Stacy’s Garden

Chapter 1

Bored stiff, Tired, Worried and Mildly Bothered

    Stacy had lived in England as long as she could remember. She lived in Kent, tucked away in the countryside, where the fresh green trees were part of everyday life and the gentle river that flowed at the bottom of her families’ garden trickled gracefully, like a lamb playing with a butterfly in the springtime. Stacy loved the huge Georgian mansion, which she lived in. She was now twelve and she still hadn’t managed to explore every room in her home, mainly because a lot of them were forbidden and also because she tended to use her time on her flowerbed by the river. If it weren’t for the gardener, the rest of the flowers, hedges and trees would have died long ago but Stacy’s’ flowerbed would have grown strong, thanks to the time she spent on it. If the gardener wasn’t there, Stacy would have been quite happy to keep the entire garden for him, herself and her Mother and Father, although the family owned roughly fifty acres of land.

    Stacy wondered what it was like to go to ordinary school and have friends who were ordinary and maybe share secrets in the corner of the ordinary playground but she knew her life was not like this – Stacy was not expected to be ordinary. She had to have a governess and drink tea from a fancy saucer and cup and point her little finger to the ceiling while doing so. Some people would think Stacy lucky, but she felt so cramped and crowded that she thought she would never live a life. The only way she could escape from everything was her miniature garden.

    The first thing Stacy did every morning was draw the curtains, and look at the fifty acres she lived upon. It did not matter what the weather was like, she went to her flowerbed rain or shine, but she thought it was nice to see how her garden looked like at a distance.

    So one day she looked out of the window and Stacy saw that you could not tell what the day would bring. It was dark, with black rain clouds which had a thin layer of mist, but rays of sunlight peeped through, as if to pounce on some upset creature and cheer them up again. Determined to go to her garden, Stacy put on her gardening clothes slipped on a rain coat and began to do what she did every morning. Walk through one corridor, turn left at the first left turning, and continue forwards until you reach a flight of stairs. Then go down the staircase until you reach the bottom floor and the stairs will no longer reach down any further and finally turn right and carry on walking until you reach a side door – out into the garden.

    Stacy took great care not to bump into anyone during this walk or use the main entrance, as this was where most servants were at that time in the morning, and the kitchen was very near by too.

    She always packed a picnic to eat at midday for she had to walk almost three miles just to reach the river and then the real work would begin. She left a box full of gardening tools by the flowerbed, which was overlooked by an enormous oak tree with branches that stretched across the playful river. When Stacy was small she always thought the great oak was the edge of the world and if you climbed high enough you may be able to jump and touch the moon! It would be a very odd place if people could do such super-natural things. Now when Stacy looked back on it, it seemed although you could at night because of the glorious silence the country side held and the wondering lights that didn’t seem to have a place in this world.

    On her eleventh birthday, Stacy decided that she wanted to have D.I.Y tools, materials and planks of wood. Her parents had no idea why she wanted such a peculiar present, they did not think their daughter had selected a suitable one, but they bought it all the same. When she had them on her birthday she immediately carried the things down to the Oak Tree in a red plastic toboggan that she used to travel down to her garden on snowy days. She began sawing and hammering, painting and varnishing until Stacy had made a little house out of wood. A little untidy, yes but a house all the same, painted bright red on the roof with a little green door and yellow walls. With the spare wood she made a small table and a chair and a box to store the tools in, Stacy decided to keep the tools although she was sure she would probably never use them again. At three o’ clock she cleared up her clutter and admired her work. Tomorrow, she decided, was when she would eventually turn the wooden house into a wooden tree house.

*   *   *

    Stacy heard her alarm clock buzz. She moaned, turned over, and slapped her hand on top of it. She opened her eyes and saw her perfectly spotless bedroom thanks to her hard-working maids. Stacy yawned and stretched to her hearts content then walked over to her window and drew the curtains.

    She looked out and saw the fifty acres of land she saw every morning and the colourful patch of land situated at the bottom of the garden bearing a bright tiny house. The next thing she noticed was that all around her there was a lot of slippery dew. This was bad for travelling, but good for her garden and so she was thankful she didn’t have to carry her large, heavy watering can for the long three miles she had to walk.

    “Today’s the day,” Stacy murmured proudly. “I will be able to eat lunch in my own tree house!”

    Stacy was not a bit annoyed about the dismal weather. She had always said that out of all bad comes good even if it isn’t obvious what good it was.     

    This dull, horrible day that seemed to be coating the early autumn garden with thin mist was when Stacy intended to finally put her plan into action. She would at last put her lovely small house up on the Oak Tree with a well thought out practical rope machine she had read about in books.

    Stacy prepared herself for the day taking her lunch, Wellington boots, and equipment for her contraption. She put these things into a bag and placed it onto her red toboggan. She began the long walk to her garden only it didn’t seem so long any more. She knew every tree and flower in the walk and even the saplings poking up through the muddy brown soil but still she found something new to look at.

     When Stacy reached her garden she gave her body a short ten-minute rest then began her work.   

    Using the strong piece of rope she had brought with her, she tied the rope around the house and tied a loop knot on the other end of it. She tied another piece of rope onto the loop and then she threw the loop up to a high branch – and missed. It took several attempts to circle the rope onto the branch and poke it through the small loop but she some how managed. She tugged sharply on the end of the cord but her house wouldn’t budge. She tugged again and the house lifted up an inch, then dropped down again. Stacy grew tired of this fruitless work. She knew that without great strength and a fully-grown body she would never be able to lift the house with her rope contraption.

    Stacy sat down beside her little house leaning her back on it. Maybe, she thought, maybe the wood my parents bought me the wrong type. Maybe no human could lift my house and I’ll never have my little tree house to shelter from the rain at all. Stacy began to weep. Great big tears ran down her face.

    “It’s not fair. Why didn’t I just climb the tree and build it up there?” she muttered angrily. “Wait a sec.” She said as a brainwave hit her. “Perhaps no human can lift the house with my rope mechanism,” Stacy smiled. “But a big strong animal can!”

    She leapt and danced around, happy that she had cracked the confusing problem. Suddenly she stopped short. “But what animal?” she said aloud “An elephant is strong but I don’t think there is any in England. So is an ox and bull. What animal can I reach that would happily lift my house?”

    She sat back down again and began to think deeply. Who could help her? Her mother was a very important businesswoman for a very important business and Stacy knew straight away that she would be no help what so ever. She then thought of her maids and servants but they would not want to help her and even if they did they would be too tired from the long walk down to her garden.

       Stacy knew there were lots and lots of animals around her parent’s huge amount of land. There had to be a strong animal somewhere. There had to be. She thought who else could help her. There was only one person left – her Father.

    Stacys’ Father was a farmer in his spare time and a good one too. He kept animals like pigs, sheep, and cows. When she was younger she loved going down to the farm to feed the animals and watch them play around with each other. This was obviously before she was allowed her garden and walk three miles away from her family and home. But the main thing was that as well as pigs, sheep and cows her father kept horses. Stacy was sure that he would let her borrow a couple of them for the day. She was not at all spoilt at all but her Father was soft and Stacy could almost always manage to get exactly what she wanted out of him.

    Stacy danced around again. She had actually cracked the riddle completely in half. The thing was solved. Completely and utterly unravelled before her bright green lamplight eyes. The only question was if her Father would lend her a horse or two but Stacy was so confident that it didn’t even cross her mind.

    She ran as fast as her thin willowy legs would carry her, all the way back to the house. She was panting as she ripped open the back door and rushed to the kitchen.

    “Does anyone know where my father is?” She loudly queried.

    “I haven’t the faintest idea pet,” replied a cook.

    “I took some tea and biscuits up to him about eight o’clock. He was very distressed and he didn’t even touch them.” A passing maid put in.

    “I think he was about to dress and leave.” Another said.

    “Leave and go where?” Stacy inquired.

    “How would I know? I just work here minding my own business.” She replied.

    This was fishy. Stacy promptly made up her mind to find out where her Father was and ask him what was up. She couldn’t live without her tree house. She had seen them on an advertisement for a company named ‘Huts in the Sky’ that sold tree houses. She worked out how to build them off the internet and discovered it was reasonably easy. All Stacy needed was a few carpenter tools and planks of wood and she was on her way. The only way to get these things was for her birthday so she asked for them and there they were.

    Now she had put these basic blueprints into action and created her dream she was infuriated that they were not going right.

    “DAD!” she bellowed in front of everyone in the kitchen. “DAD!” she repeated.

    Stacy clenched her fists. Now I would like to point out that in general, Stacy was generally a decent person. She never killed animals for no purpose or hurt anything. She always said please and thank-you whenever she thought the words were needed and Stacy was always polite and well mannered. But one thing that really heated her up was when she needed someone and they were not there to help her. Sometimes she accepted the reasons they gave but if it was just to un-expectedly dash out of the house without telling anyone she found it was not very impressing.

    So this was the one moment where she let her anger rip out of its hellish boundaries and leap into the bleak blackness beyond. Her bright pillar-box red heart that was usually full of love pumped faster and shrivelled into a black wrinkled prune of pure exasperation.

*  *  *

She needed that horse incredibly badly. It was the one and only tall, imposing obstacle in her way. What particularly annoyed her was that she was almost certain she would be allowed. And that fact that she had ran the whole length of the garden and left all her tools out that needed clearing up to avoid rusting, decaying and such things. So Stacy decided that the best thing to do when you cannot find the parent you are looking for, something that most children would agree on, is to find the other parent instead.

    So Stacy consequently asked: “Has anyone seen my mother then?”

    “No – she’s out at work honey,” replied a kindly maid.

    “I’m all on my own then?” Stacy immediately asked a little limply.

    “Well, I wouldn’t put it like that, you have us here to look out for you and they both will come home tonight.” The maid said, biting her lip. The truth was that no one fully knew where Stacy’s father was and her mother was very stressed which was a well-known sign around the household that she was going to be working later than normal. The maid didn’t like lying to her employers’ daughter but she also didn’t like such a small, weak girl to be worried so much. “Don’t look so worried. Come have a nice hot chocolate. You look cold.”

    Stacy wasn’t nervous about her parents - a lot more the tree house. Where would she leave it overnight? Maybe under the tree to shelter from the rain? But what if some animal got to it and gnawed or scratched it? She tried to push these thoughts to the back of her head or even out of her ear where it would drift away. It didn’t work though as she began to wonder if her thoughts would reach her tree house if they did manage to drift out of her head.

    Stacy shook her head – this was insane. She should kindly thank the maid for her concern and go down to her tree house and make the best of a bad situation. She could wait until tomorrow. Her father was sure to be home.

    “Thanks, but no thanks.” Stacy said, “It was very kind of you to think of me and offer me a drink but I think I was going a bit over the top. It doesn’t matter, I can always do it tomorrow, there’s plenty of time. Sorry to bother you.”  

    “Not at all, I’m here to help.” The maid said cheerfully.

    Stacy ran down the garden and went back to her flowerbed, dashing through green bushes and bright flowers. She had decided on the way down to cover the tree house with a large sheet of thin plastic and push it under the oak tree. Everything was exactly where she had left it so she could easily tidy it all away. But now there was a greater problem. What should she do while she waited until tomorrow?

    This was a very complex problem. She had no TV or Playstation to watch or play on, as her parents did not believe in such new fangled nonsense and even if she owned them they would be in the house, a long mile away. There was not much to do on her garden. There was one little thing that had been bugging Stacy for a while though. In the little patch where her garden was situated there was many colours; blue, pink, yellow, purple, green, you could almost say that there was every tint and shade under the sun but it would be very wrong if you stated that at all. Although there were all these magnificent colours, there was a little of them that wasn’t there. This ‘little of them’ mattered very much to Stacy. That ‘little of them’ was two very common colours: black and grey. Grey is similar to a light blue seen on a Blue Persian Cat but actually that colour is a very light indigo. Black is similar to a deep red rose, that coincidentally was in Stacy’s flowerbed, but that colour is not black, more of a darkish burgundy.

    So maybe this was the time-waster she was looking for. It would take a while to find these colours that were incredibly common and nothing like the already existent exotic ones. She slowly walked around the garden looking for movable saplings and seeds that were ready to be detached from their mother. Stacy plodded at a snails pace, bored stiff, tired, worried and mildly bothered.

Chapter 2

(To be named)

    It was dark. It was cold. It was frightening. All of which sent a shiver down Stacy’s spine. An owl hooted a long way off which cut the icy silence that penetrated the air. It was the only sound to be heard and it echoed eerily, bouncing off random objects in its way (one of which was Stacy bent in an awkward position with her legs all tangled). She jumped as the sound hit her, waking her up in a rather confused matter. She stared around, her wide eyes reflecting the shock of the jolt. Her pupils began reacting to the darkness, slowly growing larger in order to aid her sight.    

    Stacy’s first thought was that her trousers were incredible soaked with mixture of mud and rain, and how would she get them dry without anybody seeing. Next she wondered why it was so dark. Then, maybe the most important thought of all; what was she doing outside?

    She panicked and rushed to get up, which pulled her leg muscles from the sudden movement. Ignoring the blazing pain travelling up and down her legs, she rushed in a random direction resulting in more pain as she had ran into a tree.

    Stacy fell back to the mud-covered ground.    

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The Meaning of Life

The meaning of life has been a great mystery to all humanity. Some say life started out with The Big Bang, others with God creating the World but everyone has something they think is right. From every stage of life people thought about it but no one has ever thought animals had anything to do with it.

   One cold blustery afternoon, on Black Cherry farm, Chop-Chop the piglet was curling up with his mum and brothers and sisters in the sty, he asked, “What is the meaning of life Bacon?” who was one of his brothers.

   “Huh? Oh I don’t know, ask Ham.” He answered.

   “Ham what’s the meaning of life?”

   “Ask mum, silly.” Said Ham gruffly.

   “Mum what’s the meaning of life?“ questioned Chop-Chop

   “That’s for you to find out love.”

   “No one knows the meaning of life” Thought Chop-Chop miserably. “I’ve got to find out I’ve just got to. I know, I‘ll find the meaning of life somewhere else, if I run away from the sty I can find the it then I will return home.”

*  *  *

   At night, when all the pigs were asleep in the sty, Chop-Chop sneaked out into the night.

   “What are you doing?” Quacked a croaky voice.

   “Can’t you see? I’m running away.” Whispered Chop-Chop.

   “So am I” replied the voice. “By the way, I’m Feather, Feather the duck.”

   “Oh,” said Chop-Chop quietly “Why are you running away?”

   “No one ever takes any notice of me,” said Feather sadly. “Why are you?”

   “I’m trying to find the meaning of life. Do you know?” questioned Chop-Chop

   “Sorry, no” answered Feather.

   “Well, we better get going.” Whispered Chop-Chop.

   So the pair headed to the farmyard gate. Luckily the gate was left slightly open. Feather and Chop-Chop slipped through it.

   Outside the gate was dark and frightening. It seemed so different from the day.

   “We’d better press on.” Quivered Feather.

   “Which way shall we go?” Asked Chop-Chop.

   “Right” said Feather.

   “Right what?” Exclaimed Chop-Chop.

   “No right” persisted Feather.

   “Oh” said Chop-Chop a little confused.

   They walked right to the end of the road. They heard a strange noise coming from the other direction.

   “Dive!” Cried Feather.

   They jumped onto the pavement and into the bushes, just in time to see an enormous lorry moving ahead. They did not realise behind them was an enormous wood.

   “That was close.” Puffed Chop-Chop.

   “To close.” Agreed Feather.

   “There are lots of trees, like on the farm around here, but they seem to be in large clusters” said Chop-Chop.

   Suddenly the couple heard a rustling of leaves, then they saw a small scuttling creature, no smaller than a mouse.                                                                                                                     

   “W-w-w, what are you?” Stammered Chop-Chop.

   “I’m a vole.” Squeaked a high pitched lady-like voice ”What are you?”

   “I’m a duck.” Feather positively said.

   “And I’m a pig.” Said Chop-Chop.

   “Names.” Said the vole.

   “Chop-Chop” Answered Chop-Chop.

   “Feather” Muttered Feather

   “A pleasure I’m sure. I’m Velvet the vole.”

   “Hi Velvet!” Chop-Chop cheerily said.

   “Hello” mumbled Feather.

    It was easy to see that Feather and Velvet were not going to get on so well.

   “Why are there so many trees around us?” Asked Chop-Chop.

   “This area is called a wood. Your definitely not from around here, where are you from?”

   “We’re from Black Cherry Farm, and both of us are running away from our sty and-that’s a point, what part of the farm are you from Feather?”

   “I was from the pond at the bottom of the farmers garden."

   “Oh, that’s interesting, very interesting, you were saying Chop-Chop” Said sarcastic Velvet.

   “Well, as I was saying, both of us have run away from Black Cherry farm and I am trying to find the meaning of life.” Said Chop-Chop proudly.

   “I’m trying to find, well - nothing and I’m running away because....” Stuttered Feather.

   “I have heard enough! I’m coming with you on your ‘Escape’. I might help you sometime.” Said Velvet.

    “Yeah like!” Muttered Feather.

    “Feather! I’ve seen a new side of you!” Cried Chop-Chop.

    “How ungentle man-like!” Said Velvet poshly.

    “Where shall we sleep?” Asked Chop-Chop.

    “I know a mossy, grassy place in the forest. I will take you both there to sleep”

* * *

The grassy place was quite uncomfortable for sleeping on, but comfy enough considering that they were in the wood.

   Velvet was the first to get up in the morning.

   “Wake up you two!” She screeched. “We need to get a move on!”

   “But Velvet, it’s so early, I can still see the moon!” Yawned Chop-Chop.

   “Hey! Where’s Feather?” Suddenly awakening.

    Feather was still sleeping contentedly on the moss, even after Velvet screeching!

   “Feather, wake up! We need to get a move on!” Cried Chop-Chop

    Feather didn’t budge.

    “The farm will be awake soon Feather.”

    “Wahh! A move on we will get!” Cried Feather immediately. “Are they here yet?”

    “They will soon, we better run through the wood. You know the wood well Velvet, where can we go?”

   “But what about food!” Cried Feather.

   “Food can wait, Where Velvet, Where?!” Said Chop-Chop as desperate as Feather was for food.

   Velvet scuttled to a fence.

   “Follow me!” She shouted.

   Chop-Chop and Feather quickly and obediently followed.

   Velvet went under the fence; Feather easily went through the tiny gap but Chop-Chop just couldn’t do it.

   “Come on Chop-Chop!” Said Feather.

   “I can’t fit through! Help Feather! Help Velvet! Heellp!!” Squeaked Chop-Chop.   Suddenly they heard voices. Men voices!

   “Shh, Chop-Chop it’s going to be alright.” Soothed Velvet.

   “Not when I’m in a tin of cat food it won’t be. Mum always said to look out horrible men with guns.” Sobbed Chop-Chop bursting into tears.

   “Nothing will happen to you when were around.” Said Feather in a true friend- voice.

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To be continued  . . . meanwhile, go read a different story. Go back to the top!

The Last Tree in the World

The tree fell. Darkness would now always cover the earth. No creature would ever roam the world’s surface again. One man had murdered all animals and humans.

    There would now only be deserts and seas. No life, just a desolate planet floating in the universe.

    All animals choked to death due to the lack of oxygen. All accept the man who had felled the last tree on earth. For this man was no ordinary man. He had watched the humans fell most of the trees and saw them suffer from a distant spaceship, planning to rid all life on earth. He thought of his acts as good. He had put the earth’s creatures out of their misery. That tree had be destroyed one day, so why shouldn’t that day be today?

    He chuckled to himself. Once he cleared all the bodies he could finally take back what the humans took from him, his home planet. Only two of his kind survived in the Great War between his people and the humans:

    In 4687AD, the human colonies wanted to expand. All planets near their home were inappropriate for expansion. They were either too hot or too cold. Made of only gas or of liquid. Had a poisonous atmosphere. The list just went on and on. The closest planet that was suitable was his planet.

    He and several others of his species’ had flown to strike a bargain with a neighbouring planet. When he and his companions returned, he found the planet crawling with humans. When the first of the crew stepped out of the spaceship, the humans immediately killed them. He and a female survived and they flew away together, plotting revenge. They watched the trees fall, then acted fast. They flew to earth and cut down the last and final tree.

    He chucked to himself again. Although he may have lost his home planet, it didn’t mean that he had lost all. He still had his life, his ship, and a friend. And now he had a planet all to himself.

    The man walked away from the stump and to a security guard. Using up all his last energy, the guard shot at him, once, twice, then three times in the head.

    “Fool!” he told the guard “You think you can defeat me with one of your guns?”

    Then, concentrating hard, he looked at the approaching bullets. Then suddenly they stopped in mid air turned around. They angled themselves at the guard. The man then let the bullets go, and they hit the guard straight in the chest. Blood seeped out of the wound, staining the dirt around him.

    All the other humans around him were making rasping sounds, desperate for oxygen. He gave one of the bodies a kick. Revenge felt so good. He kicked some others. Then a slim figure began walking towards him. How could anyone survive? He thought. But as the figure came into view he realised whom it was, his only friend in the whole universe. He ran to embrace her and she ran to him.

    “We did it!” she whispered to him.

    “It’s not over yet.” He whispered back. “We need to clear all the bodies.”

    “Once the humans on our planet discover what’s happened they’ll be powerless to stop us!” she giggled.

    “Don’t get over-excited.” He said firmly.

    “I won’t. I’m just so pleased.” She answered

    “I am too.” He replied, “I am too.”

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