Inside the deserted garden, Gnomeo gazed at his reflection in one of the windows of the greenhouse. For what must have been the tenth time, he practiced what he would say when Juliet arrived.

“Hey, Juliet! What a name—it goes with your eyes. Did it hurt when you fell down from heaven? So, how you doing?”

As Gnomeo was talking to himself, Juliet appeared in the reflection behind him. “Oh, I’m fine. How are you?” she said in a teasing voice.

Gnomeo spun around and blushed. Busted!

He leaned against a stack of firewood, trying to regain his cool. But the stack started to wobble and Gnomeo lost his balance!

Juliet pushed Gnomeo out of the way just as the logs went crashing loudly to the ground.

“I forgot. Stealth is your middle name,” she joked, giggling. “Do you think anyone heard that?” she then wondered nervously.

“There’s nobody here,” Gnomeo replied. He smiled to himself. It was just the two of them. On a date. Together.

Juliet spotted something in the overgrown lawn nearby. She ran over and parted the long blades of grass in front of it.

“It’s a 1950s model!” she cried. She couldn’t believe it. This type of old-fashioned lawn mower was rare these days. “It’s got the original chrome hubcaps!”

“Yeah, they featured those the first year,” Gnomeo remarked, admiring the antique.

“Actually, they were available by special order through 1954, when they switched to aluminum,” Juliet corrected him, winking.

Gnomeo grinned. Not only was Juliet beautiful, but she also knew her mowers! She was too perfect.

“Let’s start it up!” Juliet exclaimed.

Gnomeo hesitated, but only for a second. “Okay,” he agreed. An opportunity like this was too good to pass up. He jumped on board and grabbed the throttle. “Check out the power on this beauty!”

He tried to start up the mower. Putt, putt, putt. He tried again. Putt, putt. Nothing. “She’s empty,” he said, disappointed. He looked around and spotted the old shed. There had to be some kind of fuel in there!

“Bingo,” he said, taking Juliet by the hand.

Juliet found a long metal rod and offered it to Gnomeo. He used it to pick the lock on the shed door. The heavy door creaked as it opened.

The two gnomes crept inside the dark shed. As their eyes adjusted to the gloom, a gust of wind blew the door shut behind them. Slam! Gnomeo and Juliet jumped. Then, in the darkness, they heard an unfamiliar voice.

Gnomeo and Juliet screamed and scrambled to open the door. Racing into the yard, they dove behind the toppled pile of logs.

“What was that?” Gnomeo asked, panting.

“I have no idea,” said Juliet. She eyed the shed door nervously.

Gnomeo took charge. “Okay,” he called to the shed door. “Whatever you are, come out slowly. I have a loaded weapon and I’m not afraid to use it.” He held the metal rod in his hand, ready to strike.

Gnomeo and Juliet waited. But nothing happened.

“Do you think I scared him?” Gnomeo asked Juliet.

“Oh, definitely,” came a voice from behind them.

Gnomeo and Juliet shrieked again. Who was that?

“My name’s Featherstone,” said a plastic pink flamingo. Featherstone grabbed the metal rod Gnomeo was holding. He shoved it into the ground and perched on top of it. How nice to have his leg back!

Gnomeo looked relieved. Featherstone was a lawn ornament, just like them!

“Sorry, we didn’t think anybody lived here!” Gnomeo told Featherstone.

But Juliet still looked nervous. She couldn’t afford to be seen with Gnomeo. It was too risky.

“Yes, we shouldn’t be here. We’ll be going now,” Juliet said nervously. She tugged on Gnomeo’s sleeve, urging him to leave with her. The two took off across the grass.

But Featherstone wasn’t going to let them get away easily. He was thrilled to have visitors, and besides, he’d recognized young love as soon as he’d seen them. “I think you two are on a date,” he said knowingly.

Gnomeo and Juliet began talking at the same time, each trying to come up with a good cover story. “Date?” Gnomeo repeated. “Nooo. No, we’re not—”

“Date? No way! What makes you think—?” Juliet started. “Definitely not dating—we’re fighting. That’s what we’re doing.”

“Yes,” Gnomeo agreed. “Fighting to the death.”

Juliet pointed at her hat and then at Gnomeo’s. “Don’t you see, we’re mortal enemies,” she said. “He’s a Blue…”

“And she’s a Red,” Gnomeo finished.

Featherstone looked bored. “And I’m pink,” he said with a shrug. Featherstone frankly didn’t care why these two gnomes were in his garden. He was just glad to see someone. He had been locked in the shed alone for twenty years!

Featherstone looked sadly at the broken greenhouse windows and the scummy pond. He strode past Gnomeo and Juliet toward the old mower. He started to drag it across the overgrown grass.

“She’s empty,” Gnomeo told Featherstone.

“I’ve got gas in the shed,” Featherstone replied. “It’s in a can. Come on.”

Gnomeo and Juliet beamed at each other. This was going to be awesome!

Within minutes the trio had the mower gassed up and ready to go.

“Let her rip,” Gnomeo told Juliet, inviting her to start the old mower. A wide smile crossed her face as she pulled the throttle and revved the engine. Then she took off!

Juliet made some wild, sharp turns, almost flipping over, but she took each curve like a professional driver. After a few tricky, hair-raising moves around the old place, she screeched to a halt in front of Gnomeo and Featherstone.

“Ta-da,” Juliet announced as she leaped from the mower and landed in front of Gnomeo. When he looked at her path, he saw that she had carved the initials G+J into the tall grass.

“Fantastic penmanship,” Featherstone said, admiring it. “But we still have to do something about these weeds.”

“They’re not weeds,” Juliet said. “They’re dandelion wishes. Go on. Make a wish and then blow on it.”

“A weed by any other name…,” Featherstone replied sarcastically, before giving it a try. But his attempt at blowing on the dandelion didn’t quite work. “It’s kind of hard with a beak.”

Then Featherstone tried one more time, and only one little white seed flew into the air. Featherstone sighed and walked away to be alone.

Juliet and Gnomeo looked at each other shyly and started to talk. Juliet decided to explain why her father was so strict.

“My dad’s a little overprotective,” Juliet admitted. In truth, driving the mower was the first unsafe thing she’d ever done—aside from sneaking around with Gnomeo.

Gnomeo understood exactly what Juliet was talking about. “Well, my mom raised me to hate you guys,” he replied. “So it could never work. Could it?”

“A Red and a Blue,” Juliet said sadly. “It just can’t be.”

Meanwhile, Featherstone had been blowing dandelions successfully, and he wanted to make as many wishes as he could. “I wish we could all come back and do this tomorrow,” he said. “I promise that your secret is safe with me.”

Juliet looked at Gnomeo. It was as if Featherstone had read her mind.

“Should we?” Juliet asked Gnomeo.

“I can do eleven-forty-five,” he said.

“Not soon enough,” Juliet replied, giggling.

Gnomeo took Juliet’s hand one last time, and then they parted.