Chapter 3

Elizabeth Eddison

April

Elizabeth stood, stretched, wiped her forehead with a glove that left a smear of rich mud. That should do it for now. Still too early to plant much of anything, but her garden stood at the ready. Weeds pulled, soil turned, debris removed. Now, standing in the sun beside a grand old maple, she removed her gloves and retrieved a bottle of sweet iced tea from her bag. She sat in the shade and basked in the glow of satisfaction and anticipation. She schemed, visualizing the arrangement. Her garden this year would be better than ever.

The snow had melted into shining puddles and the sky was clear. The sunlight was warm, but the breeze stirring her long hair was pleasantly cool. According to Isaac, things were still frosty in Montana this time of year, but in Appalachia, spring had arrived. Perhaps she would take a stroll through the woods later. They looked inviting, and it would be good for her head cold.

The garden adjoined her house on one side; one of her bedroom’s many windows overlooked it. Elizabeth typically planted flowers, leaving only a bit of room for vegetables. She thought perhaps this year she would eschew vegetables entirely. They always seemed to get eaten, and not by humans. Elizabeth suspected that Heidi didn’t plant many flowers in her garden, though the climate on her tropical isle sounded brilliant.

“Must be nice,” she told Callie, who was resting upon the seed packets. “Heidi can grow things year-round.” Callie lounged as she usually did—sphinx-like, as though in vigilant observation despite lacking eyes. Every once in a while, she rested her head upon her paws or licked them with a milk-white tongue. Her stainless fur blazed in the sunlight like a patch of new-fallen snow.

“Off the seeds, Callie.” Elizabeth heaved the cat up and deposited her on the ground. This was no easy task, for Callie was large. Kate had identified her as some kind of lynx, although it was obvious that Callie was not a normal animal. For one thing, Callie had no eyes. The fur of her face went right on up from her nose, uninterrupted. As far as Elizabeth and her sister AJ could ever tell, this presented Callie with no difficulties whatsoever.

Displaced from her throne of gardening supplies, Callie held her head aloft and sauntered off as if she had been leaving anyway. But then she swung back around and rubbed herself against Elizabeth’s jeans, making contact above the knee. The vibrations of her purring made Elizabeth’s heart soar with affection, and she gave Callie a good scratching behind the ears.

She spent some time planning how to arrange the garden this year. Since AJ had left home, the garden had been Elizabeth’s private project each spring. Her mother was gone too often to help. Which was fine.

Finally, before heading inside for lunch and a shower, she checked the peonies. They had not yet bloomed, but she had strung up the stalks with twine to prevent them from bending to the ground under their own weight. They seemed to explode in size every year. This year they had taken over the entire southern wall. Elizabeth began every morning by looking down from her bedroom window to see if they had bloomed yet. She checked to make sure they had ants on them, and they did, so she decided to call this a sufficient job for the morning. She returned her tools to the shed while Callie watched, yawning in the sun.

“I think I could practice today,” she informed her feline companion. She felt good today. Confident. Her sore throat was almost entirely gone. Surely it was all the honeyed tea.

Callie yawned in response. Her teeth were pure white, as were her gums and tongue and every other part of the inside of her mouth. This always seemed strange to Elizabeth, given that Callie theoretically had red blood. She couldn’t be sure about the blood pigmentation for certain, however, because Callie didn’t bleed.

Elizabeth took a final moment to stretch in the fresh spring sunlight before heading inside. She kicked off her muddy boots on the back porch. Her house greatly exceeded its necessary capacity. Half of the rooms lay in perpetual disuse except as storage—more than ever now that her older sister had officially moved out. Several of the rooms had at some point belonged to Elizabeth’s ex-fathers. She had no interest in those.

It was a beautiful house—just the sort of place in which a solitary romantic might thrive. The wood-paneling was real wood, the ceilings high and arched, the stone tiling rustic and charming, not to mention frigid cold upon bare feet in winter. Great acoustics, especially in her dance studio.

In the kitchen she constructed an elaborate sandwich while listening to The Pearl Fishers , an opera. She skipped to the duet. And she noticed, while devouring her meal, that her mother must have brought in the mail yesterday evening. A bright lime-green package caught her eye. A smiley face, drawn in blue marker, beamed at her from the side of the box.

Elizabeth grinned back as she scooted it closer. Another of the sides had a heart drawn on it, the third a butterfly, and on the final side stood a cluster of exclamation points. There could be no doubt who this was from.

She finished her sandwich in two huge bites, grabbed a juice from the fridge, and hurried with the package up to her room. Located on the top floor of the oversized house, her many-windowed room overlooked the garden, the field which served as a backyard, and the dense woodlands beyond. This room contained a bed, plain and serviceable, and an abundance of books. Many were leather or faux-leather-bound, looking very important and sophisticated. Some were old history texts and biographies; many more were classic works of literature sure to be found on any formal list of must-reads. Most numerous were books of poetry, especially obscure collections by poets nobody had ever heard of. Some of these books were survivors of single printings that had run only a few hundred copies, and they had been obtained by carefully raiding the remotest cobwebbed corners of dusty bookstores throughout the New England area.

She had neatly organized the books alphabetically and by genre on a series of bookshelves which enwrapped most of the room. Besides these and the bed, there remained a reading chair and a desk. On the desk rested a laptop, an assortment of teas, Paradise Lost (with the Doré woodcuts), some seeds, an unopened kit full of sparkly sequins and a bespangling device, and several packs of glow-in-the-dark stars, also unopened. A pine-scented candle made the room smell like Christmas. On the bed lay a painting and a long list of ideas for return birthday presents, to which Isaac had not been a helpful contributor.

A half hour later, post-shower, the room also contained a young woman who had recently turned 15 years old. Elizabeth Eddison was slender, athletic, slightly above-average in height, and secretly proud of all of these facts. She wore a blue dress which she had received from her mother several weeks ago on her birthday. She only wore it now because her mother was not home. Elizabeth would never admit to her mother that it was actually very comfortable, and she liked the color. She thought it accentuated her golden hair and her eyes, a shade of sky blue similar to that of the dress. She was certain that her mother had purchased it for her only because it was a pretty dress, and girls were supposed to like pretty dresses—nothing at all like the heartfelt, if odd, gifts from her friends. Well, she did like the dress, but that didn’t mean she would ever admit it. Its only faults lay in its shortness and sleevelessness, which revealed the taekwondo bruises that often decorated her arms and shins.

Elizabeth also took pride in her long silky hair, although she often bound it back into a ponytail to keep it out of her eyes when dancing, gardening, or practicing. She wore contact lenses for a similar reason; they could not easily be dislodged in the midst of strenuous activity. She believed she looked better without glasses anyway; the sharp features of her face did just fine without spectacles, thank you very much. And besides, did AJ, her beautiful older sister, wear glasses? She did not.

Elizabeth had received a thin silver ring from AJ for her birthday. She wore it on her left hand, and in the space of two weeks had already developed the habit of unconsciously turning it with her thumb whenever that hand was unoccupied.

She sat down at her desk, Kate’s package before her, and retrieved a pair of scissors as though she were about to commence upon a gourmet meal. She had just begun slicing up the pink ribbon binding the green present when a sound from her computer alerted her that someone had messaged her.

It was Kate, of course.

KC: Liz!

KC: Liiiizzzzzzzzzzzzyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!

EE: You rang?

KC: :D

KC: okay I am free now Liz!

KC: how’d it go?!

EE: My birthday was weeks ago. Have you been that busy?

KC: <:O

KC: Liz!

KC: Don’t make me feel worse than I already do!!!

KC: I HAVE BEEN SO BUSY YOU HAVE NO IDEA

KC: I wish I could have been there!

EE: I know. I am sorry.

EE: You were being a good friend to Heidi.

KC: it’s okay! I mean, I really wish I could have been there and seen all my cool and awesome friends in person. But now I have a new friend, and she’s important too!

KC: you need to meet her Liz!

KC: all the guys will too

KC: she will need a lot of new friends, even goofy and weird ones like ours ;)

EE: You know something. What do you know?

KC: Liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiizzz

KC: trust me!

EE: I do.

EE: The party went very well. Although mother did not approve of me having so many boy friends over.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

KC: 8O

KC: Liz!

KC: ;)

EE: MALE FRIENDS

KC: suuurrrre

KC: ;) ;) ;) ;)

EE: But my sister was there as well.

EE: Which prevented my mother from ‘flipping just completely the fuck out’ as Eric might say.

KC: hehe yeah he would say that

KC: I guess Jim’s brother was there too?

EE: You guess correctly.

KC: did they

KC: you know

KC: talk?

KC: and stuff?

EE: Why, whoever do you mean?

KC: AJ and Mike!!

KC: they would be so cute together!

EE: You want my sister to go out with Jim’s brother?

KC: oh would that be weird?

EE: A little.

EE: You are correct, though.

EE: They would be cute.

KC: :D

KC: anyway, about that party!

EE: It was great. We all talked, played games...nothing spectacular.

KC: did you dance?

EE: Maybe a little.

KC: Jim didn’t hurt himself too badly did he?

EE: I don’t recall mentioning that.

EE: Did he tell you?

KC: well no but such an occurrence is EASILY INFERABLE

EE: Jim was fine.

EE: Thanks for distracting Callie while they were over. She can be over-zealous in her protective duties.

KC: oh I LOVE Callie! she’s so sweet and cuddly! she doesn’t get along with Whiskey though :o

EE: Is she over there now?

EE: Not that it is by any means a fruitful endeavor to keep track of her whereabouts.

KC: I saw her this morning and she was catching butterflies! I had to scold her! >:|

KC: Oh! I almost forgot! Did you get my present yet?

KC: I mean YOUR present

KC: from me!!!!

EE: What a remarkable coincidence that I was in the process of opening it when you messaged me.

KC: wow! remarkable

EE: You can tell it is so remarkable

EE: because of how much I am remarking upon it.

EE: It is such a surprising coincidence.

EE: Can you tell how surprised I am?

KC: Liiiiiiiiiizzzzzzzzyyyy!

KC: do you like it?

EE: Kate.

KC: ????????????????

EE: I LOVE it.

KC: <3!!

KC: what other sweet lootz did you rake in?

EE: I received from Isaac an abundance of glow-in-the-dark stars as well as an assortment of “exotic flower seeds.” I actually suspect that he mixed all kinds of random vegetable seeds and granular seasonings together as a joke.

EE: Whereas Eric saw fit to bestow upon me a CD of his “certified freshest beats,” a bespangling starter kit, and a bell for Callie.

KC: :D they are so silly!

EE: I don’t bespangle things.

KC: that is why it was a starter kit

EE: We will see about that.

KC: Jim gave you a painting!

EE: Was that a question?

‎ KC: nope! He told me about it :)

EE: It’s cool.

KC: I know!

EE: Of course you do.

EE: And that reminds me. Has Isaac talked to you?

KC: like recently?

KC: SHOULD HE HAVE???

EE: He was just saying something weird the other night. You mailed him something, and now his feeble grip on reality grows ever more tenuous.

KC: hehe yeah that sounds like Isaac!

KC: what did he say?

EE: He saw a crack in the sky?

EE: He may have meant that metaphorically. One can never tell, with Isaac.

EE: ...Kate? Still there?

KC: haha yeah no you’re right one can never tell

KC: with Isaac

KC: okay I gotta go now something just came up!

EE: Out of curiosity, what would happen if you did not go take care of this something?

KC: it wouldn’t explode if that’s what you’re thinking!

KC: I mean I HOPE not

EE: Well, do not work too hard, Kaitlyn Carter. I care about you.

KC: I love you too!

EE: And Kate?

KC: ?

EE: Thanks again.

KC: :D

KC: <3

Many things about Kaitlyn Carter remained mysterious to Elizabeth, but talking to her never failed to cheer Elizabeth up. It was perhaps overly effective at doing so. Now and then Kate would message her and just ruin a good melancholy Elizabeth had spent all day cultivating. Elizabeth sometimes thought she did that on purpose. Kate couldn’t stand it when her friends were sad, and somehow she always knew.

Kaitlyn Carter was a genius. She had an eidetic memory. She didn’t need to see the board in order to play chess. She could thumb through an incomplete deck of cards once, rapidly, and then tell you which ones were missing. Elizabeth had once shown Kate her sister’s calculus homework and had watched Kate write down the answers, one after another, faster than Elizabeth could even read the problems. And this was saying nothing about the science thing, which she got from her father. Kate had built her own lab, and Elizabeth neither knew nor understood what went on in there. But Kate never said anything about her superior intelligence to Elizabeth; instead, she gushed with awe and encouragement toward Elizabeth’s own talents.

Kate had mailed Elizabeth two treasures in the bright green box. The first was a hand-crafted journal. It had Kate written all over it: bright colors, cute animals, and little doodles of Callie and Elizabeth and all their friends. She also had included inspirational quotes from Elizabeth’s favorite authors written in bright colors in Kate’s loopy, swirly, hearts-dotting-the-i’s style. A lot of effort had gone into this, and the thought of it warmed Elizabeth’s heart. Inside the cover of this book was a note from Kate describing how she really really really wanted to read more of Elizabeth’s poetry, so she was making the first move. Some poetry had already been entered on the first few pages. Did she want Elizabeth to continue on the blank pages and send it back? That was an interesting and potentially fun idea.

The second treasure was a colorful butterfly brooch made of stained glass, which according to Kate’s notes was also a tracking device that linked up with satellites and could be used to summon Callie. Elizabeth stared blankly at the instructions (the colorful, swirly instructions) for a moment, not sure whether she should be rolling her eyes or rolling on the floor laughing.

But summoning Callie, if true…now that sounded useful. No time like the present for trying out your friend’s crazy gadgets. Now how…ah, wait. One-time use. For emergencies. What was Kate thinking? Better question: What did she know? Well, Elizabeth would be proud to wear the brooch until such a time as she needed to use it. To alert Callie, apparently, she had to break it, and it went so well with her blue dress.

Maybe someday.