Chapter 10

“It was a darn little bread smackin’ fire in the house,” Grey explained and that pretty much summed it up. Celeste acted like it was very usual. “Hmm, another burn mark.” She leaned down and touched the small black mark. It was not very noticeable, only when the Cubs really looked around the room, they spotted two more. One just above their small stove, and one hiding in the corner of two cabinets. They wondered about why the couple gets fires so much, and what did they come from, but the children kept their thoughts quiet. No one would want to possibly bring up bad memories

Celeste had hurriedly organized Della, Elmi, Annabel, Kaylin, and Grey with their gardening equipment. She gave Elmi a pair of old gloves and then grabbed her hand in surprise. “Elmi!” exclaimed Celeste. “Your fingernails are so long!” “Oh yeah,” Elmi said blushing, “I forgot that. I was supposed to clip them the day we… the day we left.” Elmi couldn’t help sadly thinking about Bear. He must be so worried, he might even think they might have drowned! The police are probably looking frantically for them. Too bad Celeste and Grey don’t have a phone, computer, mailman, or even a fax machine!

“Why don’t you quickly go file them on the Clipper Brick,” Celeste instructed kindly. “W-wait, the Clipper Brick?” Elmi asked, mystified. “Yeah, you can just go rub your nails on it,” Celeste replied simply. She pointed to a little red brick by the side of the house.

Feeling quite bewildered, Elmi cautiously stepped towards the little brick. Some vines and moss rooted it to the ground so she couldn’t pick it up. “I just scrape my nails on this little thing…” Elmi murmured. She tried first her thumb. Rubbing it back and forth evenly, she got it to the perfect length quickly and easily. “Wow! It works so quickly!” Elmi yelled at the others. She quickly did the other nails and raced back to her sisters. They all gazed down at her perfectly smooth fingernails, they almost shined in the light.

They smiled and chatted while they worked on pruning the plants on and around Grey’s house. They didn’t quite know where the garden started or ended, so they just stayed close to the house… or at least some did. “Annabel! What are you doing all the way over there?” Elmi asked to Annabel, who was standing halfway to the other side of the clearing.

“I-I calculated the fastest way to prune all the plants in the garden… I mean all the plants in the…” Annabel trailed off. Then she frowned in confusion. “Mm. What plants are considered ‘in this garden’?” Before anyone could answer, (Which would take a crazy amount to even think about) Celeste popped up from behind the bushes and yelled, “Hey, who wants a snack?”

The children gulped. Was she going to make some more torturous food? To their relief, Grey answered before it became too awkward that they would have to say something. “We could maybe work for a bit more? Like, we’re almost done.”

Annabel flushed, half the time she had spent far away from the actual work. Barely noticeably, she drifted back to the house’s general area. Now, within half an hour, they finished up, and headed inside.

“Now for that snack I was talking about!” Celeste announced loudly. Oh no! Elmi worried. I thought we had gotten around this! All their negative thoughts changed when they heard this: “It’s yoghurt!” Their mouths instantly watered. They loved yoghurt!

The first few bites were automatic, but soon they slowly smoothed the mushy substance around in their mouths. It was very rich. Delicious, but VERY rich and creamy. They almost chewed it. “Is this greek yogurt?” Kaylin asked, after a spoonful of the thick treat, because that’s the thickest yoghurt they have ever tasted and nothing could get creamier.

“No, but we do have some thicker, greek if you want it!” Celeste replied.

“Wait, you have something richer than this?” Elmi asked incredulously.

“Oh, yeah, this is only the beginning,” Grey beamed. “We’ve also got extra-rich greek!” A gasp came, and yoghurt was all down Annabel’s face.