Griebel's Determination

Griebel's Determination

The summer heat in the humid evening made Shelby sluggish. She dragged her feet and slumped her shoulders forward as she carried a heavy watering can toward the flower bed. She frowned at the healthy weeds thriving and chocking the limp plants she planted weeks earlier. She looked up at the setting sun. It was too late for work, but the flowers needed water. From out of the wooded edge of the yard, a golden retriever trotted toward her. Something dangled from the dog's mouth.

As the dog neared, she saw the object moving, and she heard a tiny voice. Shelby realized it was a little gnome with a red cap. The gnome swung from the dog's bite by one unbuttoned suspender. The dog stopped in front of Shelby, lowered her head, and dropped the gnome on the grass.

The gnome turned and scolded the dog, "Why'd you put me down? We can't stop here. I've somewhere I have to be."

The dog lied down under a shade tree and heaved quick, sloppy pants.

"She's probably thirsty, sir," Shelby advised the gnome.

"Hah! Thirsty? Or just lazy," the gnome jumped up and down angrily.

Shelby ignored the gnome's tantrum. She placed the watering can in front of the dog, and she lapped up water from the small opening at the top. The gnome crossed his little arms on his chest and turned away. The point of his hat flopped forward, and his bottom lip puffed out. His cheeks were as red as his hat.

Shelby fought the urge to laugh at his animated profile. "Is there something I can help you with, Mister- ?"

Without turning back, he looked at Shelby through the corners of his eyes. "Not unless you can take me to Mrs. Hunter's garden without being seen. And it's Griebel, my name that is."

"Mrs. Hunter? You mean the mean cat lady who lives two doors down the street?"

"That's the one."

"Why?"

He turned to Shelby and pointed toward Mrs. Hunter's property. "I'm trying to get home and back to my work."

"You belong to Mrs. Hunter?"

"Indeed I do not! I belong to the garden, and I was kidnapped!"

"Kidnapped? Who kidnapped you?"

"Well- well, I don't know exactly. I just remember waking up in a horrible place." The little gnome's big eyes filled with tears, and he cried, "There were no flowers anywhere- just smelly old junk- it was just awful!" He looked over at the dog that had fallen asleep beneath the shade tree. "Ah, she's an okay mutt. She brought me most of the way home." Griebel lowered his sad eyes and puffed out his bottom lip again.

"I can keep you hidden. Come on, I'll take you." Shelby found a basket in the garage and set it on the ground. Griebel climbed inside.

She looked beyond her yard toward the conjoining properties and saw the fence to Mrs. Hunter's garden. She decided to walk through the wooded area on over grown trails behind the property lines to avoid being seen. Griebel knelt in the basket, holding onto the rim, peeking out over the top. When they reached the area directly behind Mrs. Hunter's property, Shelby noticed the tip of Griebel's hat sticking out, and she pushed it down.

"Ouch," Griebel moaned.

"Well, you don't want to be spotted, do you?" Shelby whispered. "We're here, so stay low."

Shelby tiptoed to the back of the garden and crouched down behind the fence. She opened the lid of the basket and lifted Griebel out. He stood in the palm of her hand, staring at Shelby for a long moment. She lowered him to the ground near a small space in the fencing, just big enough for a gnome to fit through.

Griebel smiled at Shelby. "I wish I had more to give you- to show you my gratitude." He handed her something just as Mrs. Hunter came to her door to call in her cats.

"I've got to go, now before she sees me. Good-bye!" Griebel disappeared into the thick plants of the garden.

Shelby jammed the object into her sweater pocket and snuck out of the yard through the wooded trails. When she reached her yard, the sun had gone down, but the moon was full and bright. The dog had left, and Griebel was home again; but, Shelby's plants were still in great need of attention. She had much work to do in the morning.

The next day, Shelby woke early to get busy in her flower bed. She noticed old Mrs. Hunter out in her garden, too. From across the conjoining yards, she heard Mrs. Hunter cursing. Shelby assumed she was hollering at her cats to get out of her flowers again.

After Shelby filled a leaf bag with weeds and plant clippings, she hauled it out to the front curb for trash pick up. Shelby checked her watch, wondering if she missed the trash collectors. She glanced down the street and noticed Mrs. Hunter still had trash cans out on her curb as well. Good, I have not missed them, Shelby thought. Just then, she spotted something pointed and red sticking out of the top of one of Mrs. Hunter's trash cans. Shelby looked around to make sure no one was watching, and then, she walked over to the can. She reached inside and pulled out a terracotta figure of a garden gnome. Shelby held it tightly and ran her fingers over his large eyes. She smiled, thinking about Griebel, then tucked the gnome under her arm and walked back to her flower bed.

As she bent over to place the terracotta gnome in its new home, something fell out of her sweater pocket. She picked the object out of the mulch and remembered Griebel giving it to her the night before. Her forehead wrinkled and her eyes squinted, trying to decipher what it was. She checked over the gnome figure and laughed out loud, "It's your button!"

Shelby ran into the garage for super glue, and she carefully re-adhered the gnome's button to his suspenders. She found a perfect spot to keep the gnome beside the strongest camellia.

The golden retriever came by often for a drink and to recline under the shade tree, and Shelby's flower beds flourished the rest of the season. Every so often, Shelby overheard Mrs. Hunter cursing over the sudden decline of her garden.

The End