CHAPTER 10

TWO ANSWERS

We had two answers, actually. “Look!” I held up two petri dishes. “Both onion and garlic worked!”

“Wonderful!” exclaimed Mom.

I took a closer look at the petri dishes. “Hmmm, it looks like there’s just a little bit of bacteria on the one with onion. But it’s a really small amount.” Next I looked at the garlic petri dish. “OK, there’s seriously nothing on this one. Does that make garlic the best choice?”

“You got it.” Mom smiled.

“So now we need a LOT of garlic. Like maybe all of our garlic?” My dad was obsessed with garlic so we had two full rows of it growing in our backyard. But that cut on Tiny was huge. I was going to need all of it. “Do you think Dad will mind?”

“We’ll have to come up with something to tell Dad,” Mom said. “But I know if he could see Tiny, he would absolutely give up his garlic.”

That settled it. With Tiny getting worse, I didn’t want to waste a single moment. I threw on my shoes and grabbed a bucket from outside the kitchen door.

Tiny’s droopy eyes were barely open. Sassafras perked up when he saw me burst out the back door. “We figured out how to fix the cut!” I shouted across the yard to them. I bolted to the garden, where I probably set a new record for the fastest garlic-harvesting ever.

Mom and I set up a production line where I washed the garlic and she chopped off the roots and stems. I chopped batch after batch of garlic. Our kitchen smelled like an Italian restaurant!

I grabbed all my supplies for a new bandage for Tiny. Mom helped me carry those and the big old bowl of chopped garlic outside.

We set it all down, and Sassafras trotted toward the bowl. He took one sniff, wrinkled his nose, and sneezed.

I walked over to Tiny and gently pet his nose. “OK, Tiny. I think we’ve got this figured out. I ran an experiment, and garlic got rid of the bad bacteria from your cut. I’ve chopped up a big bowl of garlic, and I’m going to gently cover your cut with it. Then I’ll bandage it up like I did before. Your cut should feel better in a few hours.”

I gave his nose a pet. “I know you aren’t feeling very well, but it will be easiest for me to get the garlic and the bandage on if you are standing. Do you think you can stand up for me?”

Tiny gave a very small nod. But it barely ruffled my hair. Oh, Tiny!

It took him a minute, but Tiny finally stood up to his full height. He carefully set his bad leg down so I could reach the swollen cut easily.

“First, I’m using a clean paintbrush to spread the chopped garlic on your cut. It might tickle!”

Tiny wiggled a little but did a good job holding pretty still.

“Now I’m going to cover the wound and the garlic with the paper towels. Mom, can you hold this while I wrap it?” Mom held the paper towels in place with both hands while I walked around Tiny’s huge leg, pulling the plastic wrap snug. Finally I used the packing tape to keep it all in the right spot on Tiny’s tree trunk of a leg.

I patted him. “All set, Tiny! You can hang out here if you’d like. I’m sure Sassafras would love to keep you company.”

“TINY FAMILY WORRY. TINY SHOULD GO.”

“Oh, right. That makes sense.” I was a little bummed to see him go, but I knew how my parents would worry if I were gone for this long. Especially if I were sick!

Mom and I hunkered down as Tiny began his earth-rattling hops back into the forest, but Sassafras took off after Tiny.

“Come back, Sassafras! You can’t follow Tiny!” I hollered.

Sassafras completely ignored me. Stinker.

Luckily, Tiny turned around. “NO KITTY. NO FOLLOW. TINY BE BACK SOON.”

Sassafras grumbled and reluctantly made his way back to us. Tiny had just disappeared when Dad burst from the house.

“Another earthquake? This is getting out of hand! Are you all OK?”

Whoops. Dad was home from work! Mom jogged over and put her arm around him. I saw him slowly relax as they went back inside. Whatever she was saying to him was working!

I made a silent wish that Tiny was already starting to feel better, and then headed inside for dinner.