The Mapmaker and the Ghost(51)

“So, what’s next?” Birch asked.

“Well, we still have the western, eastern, and southern parts of town to do. I don’t think it’ll take as long as the forest, but the map wouldn’t be complete without them,” Goldenrod said.

Birch nodded. “Think we can get it done before summer vacation ends?”

“We have three weeks. It’s not a lot of time. But I think if you and I hustle …”

“Hey, what about me?” Toe Jam asked.

Birch looked over at him, surprised. “I thought your grandmother said you only had to help us with the forest.”

“Oh … yeah. She did,” Toe Jam said. “Right. Never mind.”

Birch and Goldenrod exchanged a glance.

“I actually don’t know if we can get this done in three weeks with just the two of us, though,” Goldenrod started slowly. “So, if you’d like to help, Randy … well, we’d be more than happy to have you.”

“I … well, maybe. I mean now that I’ve started it, it wouldn’t really seem right not to help finish.”

Goldenrod smiled. “Cool.”

Birch smiled too. Sure, Toe Jam could be showy sometimes, but Birch had actually grown used to him, sort of even liked having him around. And secretly, Birch had always really liked picking the sock fuzz from between his toes too.

“And maybe if we discover an animal or something, we can name it after me this time,” Toe Jam said as the three of them started packing up their stuff.

Goldenrod shot him a look. “Let’s not get carried away, Randy. Okay?”





35

THE GARDEN


When Goldenrod, Birch, and Randy returned to the Moram house that afternoon, it looked as busy as it had been over the past week. There were parts of the front lawn and garden that still looked like the surface of a scorched planet, but most of it was being restored to green again.

Randy immediately went over to a corner where Brains and Lint were quietly laying down some new squares of grass. Old Sue’s husband, who also happened to be the town judge, was a good friend of Mrs. Moram’s and had given the restoration of her garden as one of a few options for their community service. Brains had chosen it almost immediately. Goldenrod supposed it meant that he must have some semblance of a conscience somewhere in there. And, obviously, Lint was going to do whatever Brains did.

Goldenrod smiled secretly as she watched Lint bend and move with ease, his leg as muscular and strong as ever. She wouldn’t be surprised if he won his family’s annual half marathon this year. After all, he would have plenty of time to practice, given that he wasn’t going to be spending much of it stealing protein bars. Come to think of it, Goldenrod hadn’t seen his lint ball make an appearance over the past couple of days either. Perhaps he’s lost his taste for them, she thought amusedly, and then felt a slight jolt of affection for the kid. Just the day before, Lint had returned Goldenrod’s yellow baby sock to her. He had even rinsed it out.

“Jonas.”

Brains looked up from his work as Goldenrod’s dad walked over to him.

“If you’re interested, I would very much like it if you were to come into my lab sometime next week. I’ve heard about some of the, er, work you’ve been doing. And I could really use your help with this new project. We’re trying to find greener sources of energy for Pilmilton, you know,” Mr. Moram said.

“Seriously?” Brains asked in surprise.

“Seriously. If what I’ve heard is true, well, some of the ideas you’ve had are very impressive. Though, um, not stealing from a museum. You shouldn’t do that,” Mr. Moram added hastily.

“I would really like that, Mr. Moram,” Brains said quietly. “Thank you.”

Mr. Moram was whisked away then by order of Mrs. Moram, but when Brains looked up to see that Goldenrod was watching him, he gave her a small smile.

Goldenrod smiled back. Maybe, like her, he also had happy memories of the last time they had been in her mother’s garden together.

As Goldenrod watched the three members of Spitbubble’s Gross-Out Gang digging, her thoughts flitted for a moment to Snotshot. When she had been brought into the police station for questioning, it had been discovered almost immediately that her father had been frantically searching for her ever since she had run away from home. Within hours, they had been gleefully, and apparently somewhat tearfully, reunited, though Goldenrod could barely imagine liquid leaking from some part of Snotshot’s face that wasn’t her nose. Knowing that the judge had gently suggested that Snotshot be sentenced to some sort of service in her own town, Goldenrod wondered what she was doing now. Perhaps wiping the snot off of little kids at a day care center, Goldenrod thought to herself with a smile. Wouldn’t that be ironic?

As for No-Bone, he actually was working with little kids—choosing to volunteer at a gymnastics school that was a couple of towns over. From something Goldenrod had overheard Brains saying, it seemed like the school had even helped to locate an old friend of his in China, whom he was now happily exchanging letters with.

“Goldenrod, could you help Cassandra with that bush?” her mother said as she tossed a pair of orange gardening gloves at her and woke her from her reverie.

“Sure,” she said. As Goldenrod put on the gloves, she couldn’t help but smile at her mother’s giddy expression. It had a lot to do with her garden being so diligently worked on under her careful supervision, for sure, but Goldenrod knew that there was something else that was keeping her so elated these days. As the much-read piece of stationery from the Horticultural Society stated, the discovered blue rose was going to be named just as Goldenrod had requested: Rosa janine, after the very best gardener and lover of flora that she had ever known. After all, her mother had named her after a flower, so it only seemed fitting to name a flower after her mother. Besides, she couldn’t very well name a new species of flower Goldenrod.