The Garden of Happy Endings by Barbara O'Neal

Author:Barbara O'Neal [O'Neal, Barbara]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 978-0-345-53446-0
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2012-04-16T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

Elsa had bought a dozen popsicle sticks from the church booth run by the teens, and now she stuck the last empty seed packet onto a stick and poked it into the corner of a square Tamsin had paced off with her feet, insisting it would be easier to grow the garden if it wasn’t arranged in long rows. “There,” Elsa said. “Done.” She stood up next to her sister and slapped her gloves together. “What do you think of that?”

The squares were visible now. “We have to get something to mark the edges,” Tamsin said. “Maybe string and spikes or something like that would be easy. Or rocks.”

“Good idea. After lunch though. I’m starving.” She took off her gloves and slapped one against Tamsin’s arm. “How about you?”

She shrugged.

“Let’s go wash our hands.”

Walking through the middle of the field with her sister, Elsa peeked into the gardens, smiling at the other farm-holders, who smiled back. The sound of happy voices and laughter filled the air. Children chased one another through the pathways between plots, and not a few dogs trotted along behind them, Charlie among them. He spied Elsa and came running forward, his tongue lolling. “You look thirsty, big boy. C’mon, let’s find a trough for all these dogs, shall we?”

In the kitchen, she found an old stainless steel bowl and carried it outside to the little bricked area by the statue of San Roque. Deep, cool shade grew behind him. She filled the bowl and put it down in the shade, and whistled for the dogs, who came racing and dove into the water with eager slurping, pushing one another out of the way.

Tamsin had gone ahead to wash her hands and she came out now with her hair loose down her back, her face and hands clean. A little sunburn gave her cheekbones some color. “You and your dogs,” she said with a shake of her head. “It would never even occur to me to get a bowl and give them some water.”

“It’s not your job. You know how to make gardens grow in squares.”

Tamsin smiled. “I’ll meet you over there.”

Once the dogs had been watered, Elsa refilled the bowl for the last time and headed inside to the ladies’ room. She had it to herself. The first thing she did was pull the rosary out of her pocket, running it under warm water to wash away the dirt. It was a beauty, pale green leaves carved of what might have been jade, alternating with roses carved out of pink quartz, all strung on heavy string. Substantial.

She dried it and tucked it back in her pocket, taking a moment then to try to tame her hair and wash the dust off her face. The sun had kissed her, too, had made her look rested and healthy. Thinking of how lovely her sister looked, she plucked at her plain T-shirt, wishing she had a bit more chest, or some extraordinary feature, but she was honest with herself.

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