That Saturday started like countless others. By seven-thirty, Lou Lou was awake, dressed, and down the crow’s nest ladder. She turned the big wooden ship’s wheel that opened her fridge and gulped orange juice from the carton. Her dad’s voice, commanding Use a glass, echoed in her head. But he was still asleep, and besides, she’d seen enough movies about sailors to know that they didn’t all have perfect manners.
Then came the best part of Lou Lou’s Saturday—visiting her plants and flowers in the soft morning sun. Although not everything was growing this season, she still made sure to greet each section of her garden using the names she’d given them.
“Good morning, Bouquet Blooms!” Lou Lou said as she skipped alongside the earthy bed of bulbs that bore colorful spring flowers—daffodils, tulips, and hyacinths.
“Hello, Summer Weirds!” Lou Lou remembered the unusual blooms from last season—goblin blanket flower, coreopsis moonbeam, and pink jewel fleabane.
“Greetings, Eats and Cures!” She couldn’t overlook the variety of herbs and remedies, including mint for PSPP tea, basil for spaghetti sauce, soothing chamomile, and echinacea to ease colds.
“It’s your time to shine, Fancy Fall Florals!” Lou Lou said to the current season’s array of asters, toad lilies, and perennial sunflowers.
Although she loved every plant and flower in her garden, she cherished spending Saturdays with Pinky in particular. Today, Lou Lou was excited to check the progress of Pinky’s flowers. At the height of their bloom, she would photograph Pinky for the competition. The photos had to be perfect. Lou Lou had wanted that blue ribbon since she was old enough to grow her first rhododendron.
Lou Lou made her way toward the camellia, which was hidden in the partial shade of the avocado tree. But before she reached Pinky, she heard the bang, bang, bang of one hard object striking another. The sound was coming from Mr. Gray’s yard next door. Lou Lou turned back and peered over the wooden fence that lined her backyard, expecting to see her grumpy neighbor in his bathrobe that was the same color as his last name. Instead, she spied a boy reclining on an ancient lawn chair, reading a comic book. Lou Lou eyed him warily until he looked in her direction.
“Hiya,” said the boy.
“Hiya, yourself,” Lou Lou replied. She continued to stare with narrowed eyes. The boy grinned, unfazed. He had bright blue spiky hair and brown eyes, and was wearing black boots and a studded leather bracelet on his left wrist. Lou Lou guessed that he was her age or a little older.
“Jeremy, that’s me,” said the boy. His overly friendly tone didn’t suit his look. “And you are…?”
“Lou Lou … Lou Lou Bombay. Where’s Mr. Gray? And what are you doing in his yard?”
“Mr. Gray?” Jeremy seemed confused. “Oh, right—the old guy. He went on a long vacation.”
Lou Lou pictured Mr. Gray eating a pastry at a café in Paris, or on a boat cruising the Amazon looking for exotic birds. But the images didn’t fit her neighbor, who rarely even left his house.
“Vacation?” she asked skeptically. “Mr. Gray?”
“Yeah, he’s visiting his sister in Toledo … or something like that. Anyway, I just moved here and my parents are renting his house for a few weeks until we find one of our own. What are you doing here?”
“I live here.” Lou Lou used her confident “duh” voice. “Why did you move?” she asked. “Will you be going to school?”
“My parents grew up in this neighborhood and we still have family here. And, yeah, of course I’m going to school. Gotta work on my smarts!” Jeremy tapped his head and grinned. Lou Lou didn’t smile back. Something about this boy seemed weird, but she couldn’t put her finger on exactly what. “Actually, I’m starting on Monday at El Corazón Public.”
Lou Lou’s ears prickled. That was her school!
“What grade?” she asked.
“Sixth,” he said. Lou Lou relaxed a little. At least he wasn’t in her class.
“Hey, what was all that noise?” Lou Lou remembered the bangs that had gotten her attention in the first place.
“Oh, that,” Jeremy said unhelpfully. He gestured at a hammer lying in the grass. “I was just working on the old guy’s fence.”
“I didn’t know the fence was broken,” replied Lou Lou.
“Yeah, it wasn’t.” Jeremy picked up the hammer and struck the metal leg of the lawn chair, grinning at the noise.
“Then why—oh, never mind. I have important stuff to do.” She decided she’d had enough of this strange boy for one morning, but tried to have some manners. “Good to meet you, though, I guess.”
“See ya soon!” Jeremy winked.
Lou Lou hurried to the avocado tree, as her visit with Pinky was overdue. But when she finally gazed upon her beloved autumn queen camellia, she gasped and reeled in horror.
“Oh, Pinky! How awful!” Lou Lou wailed. Just yesterday, Pinky had been the picture of magenta-and-green health. But now, most of the beautiful blooms had fallen off and were shriveling in the grass. The few flowers that remained were drooping and sad, as if they would drop any minute to join their fallen comrades. The camellia’s branches, which had once wished Lou Lou a happy PSPP, were now on the ground in a splintered heap. And the formerly lush leaves were wrinkled and browning at the tips. What little remained of the plant bowed toward the lawn in despair.
“What happened to you, Pinky?” Lou Lou hated crying, but she couldn’t stop the fat tears that rolled down her cheeks. She brushed them away and suppressed a sob so she could assess the possible causes of the Pinky tragedy. She’d just yesterday checked for insect pests and found none. The weather that week had been good for horticulture—enough rain and not too hot or cold. Despite the avocado tree that towered next to it, the camellia still got enough sun. With these culprits eliminated, all that remained was the mischief of an animal or human. The neighborhood cats liked to hide beneath Pinky and sniff at its leaves but they never bothered the camellia. This only left the sinister handiwork of a person.
Lou Lou put her nose to the ground and sniffed.
“Bleach and vinegar!” she cried. These were deadly poisons for a camellia, and Lou Lou’s hopes for Pinky’s recovery sank. On closer inspection, Lou Lou saw that Pinky’s broken branches had been knocked off. Someone had definitely been out to get her plant! There was no way Pinky was in the running for a Flowering Bushes and Shrubs blue ribbon now, unless there was an award for saddest camellia.
The sob finally escaped from deep in Lou Lou’s throat.
“You’ve been assaulted, Pinky! Battered and poisoned,” Lou Lou growled. “I swear on all that is green and growing that I will avenge this crime!”
It was then that Lou Lou remembered the hammer that Jeremy claimed he had used to fix the unbroken fence. A few good swings and he could have easily knocked off Pinky’s branches. And bleach and vinegar could have come from Mr. Gray’s kitchen. Lou Lou ran back to the fence and glared into her neighbor’s yard, but all she saw were the rusty old lawn chairs.
Jeremy was nowhere to be seen.