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When Eden woke in the morning her eyes lit on a shape curled up on the edge of her lawn. She smiled at the sight of Jack, still lying there fast asleep. Late in the evening, when it didn’t look like he planned on leaving, she’d tossed him a blanket and pillow. But the blanket had fallen off, and he looked cold, with his arms wrapped tightly around himself. Eden felt the urge to walk down there and pull the blanket snugly around him. Of course, that would undoubtedly do more harm than good. Jack was a sight best enjoyed from afar.
Eden stood and stretched, dropping her blanket over her arm. She reached down to pick up her tea mug, but it wasn’t there. She shrugged. She’d probably taken it in when she’d gone in to get the cake.
“Morning, Gabi,” Eden said.
“I don’t know what’s so good about it. I seem to have slipped down onto my face during the night. Did I miss anything good?” Her tone was teasing.
“Yeah, I kissed Jack and an anvil fell on his head,” Eden whispered.
“Was it worth it?”
Eden laughed. As she bent to pick up Gabi, she saw something bright out of the corner of her eye. She turned her head and jumped back, nearly stumbling on the stairs. “Woah!”
Jack sprung to his feet, as if he’d been ready for the first sign of trouble. “What is it?” He turned “You okay?”
“Sorry, I’m fine, but ...” She pointed at Clixie’s house.
Jack turned, and his eyes widened.
“When did Clixie have her house painted?” Eden asked. “I swear it wasn’t that way yesterday.”
Eden hurried down the steps, but getting a closer look at Clixie’s house was more difficult than she’d expected. She and Jack found themselves engaged in a kind of long-distance dance, with one of them retreating so the other could move forward. Finally they both stood in front of the house with a good twenty feet between them.
“It’s incredible,” Eden said.
Clixie’s entire house had changed from tan to yellow. The front door was a mural of a flower garden, with beetles and butterflies fluttering upward. Her white rockers had been repainted too. One was red with black spots, and two antennae poked up from the top. The other had beautiful orange and black wings attached to the back.
“How did this happen? We would have seen someone out here doing all this work,” Eden said.
“I don’t know how it happened, but Beverly’s not going to like it,” Jack said.
Eden’s smile fell away. “The covenants. Clixie’s going to get herself killed.” Fear clawed at Eden’s chest as she hurried up to the front door and knocked.
Clixie opened the door. “Eden, how nice to see you.”
Eden clasped her shaking hands behind her back and tried to smile. “It’s nice to see you, too.”
Clixie peeked outside, squinting her eyes. “Is that Jack out there?” She frowned, and her brow creased in concern. “You know, there are other young men around. You should have a relationship that doesn’t result in head trauma or broken bones. I have a very nice nephew who lives in—”
“Clixie, your house looks beautiful.”
Her forehead crinkled. “My house?”
“When you said you wanted to do something more exciting I never dreamed you’d do all this. But I can’t figure out how you did it. Was someone out here painting in the middle of the night?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Clixie stepped outside. Her mouth fell open when she saw her rockers and the bright yellow paint. Then a look of understanding filled her eyes. “Ohhh,” she said quietly.
“Clixie? What happened here?”
“Well, I can’t say for sure.” Clixie shook her head, making her way over to the butterfly rocker to sit down. Then she looked up at Eden and nodded firmly. “Actually, I can. I suppose I did this.”
“You did this? How? When?”
“During the night.”
“Clixie, I don’t understand.”
Clixie placed a withered hand over her chest, taking a deep breath. Then suddenly, a laugh burst out. Her face was so full of joy that, for a moment, Eden forgot her worry.
Then the old woman’s smile drooped into a frown. “I was beginning to think it was all a dream; that it never really happened.”
“The house?” Eden sat down in the ladybug rocker.
“No. You see, when I was fourteen, my parents took us to the circus.” Clixie’s eyes lit up, as if she were seeing it all over again. “Oh, the colors, the people, the music, all the animals. I was in heaven.” She looked down, knitting her fingers together. “That night I dreamed I’d run off with the circus and married a man who swallowed fire. In the morning I woke to my mother screaming. My bed canopy was on fire.”
“Are you saying—”
“I’d created what I’d seen in my dreams, without realizing it. After that I still saw colors and heard beautiful music, but I tried not to let my imagination run wild again. I was afraid something bad would happen. But look at this.” She smiled again, covering her mouth with her hand. “This doesn’t look dangerous.”
Eden’s heart ached as she looked at the old woman. “Of course not.”
Eden only had herself to blame. Her conversation with Clixie the other day must have ignited her imagination, and made her want to show the world the beauty she saw in ordinary things every day. Clixie was so happy. How could Eden tell her it had to go?
But if she didn’t, her sweet neighbor could be in serious danger.