Cody and I were sitting on the front porch eating butter sandwiches. The cruel thing was

that Cody’s family refrigerated their butter so it never spread even and each bite I got a lump of

it in some other corner of my mouth. Cody slouched to a laying down position in his lawn chair,

taking big bites of the white sandwich. His posture was making is visibly difficult for him to

swallow but this didn’t seem to effect his eating pace. He was done before I could finish my third

bite. frustrated, I began eating faster than I was really comfortable in the heat of the day, taking

two bites at a time. His floppy black hair was oily from earlier sweat. He slouched further down

the chair and if it hadn’t been for the shortness of the time he had held this position I would have

thought he was asleep behind his sunglasses like he always was in our math class. 

It was the first really hot day of what the weatherwoman had said would be a big heat

wave and the lawn was greener than ever, vibrant with fertilizer and sunshine. Our bikes lay

spinning on their sides down where the grass met the pavement. They looked like they were

asking to be run over, wheels in the air and so close to the road. I almost wanted to go bring mine

up on the porch and prop it against the house, but upon my getting up Cody announced to me

“Yo! If you’re gonna get up take my glass to.”  I looked and put my hands in the butt

pockets of my church-boy jeans. I did as he asked picking up the two mugs of what had been ice

water, and walked back through the screen door to the kitchen. Placing the mugs in the sink I ran

the tap water over my hands.  The radio buzzed some punk song Cody must have been playing

earlier. I grabbed his straw cowboy hat off the counter and shuffled back out to him.

“Let’s go for a ride.”

He pushed himself up and I held out the hat for him to take. He put it low over his

forehead so that it touched the top rim of his glasses.

“You look ridiculous” he frowns offended then snaps back with

“You shouldn’t be talking kid.” we laughed for a moment tensely and we go to pick up

our bikes. I consider putting on my helmet on but realize it would only spark more ridicule. I

bend over next to bike to tuck in my socks, which hang loose around my ankles.

“ Where are we going?” I ask not looking up at him.

“I don’t know. You were the one who wanted to come back out here.” I stared. He

groaned and brang up his arm “that way.” He swung his bike around to run parallel with the

street and I jumped up to do the same.  We go off and about five minuets in we took a turn so

that Cody could flick off Samantha’s house. He rides with no hands and turns his whole torso

towards the house, which makes him swerve a little with each pedal.  I rode on the other side of

the street and watched. We both knew that the whole family is on vacation in Florida for the

week but I don’t think he actually cared that much. After that we turned twice more to get back

He slowed down so he could yell back at me.

“Let’s go to the gas station for drinks.”

“Alright.” I shouted. He stood up on his pedals and started rushing ahead again with more

speed than before. I panicked a bit and tried to get my knees to go faster but he was very far

ahead very fast as was typical despite my attempt. His bike was a street bike that his brother left

when he went to collage. I was the one who got Cody’s old mountain bike with gears that you

couldn’t switch without pushing off the chain. I didn’t like to complain too much though. Cody

had spent his own money on a pair of brakes for the rickety thing and he said it wasn’t cheap.

We rode out past the playground and the high school, which was a squash building, all

cement with ugly glass doors. It was not a great building to look forward to. We both stared at it

with discomfort. I winced a bit but Cody didn’t hear. Around the back of the high school and

over a bit further down was the gas station.  We swooped in and leaned our bikes next to the

door of the little shop.

My father sat on his stool behind the counter, positioned, as he always was glasses half

way down his nose and his hair slicked back to hide his bald spot. He was looking down at his

tabloid hidden beneath the counter.

“Hi dad” he looked up startled by the familiar voice.

“Can we get sodas? Please.”

“You bring money for ‘em? There are only so many drinks I can give ya for free, and

your mother wouldn’t be happy with you drinking soda all day.” He took a cloth napkin from

under the counter and rubbed at his sweaty Italian face.

“But dad! Come on dad, please?”

“Yea” Cody joined in “Please. We haven’t had any sugary thing yet today sir, promise.

We had to eat carrots we were so hungry. That was just an hour ago see? We’ve had our

vegetables.” My father laughed hard. He always had a soft spot for Cody.

“Carrots my ass! These are the last ones.” He chuckled.

“Yes” we hissed grinning at each other.  I did a little fist of victory and Cody walked tall

over to the glass fridge to grab two colas.

We left my father to his magazines.  He knew pop culture better than any of us and

though he didn’t look it. He was well read; from the New Yorker to the convenient store

romance novels. He did write my mother poems back when they were teenagers but he didn’t

know I knew this. The poems were really good but I think he ran out of things to say pretty fast

because I haven’t been able to find anymore since then. My mom wasn’t so interested in art.

“She’s the worker of the family” my father would say to my little sister.

We walked our bikes further down the road, sipping our drinks. I was squinting from the

sun. Cody was much more prepared for the heat through his arrogant attempts at fashion but I

envied him of his sunglasses and hat. He had sweat through his cotton t-shirt making one round

spot between his shoulder blades were it hugged his skin. Upon noticing this I also became very

aware of how sweaty I was, but figured so long as it wasn’t just me, it wasn’t worth worrying

“Where exactly are we going?” I asked after a few minuets.

“Down to Ms.Carl’s house.” I stopped and held by bottle in front of me. He stopped a

moment after and looked at me.

“Why!?” I questioned after he didn’t respond to my frown and furrowed stare.

“why are you so concerned? It’s not like she’s home. They put her back in the hospital

“Why would we go there then!? Are you planning to feed her cats!?  That’s like 10 miles

“It’s only 3 or so, and we have bikes. The cats can feed themselves.” He turned his back

on me and threw his empty bottle into the long grass growing beside the road, so he could get

back on his bicycle. I shut my mouth and stared hard at his back. I breathed out through my nose

and figured I didn’t really want to spend my afternoon alone. I kept a good distance behind him

because I didn’t want to give up pouting just yet, but he would have been that far ahead anyway.

After about an hour of riding he was to far ahead for me to see but I knew that had probably

already arrived. I was reassured when I pulled up and he was sitting playing with a piece of grass

near the edge of the chaos that was the front lawn. The house was white with a purple door. Two

colors that caked in dirt only seemed enhance the sickliness of the place. She had a path of bricks

leading up to her door. It was chipped and jutted out in places making it more of a tripping

hazard than the lawn. We were far out past the little town from which we had come. The houses

weren’t so cramped and it was a good forty strides to the next house. There was even a few rows

of trees, fencing in each property.

Cody had taken off his hat and sunglasses. It wasn’t so bright out and the sky was turning

“Hey” he said looking up at me. I lay down my bike in the grass beside his and he got up.

“Where are you going now?” I asked but he ignored my and made his way around the

I followed but shouted “Hey!” after a moment. I was pretty done with his s*** at that

point but he continued on. There were not so many stray things in the grass as I would have

imagined. There was an old bicycle leaning on the side of the house, rusty with a faded ancient

helmet in its basket.  There was also a hose wound tight with a light layer of dirty cobwebs in its

corners, but as for rubbish, the yard was spotless. Through the dust caked windows, I could see

tiny sculptures lining the sills, and paintings; framed and exquisite even to my undeveloped taste,

neatly placed on the walls. There was a lamp whose shade upon observation had been worn thin

in places, yellow with age and heat. I walked slowly and peered in, wide-eyed and shaking a bit

The sun was shining on the back of the house and my eyes had to adjust. I almost tripped

over a pile of bricks against the back wall. Looking up, I was confronted with a tangled chaos of

color. Her garden was huge, fenced in parts with chicken wire. It was split down the middle as to

create a great grassy walkway, at the end of which there was a small brick patio with a metal

table and single metal chair. There was a green house, covered in heavy opaque plastic film that

was torn in places and yellow like the lampshade. Cody was walking down the path to the patio.

When he got there he spun around, sat down, put his hat back on, and looked at me. My mouth

hung open a little and I bent around the corner of the house looking at the garden. It had no

organization. There were sunflowers, poppies, sedum, black eyes suzies; red streaking into

yellow like paint. There were pink heavy comb flower, and daisies with iris’ and columbine

peaking short heads through around the edges. There were also weeds not so willing to stay put;

Dandelions, clover, and tall dangling wheat grass pushed up through the brick. I carefully moved

over to push at the small scrap-wood gate. I had to pull it up to get it to open enough for me to

squeeze into the garden and walk on the narrow river way that seemed to serve as a path. Tucked

under the flowers there were more little sculptures of fairies and woodland animals glittering and

faded like they had been bought on sale at some department store years before. There were also

sculptures; strong, detailed, and beautiful that seemed to be hand made by a craftsman and artist

undoubtedly. There were sticks and glass bulbs half filled with water, stuck into the earth. The

dirt was almost black and soft as rot.

I got on my knees to look closer at the roots and a fat squirrel jumped a few feet to my

left scrabbling to run through to where it climbed up the fence and escaped me. A cat came from

the side of the house and chased it and I stood to watch. Cody jumped up and stomped at the cat

as it ran past his heels. “Silvia!” he hissed. The cat sprinted in the other direction startled and

ashamed by the sudden power shift. 

“you know its name!?” I asked annoyed.

“yeah it’s Silvia. She pretty shy. I mean, cat’s are pretty shy in general but you know

“Well… were are the others then? Do you know their names to?” he was so passive

whenever he knew things I didn’t. I f***ing hated it. I would start the most stupid arguments

with him because he was always was so calm when he pissed me off.

“Yea, but I don’t know how you except me to know where they are. Probably off

hunting. I can’t get into the house to feed ‘em. I’m out of money anyway so I couldn’t buy cat

food if I wanted.” I frowned at him. My eyes watered up a bit but I held back the tears by

blinking hard a few times. He just looked at me and I looked at him. we didn’t say anything for a

“there are tomatoes in the other garden. They’re not quite ripe but if your hungry…”

“ nah. I’m good.” I said bushing him off with my hand. That was a lie. I had only eaten

the butter sandwiches and the soda all day. My belly rumbled in my gut but Cody didn’t hear it.

“It’s beautiful” I sighed at him, giving up the offensive.

“ Yes. It is beautiful.” He said grinning at a tree to his left where the squirrel had run. I

didn’t grin. He nodded his head and walked into the green house.

I walked carefully back onto the grass walkway and stood on the edge facing the other

side of the garden which upon closer inspection included mainly fruit bearing plants like

strawberries and small green butter nut squash. It had more green that the flowerbed and more

space between plants. I bent quickly and grabbed a strawberry. It was being eaten by ants, so I

threw it back into the tangles, and picked another inspecting it closer before eating it. It was too

firm and unripe, but tangy and smooth on my tongue with big seeds.

Chewing I looked back up and around. I sighed again. The sun was bathing the sky in

deeper and deeper shades of color matching the flowers in their vibrancy. It would be hot again

tomorrow. My brother had told me “red sky at night sailor’s delight, red sky in the morning

sailors warning.” The sea was a 3-hour drive away. My throat suddenly swelled when I

remembered that we shouldn’t be here.

“Cody!? Cody!?” I called out taking long strides to the green house.  I opened the slightly

ajar door and peeked my head in. it was darker inside. he was holding up a big watering can in

both hands  up to a banana plant. There were also round wet lumps of moss and cacti on the

plank wooden tables. They looked like you would have seen out side the home depot except for

the moss and old softness of the wood. under the tables where bags and bags of dirt and an

ancient fruit box of garners tools. Cody wore a pair of green gloves that had fingers twice the

“Dude, we should get going” he didn’t look at me but moved on to the next potted plant,

emptying the last of the watering can.

“alright” he sighed after a long moment.

He removed the gloves and wiped his hands on his black t-shirt and the tops of his jeans. 

He placed them in the box beneath the table then put the watering can in the far corner of the

“hey don’t tell anybody about this okay?”

“okay. Why not?”

“Because it’s really weird for me to spend this much time in someone else’s garden

“why what?” he frowned at me

“why do spend all this time here? Why are you watering plants in a green house ten miles

from town? And why do know the names of the cats?”

“It’s only three miles and all the cats have collars with name tags. I heard my mom

talking about how Ms.Carl wasn’t home anymore on the telephone so I came over to check out

all the junk, but there wasn’t any. I even climbed in a window but inside seemed pretty nice to

me. if I had wanted to take anything, Ms.Carl would’ve known it when she got back because

everything was so carefully placed and taken care of almost. She even had a little box of dead

lady bugs, a little weird to think about but if you go in there you’ll see what I mean.”

“I’m not going in there”  I interrupted sternly.

“I ain't gonna either. Not again, but the green house was unlocked so I figured I would

come by and water her plants. It’d be sad to let ‘em al dry up. Well, except the cactuses. They’d

be fine. At least this long.” He looked around at the plants peacefully taking his attention away

“I wont tell anyone. I promise.” a say after letting his explanations sink in for a moment.

He smiles at me softer than I’ve ever seen.

“Let’s go home, huh?” he asked and I nodded.