Zera and the Green Man (10 page)

“Hmm?”
Theodore, taking off his tuxedo jacket and hanging it over a chair, went to get a glass of water at the bar.

“I made a comment about
Langston, how I had a lot of experience in cosmetics and studying facial structures, and that I’d noticed that Langston was just so incredibly attractive.”

Pouring a glass of water, Theodore yawned.
Doesn’t sound like a shocker to me.

“I told her that Langston reminded me of an actor, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it and she said, now Theodore, get this: ‘A little Nicky Wayne, the nose and the chin, and a little Robert Ransom, the eyes and the lips.’ Theodore, he’s had a lot of plastic surgery!”

The information didn’t compute with Theodore. “Was he in some kind of accident or something?”

Tiffany laughed.
“No, silly. Crystal said before the surgery he was all money and brains, no looks at all! Well, he had an okay body, but his face was just . . .  yuck. Crystal worked at VCC before she became a model and said that his dad used to make fun of him all the time, when Langston worked as a scientist. So after he died, Langston had all this surgery.”

Theodore felt a little ill. Sure, plastic surgery was something every celebrity out there was doing, not to mention scads of
wealthy and even not-so-wealthy people, but Langston, changing most of his facial features?
Beyond strange
. He felt like he’d spent several hours with someone who was partially a . . . a hoax. “That’s really weird.”

“Oh, Theodore, you’re just helplessly old-fashioned.”

“Maybe. But I just wasn’t raised to be comfortable with those kinds of things. You said Crystal worked at Void Corporation?”

“For a while.
She was Langston’s dad’s secretary. But after he died, she got into modeling and then started dating Langston. That was a couple of years ago.”

Theodore shook his head. “I can’t get over it.
Plastic surgery.”

“He’s just trying to improve himself. Crystal said he had a pretty tough life. That his parents split up when he was a baby and he never saw his mother again. His father was pretty mean. Crystal said she’s also had work done, and so has Zirconia.”

“That doesn’t surprise me.”

“Everyone does it here. I wouldn’t mind doing something about, you know, this double chin.”

“Tiffany, your chin is fine. Please don’t get sucked into that mentality. And not everyone does it here. Troy Sylvan doesn’t.”

“Crystal said he’s the odd man out. That she’s always fixing him up with models, but he never seems to date any of them for long.”

“Hmm.”
The term La-La Land entered Theodore’s mind, and not for not the first time that day.
“That doesn’t mean a lot. One thing’s for sure, we’re not in Kansas, I mean Colorado, anymore, Tiff.”

“That’s for sure. It’s
so
much better here.” Tiffany picked up her shoes and took them to the closet. “I’m beat, and I feel a little sick from all that food. I’m going to have to spend a few hours down in the hotel gym tomorrow.”

“We’d better get up early, then. Langston
says he has a big day planned.

Tuesday,
June 3

“UR UR UR UR Urrrrrr!”

“URRR Ur Ur Urrrrrr!”
 

First one bantam rooster crowed, then the other, as if they were challenging each other in a raspy barnyard duel. The racket came in through the open window.  

What the heck . . .
Zera turned over in her bed, pulled the quilt up to her chin.
Crowing?
She opened her eyes and for a moment couldn’t remember where she was. Then a sensation, bittersweet, swept over her. Bitter because of the lost time, sweet because for the first time in what seemed like forever she didn’t feel disappointed upon waking up and realizing where she was.

The room glowed with the dawn. A chilly breeze pushed through the open window and tousled the curtains. Zera got out of bed, pulling the quilt off and wrapping it around her as she made her way over to the window to close it.

She stopped at the view. The lower mountains surrounding Ute Springs glowed dark purple, blue, and green. Several miles in the distance, Pikes Peak loomed, its snow-white top shining.
All this in an Easter egg sky of pink and turquoise . .
.

Her gaze traveled to the box of plants sitting on top of her
suitcase.
Something about them . . . another dream.
She couldn’t remember what the dream was about, but she recalled a soothing voice, the comfort of feeling looked after and safe. She was glad they were there with her.
I need to find perfect places for all of you today.
       

Zera dressed and hurried downstairs. In the living room, Cato and Alice wagged their tails in greeting from their sleeping spots on the furniture.

Through the large pocket doors leading into the kitchen, Zera saw Nonny.

“Good mornin’, Sunshine. You’re up with the dawn, just like I knew you’d be.”

Zera grinned back as a ritual, nearly forgotten, came back to her in perfect clarity. “Mornin’, Grandma Moon,” she answered. For as long as she could remember, they had greeted each other by those names in the morning — Sunshine and Grandma Moon.

Nonny nodded toward the dogs.
“Still spoiled rotten, as you can see.”

“As they should be,” Zera said.

Nonny took a sip from her coffee mug. “I told Hattie we’d come by and see her today. She called yesterday evening while you were outside and invited us to lunch. Is that all right with you?”

“Sounds great, Nonny.”

* * *

After a morning of chores, tending to the animals, and unpacking her clothes, Zera moved her plants. 

Nonny suggested “giving them a summer vacation too,” so Zera brought all but Sunny to the porch. Knowing that they, like people, could be sunburned, she chose a lightly-shaded spot until they got used to being outdoors. The Venus flytrap, whose natural home was in a bog or swamp, stayed upstairs in her room near the window on the table. 

Nonny insisted they walk to Hattie’s.

“Are you sure?” Zera said uneasily, thinking about the steepness of the streets and her grandmother’s handicap. “Uncle Theodore said you had a special-equipped car.”

“I do, and the car works fine. So do I. My dear, if people can run the Boston Marathon on one leg, I sure as heck can handle a few blocks.”

  Through no fault of Nonny’s, it took them over an hour to get to the bottom of the hill.
A half-dozen neighbors spotted them during the seven-block descent, and they all wanted to welcome Zera back and chat for a few minutes.

It seemed to Zera as if the early June morning was beautiful just for her; the temperature pleasantly warm, the sky dotted with white clouds suspended like fat cotton cushions. Zera delighted in them, so close overhead. Her heart, for a change, felt as free and buoyant as they looked. Never had the sky seemed this
bright in Piker.

As they walked down Ute Boulevard, the door of Nell’s Coffee House opened.
It’s Cosmic Dan!
Dan was lanky but moved elegantly. He always wore jeans, usually with a cotton, button-up shirt and cowboy boots. He wore his hair naturally, in a medium-sized Afro, and his exotic features, combined with the fact that he was a virtuoso electric guitarist, reminded not only Zera, but everyone who met him, of the rock legend Jimi Hendrix.   

Everyone in town knew Dan’s story. He happened through Ute Springs long ago, on his way to college in California, but he fell in love with the town and stayed. Dan abided by a personal philosophy of “love, live, and learn as much as you can.” He’d sampled twenty professions so far in his life, a new one almost every year, and he’d done it all for fun. He’d been everything from bank teller to ice cream truck driver to city councilperson. Cosmic Dan had also been one of Zera’s father’s closest friends.

“Well hello!” said Nonny. “Look who I have here.”

Cosmic Dan appeared uneasy as he took in Zera.
“I knew you were in town, you know how word travels.” His voice sounded strange. He cleared his throat, rubbed the back of his neck above his aqua cowboy shirt. “My goodness, girl, if you don’t look just like your mother.”

Zera beamed. Her grandmother had said exactly the same thing at least three times yesterday. It gave her more pleasure than sadness; she’d always thought her mom was so pretty, and she rarely thought of herself in that way. She went over to Dan and gave him a hug. “Nonny told me about all your help. Thanks.”

Dan looked a little embarrassed. He rubbed his chin. “It was nothing, and I mean nothing.”

The two smiled at each other in silence and Zera couldn’t help but notice, with a little sadness, that Dan’s afro now had some gr
ay hairs.  

“How’s your Uncle Theodore doing?” Dan asked.

“Fine. He’s in Los Angeles, at a job interview.”

“I see. Where’re you two headed?”

“To Hattie’s.”

Dan laughed. “Oh yeah, Hattie mentioned that last night. I
saw her at the grocery store. Ben was with her and she teased him about all the questions he’d been asking about you.”

“Like what?”

“Not sure, exactly. If I know Ben, he was probably nosing around, seeing if you have a boyfriend.”

“Oh.” Zera didn’t know what to say.
Or what to feel, either.

Thankfully, Nonny interrupted. “I hate to rush off, but I told Hattie we’d be there for lunch, and we’re already late, over a half-hour.”

“You’d better get to Hat’s then,” said Dan. “She’s probably about to come looking for you.”

* * *

At the end of Ute Avenue they made a right turn up Pawnee Road and began to climb a steep sidewalk riddled with cracks. Nonny Green moved more slowly now, and Zera saw that she was tiring. Zera tried not to worry but had to ask, “Are you all right?” 

“It’s only another block,” said Nonny, working her silver cane. “Don’t
worry, I’m a tough old bird.”

Zera’s lungs, unaccustomed to the higher altitude, were laboring to fill themselves
by the time they reached the wood and stone house at the top of the hill. Parked in front was Hattie’s beat-up old red Toyota truck, Ladybug. Coveringthe back of Ladybug was a multitude of bumper stickers. One said, TREE HUGGING DIRT WORSHIPPER, another
,
Lord, help me be the kind of person my dog thinks I a
m
. These were joined by: Love Your Mother (Earth),
Who Owns YOU?
,
Follow Your Bliss
, and
Skateboarding is Not a Crime!

They climbed the porch’s greenstone steps, and Zera saw Ben’s skateboard near the door. The sight of it made her a little nervous. She’d seen Ben only briefly in her visits back to visit Ute Springs, and when Dan said Ben had been “nosing around” asking if she had a boyfriend . . . 

Before she had a chance to finish that thought or knock on the door, the door opened. A tall woman with a full, but not heavy, figure and waist-length, tawny tresses streaked with gray stood before them. Hattie was one-quarter Ute and it showed in her wide nose, dark eyes and generous mouth. She wore a floral print dress, wood jewelry and flip-flops, her finger and toenails painted a glittering cobalt. The expression on Hattie’s face turned from thrilled to concerned as she looked at Zera, then Nonny. She glanced out at the street in front of her house.

“Guinevere, do
not
tell me you walked here!” Zera was surprised at her upset tone. “What were you thinking?”

“I’m fine, Hattie.
Just fine.”

After an exchange of greetings and hugs, Zera and her grandmother followed Hattie’s musky-spice perfume of patchouli through the house and out the back to the enclosed garden. 

The soothing sound of Aspen Creek, running along the back of the property, filled Hattie’s garden. Following an elliptical stone path, they passed a compost pile and rabbit hutch before entering into the depths of a half-wild fantasy garden. Metal sculptures and stone statues stood tall among potted blooming tropical plants and vines. Carved faces of beasts peered down from a ten-foot-tall totem pole. In one corner was a tiny pond, surrounded by tall grasses, with a hammock under a cottonwood tree; at another, next to the back fence, stood a picnic table covered with a tablecloth. As they drew nearer, Zera saw their lunch: stuffed pita bread sandwiches, fruit salad, a pitcher of lemonade, and a chocolate cake decorated with real scarlet nasturtiums.

“Mmmm.”
Zera murmured. Her stomach growled, loud enough for Hattie to hear.

Hattie chuckled. “Worked up an appetite, eh?”

That was a little embarrassing.
“Yeah.”

“You’ve certainly outdone yourself,” Nonny said.

“Guinevere,” Hattie said, placing a hand on Zera’s grandmother’s shoulder and continuing to emanate an aura of concern, “you know I can’t cook. I didn’t make any of it myself, except the lemonade. Jean down at the bakery made the groovy cake. Didn’t even charge me for it. Everyone in town is thrilled you’re back, Zera.”

“Where’s Ben?” asked Nonny.

“At his father’s. He said he wanted to see Zera, but then he took off. I think he got nervous waiting around. He’s a little shy about seeing her. Ah, adolescence.” Hattie winked at Nonny.

“Boys,” said Nonny. “They try to act tough, but . . .”

Zera felt a blush creeping into her cheeks. She had never thought of Ben in that way, aside from that brief moment in fifth grade when he almost kissed her on Valentine’s Day. When she didn’t let him, he acted like it had been a joke, that he didn’t really like her in that way. Though she knew he did. She could tell by the card he had given her. It wasn’t a funny card, or a card featuring some superhero that the other kids traded, but one with a pretty illustration of a heart surrounded by flowers and birds, bought at the drugstore. It was awkward for awhile, but they were still kids, still friends, and so they got over it. When she thought of Ben, memories of summer days flooded back: riding bikes together, building forts from sticks and mud down by the creek, chasing lizards, and eating wild raspberries.

They sat down to eat, using Hattie’s mismatched floral dishes, blue glass goblets, and worn silver-plated cutlery.
Everything even tastes better here
, Zera thought, as she relished her first bite of sandwich. She didn’t know what she enjoyed more — the company, the food, the garden, or the waterfall sound of the creek.

While enjoying the cake, Hattie said, “Zera honey, your grandmother shared some v-mails about Tiffany. She sounds like a real pain in the butt.”

“I think it bugs her that I’m not one of the popular kids at school,” Zera said. “We don’t have much in common.”

“You’re not mainstream, honey,” Hattie said, “and, believe me,
that’s good.  Don’t ever feel bad about being true to yourself. It’s kind of sad; Tiffany must be very insecure, or she wouldn’t push so hard.”

“True,” said Nonny, “but I can’t help but to be furious every time I think about how she suggested that Zera change her name.”

“It would never happen, so don’t be furious, Guinevere,” said Hattie, “it’s not good for you.” Hattie raised her glass to Zera. “Here’s to having you back.” As she took a sip of lemonade, Zera noticed how Hattie’s fingernail polish matched the glass.
How cool. No one Hattie’s age in Piker would wear blue fingernail polish.

She wondered what her uncle was doing today, if he had even thought about her. She had thought of him several times.
Might as well face it, he’s only into himself, just like Tiffany. I don’t want to go back. Ever.

Hattie offered them another piece of cake. “This is so weird. I just remembered that Sally mentioned something about Tiffany changing
her
name.”

Zera’s eyes widened.
“Really?”

“This was a few weeks before the accident, when Ted and Tiffany had just started dating. Sally said Ted told her that Tiffany changed her name when she got out of high school. That she was poor or something, wanted to change her image.”