"Well, Charlie, do you see why we wanted you to do this earlier?"
He looked up at his mom and wrinkled his nose. "Yeah."
She handed him some gloves and his "Charlie-sized" shovel. Charlie slipped the gloves on and balanced on the shovel blade.
"We're going to have to dig all of this up. The roots are too deep to pull them now."
Charlie frowned. "But what about my beans and peas?"
Laura shook her head. "They probably dried up like the others in the garden."
"And the fwax and Johnny jump-ups?"
Laura frowned. "We'll see if we can save them." She stroked the caterpillar on Charlie's collarbone. "I like your new friend, by the way."
Charlie giggled. "Thanks. What should I name him?"
Laura laughed. "It's up to you. But we need to get going so we're not doing this all day!"
Charlie stuck his shovel at the base of a tall pigweed and pried, but it wouldn't budge. He dug deeper, but still nothing. Laura stuck her shovel into the base of the weed, and together they dug the stubborn koscha out. When it was almost loose, Laura had Charlie pull it out the rest of the way.
"Remember when these were just little seedlings?"
Charlie nodded. It didn't seem like that long ago.
Laura pulled up a little weed and held it up. "You could have pulled them out with your fingers. But now, see the roots?"
Charlie nodded. Those roots were deep. Really, really deep.
Laura helped Charlie finish digging up the rest of the stubborn weeds, and they stacked them in a pile at the edge of the garden, along with the withered beans and peas, and a few sunflowers that were too tangled up in the weeds and had to be dug up too.
Charlie stretched when they tossed the last pigweed on the heap. His back and arms were sore from the digging. He frowned as he looked back at the bare patch of ground, surrounded by a few sunflowers. The weeds were gone, but so was everything else inside the ring.
He hugged his mom around her waist. "Thanks, mommy. That would have taken me fowevuh!"
Laura returned the hug. "You're welcome! Just try to remember to take care of things sooner before they get out of hand, ok? And not just the weeds."
Charlie nodded.
Laura smiled at her filthy little boy, wondering what had happened to the baby she had to chase around the house to get a diaper on. "Now what do you want to do?"
Charlie sighed. "I just wanna wewax in my tweehouse foh a wittuw wiow."
Laura nodded. "Ok."
Charlie looked down at his chest for his caterpillar, but it had fallen off when he was pulling weeds. He hoped he hadn't stepped on the little guy. He picked up Frankie and draped him around his neck again, then gathered Winston up from his perch and followed his mom back to the house.
Laura looked down at Charlie. "I've got to run to the store really quick, ok? Be good for Amy."
Charlie nodded.
Larura tousled Charlie's hair and walked to her car. Charlie waved at her. "Bye mom!"
She waved back. "Bye Charlie. I'll be back soon!"
He headed toward the house, glancing at Amy, who was in the front yard, stretched out in their hammock, reading.
He set his shovel down on the lawn, went inside the house, tossed his gloves on the floor, and tracked dirt in the kitchen on his way to raid the cupboards for a handful of Oreos and animal crackers. He poured himself a glass of milk, only spilling just a little bit this time, leaving muddy fingerprints on the glass. He opened an Oreo and licked the sweet cream off, dunked half in his milk, and enjoyed it. He repeated the process with a few more Oreos, mixing in a few animal crackers, ignoring the dirt he was getting on them, then gulped the milk down, putting his glass in the sink and cramming his pockets full of more Oreos and animal crackers..
Not quite satisfied, he began gathering a loaf of bread, a box of cream cheese, a jar of dill pickle slices, a banana, and a butter knife on the table. He grabbed the bread and began spreading cream cheese on each slice, then peeled his banana and started slicing it onto the bread. After a bit of a struggle, he managed to unscrew the lid off the pickle jar. He speared a stack of pickles with his fork, peeling them off one by one onto his sandwich. He closed the sandwich and grabbed another banana on his way out the door.
Enjoying his favorite sandwich, he cut across the yard, past the trampoline, and to the little stand of cottonwood trees that were still surrounded with a little of the bark and extra pieces of pine slabs his dad and Wayne, with Charlie's help, had used to build the platform anchored to the trunks. They hadn't quite screwed in handholds for Charlie to climb, but that was ok with him. He didn't need them.
On one side of the little grove, a small cottonwood had grown out at an angle. Wayne had attached part of the platform to the inside of that little tree, leaving a hole in the floor so Charlie could climb up the little tree and onto the platform.
He crammed the rest of his sandwich in his mouth, stuck the banana in the back of his shorts, bit Winston on the scruff of his neck, and grabbed for a handhold on the rough bark. He started climbing the topside of the crooked tree until he reached the platform, then pulled himself up by pushing against the trunk. Scraping his chest against the platform, he pulled himself up and released Winston. He was panting a little when he stood on the boards, but he had made it.
Aww by his sewf.
As he sat down to rest, something squished under his butt.
"Oh, cwap! The banana!"
He jumped up quickly, turning to Winston. "Don't teww Mommy I said that!"
Charlie reached behind him and peeled the banana from between his cheeks. His butt felt sticky and gross, and the banana was just a peel with banana guts oozing out.
"Eww! Gwoss!" Charlie flung the gooey banana to the ground and wiped his slimy hand on his shorts, then wiped his butt with his undies the best he could.
He grabbed Winston and perched him on his shoulder next to Frankie, then reached into the pocket of his shorts, pulling out a little rock and a pinecone, then a handful of oreo crumbles, which he licked from his fingers as he started examining his new treehouse.
The deck was built inside and around the little clump of cottonwoods, with two cottonwoods in the middle. A large limb of a tree on the outside of the platform had grown into a tree on the inside, creating a perfect bench or step, depending on what Charlie needed at the moment. Wayne had put a board right in front of the limb for Charlie to sit or stand on so he could reach the limb. This time, he needed a step, so he stepped onto the board, then climbed over the limb and the hole between the three trees, emerging on the other side of the platform.
As he was crossing this bridge, he noticed something on the trunk of one of the trees, nestled between a crack in the rope-like bark of the cottonwood. It was about the length of his thumb and looked like a seashell, but he could see what looked like wings inside of it. And it was starting to wiggle around. Charlie raised his right eyebrow and tipped his head to the left as he stood there, mesmerized, as the little shell started to wiggle back and forth more. Then it split just below the top and something strange began crawling out of it. As it pulled out further, Charlie let out a little squeal.
"Wook, Fwankie and Winston! It's a tiguh swawowtaiw buttewfwy!"
The little butterfly wiggled and squirmed until it crawled out of its little chrysalis, trembling as it started to spread out its wrinkled wings. Charlie reached out, but then he remembered his mommy told him to never touch the wings of a butterfly, because it would make it so it couldn't fly.
Charlie watched it closely for a while as it started spreading and shaking its delicate, wet wings.
The call of a meadowlark drew Charlie's attention to the top of one of the cottonwoods.
"Silver Creek City's a pretty nice place!" the bird sang.
Charlie scanned the trees until he saw its bright yellow breast in the leaves above him. He grinned. He loved meadowlarks. When he was done watching the bird, Charlie looked back at the butterfly again.
Tension started building under his tummy. He walked over to the edge of the deck, dropped his shorts, and aimed his little guy over the edge, watching his little waterfall flow to the grass below. When he was finished, he stood there for a moment enjoying the sun and breeze on his little body, then pulled his shorts back up and headed back toward the hole in the center of the tree house.
He started climbing through the hole, bracing his legs against the trunks and holding on to the platform, then the bark until he was close enough to drop to the ground. He landed crouched down, then picked Winston up from where he had fallen during the climb.
He wandered back over to the front of the house, where Amy was still stretched out in the hammock reading. He walked over to her. Tuffy was curled up on her stomach. Charlie stuck his tongue out at the cat.
Amy cuddled Tuffy close to her. "Be nice to Tuffy!"
Charlie glared at the cat. "He don't desewve it. He's a kiwuh."
Amy scratched the cat's chin. "He can't help it. He's gotta kill to eat."
Charlie frowned. "No he don't. You feed him."
Amy stroked Tuffy, who was purring contentedly. "It's still in his nature. He's a hunter."
Charlie snorted, then lifted Amy's book.
"Whatcha readin'?"
Amy held the book up to him.
"Nancy Dwew?"
Amy nodded.
"Is it good?"
Amy nodded again.
He headed over to the tire swing in the Russian olive tree and sat in it.
"Wiw you push me?"
Amy shook her head no.
"Benny would push me if he wewe hewe."
Amy sighed. She hated it when he guilt-tripped her like that, especially when it didn't make much sense. Benny would only have been two, after all.
"Fine, once."
She set the book down and got out of the hammock. "Hold on tight."
Charlie held on to the tire and tucked Winston in between his legs.
"Ok, I'm weady."
Amy twisted the tire swing, then pulled it back and gave it a shove, sending Charlie twisting and swinging and squealing with delight. He finally came to a stop, giggling.
Amy gave his arm a playful tug. "Now run!" Charlie bounced up and started running towards the lilac bushes as the ground tipped up to meet him. He collided with the ground, his laughter joined by Amy's.
"Do it again!"
Amy sighed. "Ok, one more time."
They repeated the process, and Charlie ended up on the ground once more.
He sat up. "One more time?"
Amy shook her head no.
Charlie frowned. "I wish I had a bwudduh."
Amy sat next to him. "We do have a brother."
Charlie wrinkled his eyebrows. "He can't pway with me in heaven."
Amy sighed and picked the fluffy head of a dandelion that had gone to seed. "I know."
Charlie reached up and picked at the lilac's dried seed pods. "How come God don't send us another bwudduh?"
Amy blew on the fluffy head, sending little parachutes drifting on the breeze, as a dove let out its mournful call in the distance. "Mommy can't have babies anymore."
Charlie started chewing on a blade of grass. "So? God can send us a bwudduh anothuh way."
Amy sighed and stretched out on the grass, looking at the hazy sky. "It doesn't work that way, Charlie."
Charlie lay back too and frowned. "How come?"
Amy shook her head and sat up, heading back to her hammock. "It just doesn't. Now, why don't you go explore the barn or the old chicken coop or the corrals or something?"
Charlie sat up and looked toward the slightly leaning old barn, the log chicken coop that had tipped over, and the remnants of an old corral across their lot. "I awweady done that miwions of times!"
Amy settled into the hammock. "Ok, go ride your bike or something."
Charlie sighed. "Fine." He gathered up Winston and went looking for his bike.
He finally found it where he had abandoned it yesterday and jumped on, balancing Winston on the handlebars as he rode a few circles around their property, passing the coop, the barn, and the corrals, then out onto his driveway.
A panicked killdeer let out a startled cry as it darted out in front of him, then ran off ahead. He stopped and watched it as it sprinted off a little, then stopped, and then began running away again.
He looked up from the frantic little bird to see his mom pull in from the highway and pass his fortress on the way to their house. He swerved onto one of his bike trails and rode along the driveway on the other side of the trees bordering their driveway. Laura stopped when she came beside him and rolled her window down.
"You doing ok, honey?"
Charlie wrinkled his nose. He hated being called "honey," but he couldn't bring himself to tell his mom that. He shook his head yes.
His mom handed out a glass bottle. Charlie grinned and rode his bike up to her car. "Countwy Town! Thanks!"
He grabbed the cold bottle of Country Time Lemonade and dug through the Oreo and animal cracker crumbs and rocks and lint and pinecones in his pocket to find his little Swiss Army knife.
Laura smiled. "You're welcome. Make sure you bring the bottle back."
Charlie nodded as he found the bottle opener and pulled it out.
"Need anything else?"
Charlie shook his head no, and set the bottle down on the ground as Laura drove the rest of the way to their house.
Charlie stuck his tongue between his teeth as he carefully placed the hook of his bottle opener under the cap with one hand and held on to the bottle with the other, and jerked up on the opener, popping the cap off. He grinned. He did it! He took a deep chug of the sour sweet drink and leaned it up against a tree.
Charlie heard a bike coming toward him from the house and looked up to see Amy speeding by him on her way to the highway. She skidded to a stop. "You're in big trouble when you get home!"
Charlie scowled at her. "How come?"
Amy glared back. "You left the bread open and the milk out. Now the bread's getting dry and the milk might go sour."
Charlie shrugged. "I was busy. I'ww put it away when I get home."
Amy shook her head. "I already put it away. You've just gotta clean up the rest of the mess. You owe me."
Charlie looked at the ground. "Whaddya want me to do?"
"I'll think of something. What do you say, though?"
Charlie scuffed the ground and mumbled out a "Thanks."
"You're welcome. I can't believe you eat pickles and bananas together, by the way. So gross!"
"You ever try it?"
"Ew! No way?"
Charlie grinned. "Then howd'ya know?"
Amy scrunched up her nose. "I don't need to try that one."
"You'we missin' out! You come to wide with me?" He looked at her hopefully.
Amy shook her head and put her foot on her pedal. "Nope, I'm going to Sandy's. See you later!"
She was off before he could say goodbye.