Zera and the Green Man Page 7

  They were driving slowly when she heard Tiffany’s comment. “Here we are, Hippie Town.”

  “You know,” quipped The Toad, “in New York City they like to carry Gucci bags, but in Ute Springs, they carry bags of goat cheese.”

  Tiffany laughed and Zera couldn’t help cracking a grin in spite of herself.

  “It’s been a while,” said Tiffany.

  “Yes, it has.” Her uncle’s expression was now somber. “Now, when I come into town, it always makes me think of . . . Sally and Ewan’s memorial service.”

  “I remember it well,” said Tiffany. “Guinevere nowhere to be found, off on one of her ‘spiritual quests.’ It’s lucky you were there for Zera.”

  Zera stared hatefully at the back of Tiffany’s blonde, ponytailed head. Lucky? she thought. The only luck I’ve had since that day is right now, getting the chance to get away from you.

  The Toad made a left turn and the Barbie-Mobile crept up seven blocks of steep gravel road, past a candy box assortment of Victorian homes in various stages of grandness or dilapidation, to Nonny’s home. Zera’s home.

  Hidden from the street by a wild tangle of chokecherry shrubs and evergreens, the property came into view as the car turned into the driveway. The landmark of the grounds was Cache Mountain, a nine hundred-foot-tall colossus in back of the two acres. The mountain gave the space a protected, nest-like feeling. A sense of well-being swept over Zera as the car edged into the driveway.

  Details of her home always faded with absence, and it stirred her to see it again. Besides the main house, there were six other buildings on the property. Zera searched for the small, robin’s-egg blue cottage with its attached greenhouse/solar energy collector. It had sat at the far north end of the property, barely visible from the driveway. This house, nestled amid apple, sour cherry, and plum trees, was Nonny’s home, or at least it had been, when she wasn’t “adventuring.” But the house had been standing empty for a few years now. After Zera’s parents died, Nonny had moved out of the cottage and into the main house so she could better take care of the dogs and chickens.

  A trio of tiny buildings sat on the other side of the driveway. Once they’d been two-room vacation cottages, rented out to tourists, but by the time Nonny bought the property they’d been empty for years. One became a chicken house. At its door hung a sign Zera made when she was six, “Fresh Eggs,” written in childish white letters on a green background and sprinkled with glitter. Her mom had praised her artistry. “It’s perfect, honey, a masterpiece.” Zera’s mother had treated every piece of her artwork as if it were a Picasso or an O’Keeffe.

  Next to the chicken coop was her mother’s art studio, the lavender cottage. In front was a fountain, a seven-foot-tall metal flower. Below the petals four fairies had been welded to a rotating rim. As the sun-powered fountain ran, the fairies appeared to fly beneath the flower, just out of reach of the glittering “rain.” Purple lilac shrubs grew on both sides of the doorway and were still in bloom.

  The last cottage, painted pink and green, was Zera’s childhood playhouse. On its small brick porch sat a life-size bronze figure of three-year-old Zera, chubby hands holding a bouquet of wildflowers.

  Off in the distance sat a low-slung barn which was never used for livestock by their family, but had been used for parties and concerts. Another barn, this one taller and built of stone, stood near it: her father’s music studio. Zera remembered playing outside as classical, jazz, or rock-and-roll music drifted from the building. Memories came in waves, crashing through her.

  Tiffany stopped the convertible in front of the stucco main house. Two stories tall, it was painted barn red with a stained wood balcony extending across the front. The lower floor, dominated by a huge wrap-around porch, was furnished with comfortable wicker furniture and enclosed by rose-covered trellises. Hundreds of fat, pinkish-white buds swelled among the green leaves. Zera’s mouth dropped open. The roses, how could I have forgotten them? That perfume. Without thinking, she took in a deep breath, as if she could smell them now, before they even opened.

  Tiffany stopped the car and the front door of the home opened. Out flew Alice, Zera’s Dalmatian.

  “Alice, stop!” yelled Nonny, following Alice, but the command was useless. Alice leapt into the back seat and on top of Zera. Whining, the dog covered Zera’s face with canine kisses. Alice increased her whining in volume when Zera cried out in pleasure.

  Tiffany leapt out of the car and threw open the back door. “Oh, that dog. That dog!” she screamed. “She’s probably scratching the upholstery! Out of my car! Now!”

  “I can’t get up,” Zera said, laughing. “She won’t let me.”

  Tiffany grabbed Alice’s collar and Alice growled. Tiffany let go.

  “Theodore, do something! My upholstery!”

  Zera said, “I’ll get her.” She eased out the door, one hand on the dog’s collar. Alice, pressed against her as if attached with glue, left the back seat happily.

  “Good girl, Alice.”

  The dog whined in reply and stuck her nose firmly into Zera’s palm.

  Nonny, wearing a sunshine-yellow skirt and denim shirt, surveyed the scene from the porch, then, as fast as her turquoise-topped cane allowed, hop-hobbled down the stairs to her granddaughter. Cato, Nonny’s elderly black Labrador retriever, accompanied her with a matching stiff-legged walk. Within seconds they were at Zera’s side. Cato trembled with excitement at the sight of Zera, even while staying protectively next to Nonny.

  “Hi, Cato!” Zera said. Nonny’s hair, now completely white, shone in the sun. Although Zera had seen her a half-dozen times since she’d been living with The Toad, and through v-phone and v-mail many times, she still hadn’t gotten used to the dramatic change of Nonny’s now pure white hair and deeply-lined skin.

  Nonny took Zera’s heart-shaped face in her hands. She kissed both cheeks and then her forehead. “Zera Katherine . . . my angel. How I have missed you! Look at this, you’re now taller than I am. And your hair has grown so long.” Nonny brushed a strand from Zera’s face.

  “Nonny,” said Zera. The word was muffled in a bear hug and Nonny’s scent, a rich mixture of honey, sandalwood, and rose.

  Nonny turned her attention to her son. The Toad gave his mother an awkward hug. As she squeezed him tight with one arm, she placed a generous smack of a kiss on his cheek. “It’s so good to see you, Ted. You too, Tiffany. Goodness,” she said, two fingers gently probing one of his biceps, “your arm is as big and hard as a tree branch. Have you been working out?”

  The Toad looked embarrassed. “Yeah, actually I have.”

  Nonny raised her eyebrows. “It’s certainly paying off.” She took Zera’s hand and began to lead her up the stairs. “Let’s go in, honey.” Over her shoulder she said to Theodore and Tiffany. “You two come on in. And, Tiffany, I’m so sorry. I do hope Alice hasn’t left any nasty claw marks on your upholstery. Ted, maybe you should check the back seat, sometimes when Alice gets excited she tinkles just a bit . . .”

  “Hummph.” Tiffany straightened her black skirt. “Dogs!”

  Nonny led Zera and Tiffany to the kitchen and offered them lemonade.

  “No thanks,” said Tiffany, as she eyed with distaste the big kitchen’s glass-fronted cabinets crammed with dishes and the slightly-beat-up refrigerator. “We’ve only got a few minutes. We’ve got a plane to catch in Piker.”

  “I have a couple of questions, Tiffany,” said Nonny. “Sit.

  Chapter Nine

  After searching the back seat for traces of dog pee, Theodore unloaded Zera’s belongings. What if I don’t see her again for a long time? He’d grown used to having Zera in his life. Yes, she could be a brat, yes, she didn’t like Tiffany, but he knew that underneath the acting up she was a good kid. Pangs of regret surged through him. I see a lot of myself in her. The way she loves botany. The way I used to. He picked up her suitcase, the box of plants. Got to stay on task. I need to focus on what’s happening today — with my career, with my
future. This could be the biggest day in my life.

  He joined the women in the kitchen. “Your car’s fine, Tiffany. No damage done.”

  Tiffany looked up from the table. “Good.”

  Nonny poured her son a glass of lemonade and motioned for him to sit next to her. Theodore sat down, took a big drink.

  “Well, Ted,” said Nonny, “I am just absolutely thrilled to have this child back, no matter what the circumstances. But I am a bit confused about your change of heart.”

  Theodore wiped lemonade off his mouth with the back of his hand. “I’ve been thinking of letting Zera come for a visit, a longer visit, for some time, Mom. We’ve certainly spoken about it before.” Theodore looked around the room, avoiding her eyes. “It’s just that circumstances haven’t permitted it. Work . . . you know.”

  Nonny smiled pleasantly. “What you know is that I can smell b.s. a mile away.”

  Theodore squirmed inwardly and cast his eyes down. Not a good idea. The sight of his mother’s prosthesis, visible below her skirt, made him queasy. The artificial but surprisingly lifelike limb ended in a sandaled foot, the color of the “skin” slightly different from her tanned flesh. He’d seen her only a half dozen times in the last few years, and each time he’d been jarred by the sight. It left him light-headed.

  He took a deep breath and tried to focus. The whole atmosphere of Ute Springs, the place where he had grown up, had him off-kilter. As he walked in the door, the sense of time standing still had nearly overwhelmed him. Nothing had changed; furniture in the same places, same pictures on the wall. It even smelled the same. June in Ute Springs. He still felt like a boy, like a kid who had to prove himself, who might never be good enough. “To tell you the truth, like I told you last night, Mother, I thought we’d try it out — letting her stay here for the summer. But, as I mentioned over the phone, we, I, I think she should find some kind of summer employment, just a few hours a day, something to reinforce a sense of responsibility.”

  The speech sounded phony even to him, but that was okay. He could tell by the glint in his mother’s eyes that she was fighting back saying plenty about what she thought of his behavior these past three years. But since she was so thrilled to have her granddaughter back, he knew she wouldn’t ask too many questions. It would work; Zera staying here, for at least a little while.

  An idea came to him. When he mentioned summer employment, a memory of when he’d been the closest to a joyful life, came to him. He blurted out the idea. “Maybe she could find a part-time job at that amusement park up the pass?”

  “The North Pole? Yes, I remember when you worked there as a teenager.” Nonny paused for a long moment, as if she too were thinking about those days. Her brow furrowed and she sighed. “So that’s it? The same story you told me last night?”

  “That’s the story,” Theodore and Tiffany said in unison. They flashed each other a startled look. Tiffany nodded at Theodore in a not-so-discreet way toward the direction of her car outside.

  “And you don’t know how long she’ll be staying?” asked Nonny.

  “Not yet. I have a meeting in L.A. late this afternoon, and then we’ll have a better idea.”

  “We’ll?” said Nonny.

  Theodore checked his vintage silver wristwatch. “Mom, I can’t stay. I’ll call you as soon as I know. You have my phone number, and I’ve written down where I can be reached, if there are any, um, emergencies or anything.”

  Theodore stood and fumbled through his wallet, looking for the number. As he did he brushed the ragged corner of an old paper photograph, hidden behind some credit cards. He saw the photo in his mind for a moment, and he thought of her, the girl he loved when he was a young man, living in this house. It doesn’t seem like so long ago . . . It took an effort to redirect his mind to the business at hand, rifle through the rest of the wallet, and find the slip of paper.

  He handed it to Nonny. Tiffany got up and headed for the door.

  “Ted, there’s something I have to tell you before you go,” Nonny grabbed her cane and made her way up. “I made plans some time ago to spend most of this summer in the Amazon, visiting the Kayapo Indians in Brazil. I’m scheduled to leave in three weeks.”

  Theodore didn’t move. Zera stared at her grandmother. She has not changed, Theodore thought. I thought she was taking it easy, taking care of herself . . . and she’s traveling again? “The Amazon? But what about your . . . leg?”

  “Can’t let a thing like that stop me. Don’t worry, I get around fine. It’ll be fine, the Kayapos are very . . .”

  Theodore interrupted her, “I’ll call you as soon as I know.”

  Chapter Ten

  Zera and her grandmother watched the Barbie-Mobile’s gold rear-end disappear from the driveway, leaving a trail of dust.

  Zera put her cupped hands to her mouth. “Good-bye!” she yelled.

  Nonny laughed. “Those two.” She slipped her arm around Zera’s shoulders, “Phony baloney all the way through. I guess I’ll have to get the story from you, if you know it.”

  Zera shrugged. “I don’t know a thing, except it seems like he might be getting a great new job. I think it’s an interview. This has all been a surprise to me too.” As is learning that you’re leaving in three weeks, she added to herself, her heart sinking, Just when I get back. Then what?

  “We won’t worry ourselves about it. Not now at least.” Turning to go back inside, Nonny Green spied the box of plants sitting on the porch next to Zera’s suitcases. “What a lovely collection of plants! And your Dionea muscipula has really grown.” She peered closer and made a face. “She looks marvelous, except for that one burned trap. What on earth happened?”

  * * *

  Zera and her grandmother sat close together on the front porch’s big wicker swing and talked all afternoon. They cried a little, remembering Sally and Ewan and how they missed them, yet, at the same time, always felt their presence. They laughed, remembering the good times.

  Zera’s head rested on Nonny’s shoulder. Her eyes went to the heavy silver bracelet encircling Nonny’s left wrist. It was engraved with thick leaves, interspersed with strange symbols that Nonny once told her were some kind of Celtic tree alphabet. Nonny said she didn’t know what the symbols meant, that the bracelet was a family heirloom. Just seeing it brought another good feeling; she’d never seen Nonny without it. The closeness of the moment made her think about something she’d wanted to ask Nonny for a long time.

  “When you lost your leg in Tibet,” she began, in a voice barely above a whisper. “Theodore and Tiffany said you fell off a mountain.” She looked up into her grandmother’s dark blue eyes. “I never asked you about it, and you’ve never really told me what happened either . . .”

  Nonny smiled, rubbed Zera’s hand. “Never be reluctant to ask me anything, or tell me anything. Life’s too short.”

  Nonny told Zera that yes, she’d been in Tibet, after finishing a three-month stay at a Buddhist monastery.

  “I was trekking across the Himalayas, on my way to India. A young guide named Hani accompanied me.” Nonny looked off into the distance, as if searching for that time again. “We were going across a narrow mountain passage when my donkey — Daisy, I’d named her — was spooked by a snake, a Himalayan pit viper. Daisy lost her footing and we both went down an eighty-foot ravine.”

  “Oh, no.” Zera didn’t realize she was squeezing her grandmother’s hand. “Sorry.”

  Nonny’s gaze focused on the mountains. Zera, too, observed the silent giants and felt that they were listening, and waiting for Nonny to continue. The day had turned dark and cloudy and the smell of an afternoon thundershower hung in the air. Nonny’s far-away look disappeared with a nod of her head. “Daisy didn’t make it, the poor dear, but I was luckier. Hani was so incredibly brave! He risked his life getting me up the side of that cliff. I had a concussion, four broken ribs, and a shattered left leg.”

  Zera sucked in her breath at the picture of Nonny, crumpled and broken. Nonny con
tinued, “Somehow he got me to the closest village, and there I stayed, first fighting off a terrible infection in my leg. Ultimately, there was just too much damage. They got me to a hospital and the leg had to go. Then began the long process of healing.”

  “That’s why they couldn’t find you for so long after Mom and Dad died.”

  “At first they couldn’t send word about what happened to me because all my identification and money, in my backpack, had been lost during the fall. But the hospital was in the city. I was there, recuperating, when I heard about your mom and Ewan.”

  “It must have been horrible! Stuck there.”

  Nonny was silent and Zera knew something was off. “Darling, I wasn’t exactly stuck there,” said Nonny. “My leg was gone, but I’d been in the hospital a month when Sally and Ewan died. I thought Tiffany probably told you; I could have gotten home for the funeral.”