday,” Zoe said. “You’re supposed to get that Herbalina today, I guess.”
“I missed Monday, too,” Sophie said, “but I don’t feel bad, so maybe I don’t need it anymore.”
Then again, Zoe thought, maybe she did.
“I tell you what,” Zoe said. “You go use the outhouse and wash your face with some water from the pump out front, and I’ll see if I can find a courage tree flower for you. Then you can carry it with you when we walk through the woods.”
“But I have to sleep on it for it to work.”
Zoe felt her patience slipping, ever so slightly. “You can take a little nap, then, before we go,” she suggested. A very little nap, she thought. They needed to leave soon if she hoped to get back to the shanty before dark.
Sophie looked dubious. “Okay,” she said.
Zoe dressed and walked out to the clearing, where she started the fire and put a pot of water on to boil. Then she walked into the woods. It was a beautiful morning, and she and the birds had the forest to themselves, but there was little time to enjoy her surroundings.
The forest was so dense here that there weren’t very many blooming things. She picked one of everything she could find that could possibly be construed as a flower. There were white lacy blooms in the shape of small pom-poms and large, purple flowers that she thought were rhododendrons. Small blue flowers grew like weeds under one particular tree, and in one area, large green-and-salmon-colored seed pods were scattered on the ground. She carried her bounty back to the clearing, hoping she’d managed to find at least one blossom that would sufficiently resemble the flower from Sophie’s courage tree.
She found Sophie still in the shanty, still sitting on her sleeping palette.
“I was afraid to go to the outhouse by myself,” she admitted.
“Well, maybe one of these will help.” Zoe spread her hands out in front of her,