Page 109 of Weekends with the Sunshine Gardening Society
‘Just hang it on the wall where you can see it every day and that will be thanks enough for me,’ she says softly.
Releasing her, Elizabeth nods. ‘I’ll just put it safely away.’
Stashing it in her bedroom, she returns to the sitting room and gestures for Cynthia and Lorraine to descend to the garden they know so well.
Children from Charlie’s class are running around after a tennis ball being thrown by Simon, narrowly missing the table that is laden with popcorn and red frogs and chips and Simon’s favourite Cheezels.
Elizabeth’s parents are helping two girls choose food, and her mother smiles in her direction. They have been here for hours, helping with everything, and yet again Elizabeth wonders how she’d cope without them. When she said something along those lines her mother said, ‘Darling, there’s nowhere else we’d rather be than with you and Charlie’, and that made Elizabeth falter a little because there have been times when she’s wanted to be anywhere else but here. They’re fewer now, though.
‘Lorrie! Cyn!’ Shirl calls, holding up a plastic glass that Elizabeth filled with wine not long before. ‘Kath’s just telling us that she’s in the Parks Association with my mate Emma.’
Elizabeth drifts over to where Barb is sitting in a director’s chair, one leg crossed over the other, smiling serenely.
‘Isn’t this wonderful?’ Barb says. ‘A garden full of life, in all ways.’
Charlie squeals as the tennis ball hits him, then he giggles and grabs it, brandishing it in the air.
‘The lawn may not recover,’ Elizabeth mutters and Barb waves a hand.
‘It will,’ she says. ‘And it’s for using, not looking at. There is no better use than this.’
‘I guess not.’
While the garden’s flowers aren’t in bloom, it looks lush and orderly enough to be the haven Jon created and dreamed of continuing. Elizabeth may never have the same interest and passion in gardening as he had but she understands now that it’s not just about the result – about looking at something lovely. The ongoing work of maintaining the garden creates the connection to it, which in turn increases the enjoyment of it when it blooms. Which means that a garden can provide rewards year round, not just in spring. This is knowledge she likely could have lived her whole life without and not missed it, but she’s glad to know it now. Glad too for the small community of women who have taught it to her or learnt it with her.
‘Congratulations, my dear,’ Barb says. ‘You have created beauty – in this garden, in this day, in your son. I applaud you.’
‘Thank you, Barb,’ Elizabeth says, then she sees Lorraine barrelling towards her holding two glasses.
‘Drinks, Liz!’ Lorraine calls. ‘Then let’s get the party pies into the oven.’
Elizabeth laughs and takes the proffered glass of white wine before making her way back into the house, Lorraine at her heels chattering about how they should take the boys to Maleny on the weekend and how she’s thinking about putting Simon into Nippers next summer and maybe Charlie should join too. The sounds, and signs, of life continuing, just as she knows it should.
CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT
‘Terrr-rrrryyyy!Biiiiinnnnsss!’
Lorraine pokes her head out the back door and looks around the garden but can see no sign of her eldest son. Of course. It’s rubbish night and he’s meant to put the bins out but he’s probably on his skateboard somewhere. Or smoking behind a shed like she did when she was a teenager. She always thought Rose didn’t know butof courseshe knew. Like she knew Cora was tricky the second she met her. Except now Rose and Cora have become thick as thieves, and it’s left Lorraine feeling like she’s in some horror movie, except it’s not the usual sort of horror – it’s an unnamed creeping sensation of not being able to name your worst fear but suspecting it’s about to come true.
Actually, she can name it – now. It wasn’t something that existed a few weeks ago, because never in her wildest dreams would she have imagined that her mother and Mike’s mother would become so clubby, yet there they are, playing gin rummy in the living room, telling Lorraine to go off and have fun while they watch Simon. Except they’re so rapt with each other she’s convinced Simon could crack his head open and they wouldn’t notice until blood dripped on their cards.
Revenge, that’s what it is. Cora’s revenge for all those years Lorraine grumbled about her. She’s captivated Rose and Lorraine is now second fiddle in her own mother’s life. Outrageous!
‘Terrr-rrrryyyy!’ It’s worth another crack.
‘Yeah?’
Lorraine jumps because the voice seems to come from nowhere. She turns around and sees him leaning in the kitchen doorway.
‘Where were you?’
‘Talking to Nana and Gran.’
Whispering, more like it, because she didn’t hear them.
‘It’s bin night.’
He rolls his eyes. ‘I know.’
