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“He! You Got Eyeballs In There?” Book IV: Grandma 47. The Hollow Tree
Hey! You Got Eyeballs In There?
By Kate Chamberlin
As Grace grows up, some of her stories are happy, some trying, some enlightening, and a few themes are sad, but, they’re all the warp and woof of what goes into the tapestry of life we call Family. The daily living skills and techniques demonstrated by the fictional characters in these stories are valid, tried and true.
Book IV: Grandma Grace
#43. Charles and David
#44. Grandma Grace’s S’mores
“Mom, I can’t find my hiking boots,” Liam hollered, trying to throw things into his tag-along. “Do you have my bathing suit?”
His big sister Sarah, also known as Princes, had packed her suitcase the night before except for the wildflower book she was now reading. It was the one Grandma had given her last spring.
“Mom,” she asked, “do you think we’ll have time to go see Golden Valley and Trillium Heaven before the Fourth of July party begins?”
“Liam your boots are on the boot board. Your swim suit is in your bottom drawer.” Mom said calmly. “Yes, Sarah, I suspect Grandma will go hiking with you again. She goes whenever there is someone to go with her. In her last e-mail, she said that Peyton does really well staying on sidewalks, but the scents on the trails distract her.”
Once again, Liam fell asleep in the car. He woke up to the smell of old polished wood and sand in his bed. The smell of sausage cooking caused him to spring out of bed, dress in a flash, slide down the banister, and land with a thud.
“Good morning, Lazy Bones,” Grandma said even before he entered the kitchen. I thought I heard you coming.”
Peyton trotted over to him, her back-end wiggling and wagging a hearty greeting.
“I’ve cooked all the sausage and the waffles, Mr. Bed-head,” Sarah announced.
“I think I’ll have cereal,” he mumbled, but dug into four squares of waffles with homemade strawberry jam and sausage. “May I take Peyton to the pond, Grandma?”
“No, she needs to stay with me,” Grandma said, “but, if you wear this whistle on the lanyard, you can go by yourself. If you need help, blow it. After I finish the Deviled Eggs, Sarah and I are going to carve a watermelon into a basket for our fresh fruit bowl. Then, we can go on a hike.”
“Okay,” Liam said, bussed his dishes, and was gone with the whistle on a lanyard around his neck.
“That basket of fruit looks good enough to eat,” Sarah joked when they were finished.
“Good. That about wraps it up now, we just need to wait for the rest of the family to…” Grandma stopped and listened.
“I think I heard Liam’s whistle,” grandma said, reaching for her straw hat.
Grandma had a firm grip on Peyton’s harness as she and Sarah hurried toward the pond, swishing passed the bright orange Day-lilies crowding in on the dirt lane. The bees buzzed from flower to flower as the mosquitoes whined near their ears and dined where-ever they could. The tall grasses and Purple Loosestrife could have hidden a fallen log or, just as easily, a fallen boy, but they heard the whistle coming from over nearer the field where the Marsh Marigolds used to be.
“Grandma, they were so beautiful last spring” Sarah said. “Now, there’s nothing left of them.”
“Do you see a big yellow daisy type of flower with a huge dark center?” Grandma asked.
“Yes,” Sarah said, “what are they?”
“They are called Black-eyed Susan’s. Legend has it that she wandered everywhere until she found her true love Sweet William. They are usually found growing together” Grandma stopped short.
Another sharp whistle urged them on to the drumlin woods. Going from the bright sunlight of the meadow into the dark woods, Sarah couldn’t see anything even with her eyes wide opened, but Grandma said, “It’s coming from up in one of the trees. Do you see one with a trunk base that looks like an elephant’s foot?”
“Yes,” Sarah said after her eyes adjusted to the darkness. “It’s over to our right.”
“Good. Now do you see an opening at its base?” Grandma asked.
“Yes. Why?” Sarah asked.
“That is the hollow Beech tree I’d told Liam about. My guess is that he’s stuck up inside it,” Grandma chuckled, as the shrill blast of the whistle confirmed her suspicion.
Grandma talked Liam down by explaining how to work his shoulders to inch back down the hollow trunk to safety.
“I almost got all the way up to where the light was coming in,” Liam said. “It was really cool, until I tried to get back down. An ant dropped onto my face and stuff started to break off and I got scared.”