AL GREEN
Trisha finished the last bite of her sandwich and took her plate to the sink. “I know we don’t have room for a dog, Mom, but why can’t I have a goldfish or hamster or something? We have room for that!”
Her mom took the plate and put it in the sudsy water. “It’s not how much room we have. Mr. Zak has a strict rule. No pets.”
“How can Mr. Zak say we can’t have pets?”
“He owns this apartment building, honey, so he can make rules like that.”
“It’s not fair!”
Mom gave her a hug. “I know you want a pet. I’d like to have a cat, but pets often damage floors or walls or curtains. I understand why Mr. Zak doesn’t want that.”
“He’s mean!”
“No, he’s not, but it would be nice if he would change his mind.”
“Do you think he will?”
“No, I don’t, but there’s no rule against plants. We could find a pretty plant of your own to take care of.”
“But you can’t talk to a plant!”
“Of course you can. I talk to my fern all the time. Your dad thinks it’s funny!
Trisha giggled. “It’s funny because it’s just a plant. It doesn’t know what you’re saying.”
Mom put the last dish on the drying rack. “You might be surprised by what plants know.”
“Plants really know stuff?”
“Scientists say so.”
Trisha looked at the big green fern hanging near the sink. It didn’t look like nearly as much fun as a hamster. “Well, okay,” she said, “I guess I could try a pet plant. Could we look for one today?”
Trisha and Mom went to florists and plant shops and even a big garden center. Trisha saw some really pretty yellow and orange flowers. “What about these, Mom?”
“If you really want them,” Mom said, “but those are Marigolds. They’re annuals. That means they only live one year.”
“Even if I take really, really good care of them?”
“Even if. Those pretty flowers make seed for next year, then the plant dies when the weather turns cold.”
“That’s sad.”
“I think so too, but that’s the way a lot of garden flowers grow.”
“I’d like a plant that I could take care of for a long time.”
“Let’s keep looking,” Mom said.
When they thought they had looked in every store, they passed a gift shop. “Look Mom,” Trisha said. “The sign in the front says ‘We have Mossy Friends’. Moss are plants, right?”
“Right. You usually keep them in a terrarium. Let’s go in!”
Inside the shop, there were lot of unusual things to look at, but Trisha was only interested in one thing. “Excuse me,” she said to the lady who owned the shop, where are your Mossy Friends?”
“Right over here. We have a very nice selection.”
On shelves against one wall, there were bottles and jars. Each one was full of water and had a fuzzy green ball in it.
“Oh!” Mom said. “We were expecting terrariums.”
“I understand,” the lady said. “Mossy Friends aren’t really mosses; they’re a kind of rare algae that naturally forms a ball shape. They’re very easy to take care of.”
“Look, Mom!” Trisha said. “Some of them are wearing hats! They’re so cute!”
The store lady laughed. “I think so too, and those hats will fit them for a long time because they grow very slowly.”
“What do you think, Trisha? Is one of these the pet plant you want?”
Trisha nodded. “One of them, but I don’t know which one.”
It’s a hard choice”, the lady said. “I’ll print out a care sheet for you. Just let me know when you’ve decided.”
Trisha looked at all the little green balls. Some were plain, some had little bows, some had funny little crowns, and some had knit hats or cowboy hats. “So cute, so cute,” she said. They’re all so…”
“Me. Pick me.”
Trisha held her breath. Did she really hear someone? Mom and Dad always said she had a really good imagination. Was she imagining that someone – one of the Mossy Friends – had just talked to her?
“Something wrong, Honey?”
“No, Mom, I’m just having a hard time deciding.”
“Me. Pick me. Blue hat, white stone.”
Trisha looked along the shelves. On the end of the second shelf was a jar with a big cork top. Inside was a green ball with a blue knit hat. And, yes, there was a pretty white stone, too.
Trisha picked up the jar. “This one,” she said. “This one seems special.”
“Okay,” Mom said. “Let’s take your pet plant home.”
That night, Trisha sat on the edge of her bed and turned the jar one way, then the other, watching her new plant roll around.
“That’s fun!”
Trisha set the jar down on the table next to her bed. “Are you really talking, or is it just my imagination?
“I’m talking inside your mind. Nobody else can hear me.”
“How?”
“Magic, of course. Plants talk to each other all the time, but to talk to humans, we have to use magic.”
“I don’t know anything about magic.”
“You don’t need to. I’ll take care of it.”
Trisha shook her head. “Are you sure this isn’t my imagination?”
She heard a little laugh n her mind. “I’m sure, but we can pretend something together.”
“What?”
“Pretend a face for me and we’ll make it happen. Only you will be able to see it because it will be your pretending plus my magic.”
“Hmm… Eyes first?”
“Seems like a good place to start.”
Trisha imagined big, round eyes with big, dark pupils. Then she imagined a big, curved mouth.
“Nice! I’m glad you imagined a smile.”
“I want you to be happy.”
“I am, and I want you to be happy too. That’s why I asked you to pick me. I think I can help with your problem.”
“My problem?”
“I know you really wanted an animal companion, but that a plant is all that Mr. Zak will allow.”
“That was before I knew you were magical. I’m really happy you’re here.”
“Thank you. I’m happy to be here. But it’s not fair that you can’t have an animal companion – and people in the other apartments don’t have magical plants to talk to.”
Trisha sighed. “You’re right. Jenny down the hall really wants a parakeet, and Mrs. Ramirez upstairs has lots of pictures of cats, but wants a real one. Mom does too.”
“I know. Fern told me.”
“Fern?”
“In your kitchen.”
“Oh! Mom’s fern? You talked to her? Is she a her?”
“Most plants don’t have separate boys and girls. But calling Fern ‘her’ is fine.”
“What about you?”
“My kind of plant doesn’t make seeds, or spores like Fern does. If you want a ‘him’ or ‘her’ for me, you can pick.”
“You’re wearing a blue hat, and blue is sort of a boy color for humans. Can I call you Al? Short for Algae?”
“I like that. I’ve never had a name before.”
“That’s great!” Trisha picked up the jar and held it carefully in both hands. “All right, Mr. Al, you said you wanted to help with our ‘no pets’ problem. How?”
“Plant Power. I’m still working on the plan.”
“Can I help?”
“Of course. We’ll talk to Fern in the morning.”
“I think that’s a very good plan,” Fern said.
Trisha could hear both Al and Fern inside her head. All this magic was very strange, but it was fun.
Fern said, “Holly lives right outside Mr. Zak’s window and she told Maple that Mr. Zak really loves plants. He has a lot of them inside his apartment, and takes very good care of them.”
“I didn’t know that,” Trisha whispered. “I guess I like him a little better now.”
“Mr. Zak is not a bad person,” Fern said. “Rubber Tree lives right inside Holly’s window and knows all about him. He worked very hard for a long time to buy this building and make it nice, and he worries that pets will scratch or chew everything.”
“Mom said something like that,” Trisha said, ‘but a fish won’t scratch or chew.”
“I’d like a fish friend too,” Al said. “As long as it’s not a fish that eats plants!”
“I’ll start your plan today,” Fern said, “I’ll explain it to Maple, who can pass the plan on to Holly, who can tell Rubber Tree.”
“Then Rubber Tree will tell all of Mr. Zak’s other plants?” Trisha said.
“Right,” Al said.
“And the next part is Plant magic?”
Al’s smile grew bigger. “Plant Power Magic!”
A few days later, Mom was coming home from the store and met Mr. Zak’s wife in the entrance to the building.
They talked for a little while, then Mrs. Zak said she had to go and wake Mr. Zak up from a nap.
“I hope he’s not sick,” Mom said.
“No, he’s fine. He just hasn’t been sleeping well. For almost a week, he’s been having very odd dreams.”
“Oh dear!” Mom said. “Like nightmares?”
“No, they’re really nice dreams, but they seem so real, he wakes up and can’t get back to sleep. This will sound very strange, but he’s dreaming about his plants. He’s dreaming that he’s talking to them.”
“A lot of people talk to plants in real life,” Mom said, “so I guess it isn’t too unusual to dream about it.”
I think you’re right,” Mrs. Zak said, and they sound like really beautiful dreams. I just hope they stop soon so he can get some sleep!”
Three days later, there was a note on every door.
“You did it!” Trisha said. “You and Fern and Maple and Holly and Rubber Tree and all the other plants. You did Plant Power Magic!”
“It worked because Mr. Zak really does like animals. We just had to convince him that he should try to trust the people who live here, and that having pets will make a lot of people happier. He thinks they were just dreams, which is a good thing. We don’t want too many people to know about Plant Power Magic.”
“I’m glad I’m one of the people who know,” Trisha said. “I’ll ask Mom if we can get a small aquarium for you – and a fish friend.”
“I’d like that,” Al said, “but could we keep the jar so we can still play the roll-around game? That really is fun!”
