} Seeds {
"Look, Jennifer!" Needy cried, racing into her friend's room, where Jennifer lay on the floor, coloring a picture of a tortoise. "Look what my mommy bought me." She was holding an envelope of seeds in her tiny hand. "We can plant them by the sandbox and watch 'em grow!"
"Yuk!" Jennifer spit. "Plant them in the dirt? I don't want to get all muddy and touch icky worms."
"It'll be fun!" Needy declared excitedly. "And look how pretty they'll be!" She pointed to the picture. "They're snapdragons, and they grow big and tall—as tall as us. C'mon! They'll be so pretty when they grow, and they'll be ours—yours and mine." Needy took Jennifer's hand, "Please Jennifer, let's plant the pretty flowers," and pulled her along.
"All right, Needy," Jennifer said, indignantly. "But I'm not touching any worms, do you hear?"
They found a hand spade in the garage and went out to the sandbox. Near the southeast corner, Needy took off her little jean jacket, revealing a white T-shirt with a dolphin printed on it. She got on her hands and knees, and began to dig by stabbing at the ground with the hand spade. Jennifer only watched her for a while; then she began to look at the picture of the flowers on the envelope. Yellow, red, white, and pink.
"They're pretty, aren't they, Jennifer?" Needy said, looking up from her vigorous work.
"Yup."
Jennifer then dropped to her knees beside her blonde friend, to help her.
"You have to break up the dirt," Needy explained, grabbing a clump of earth, "like this," and she squeezed.
"Eeeh! There's a worm!"
Needy picked up the squirming thread and tossed it aside. "They won't hurt you, Jennifer."
Timidly, Jennifer picked up a ball of dirt and crushed it in her fist.
"That's it," Needy said. "When I'm not around and it's dry, you have to water 'em."
"I will."
"Don't forget."
"I won't."
"Don't water 'em too much. My mommy says the roots will rot, and they'll die."
"Oh, I hope I don't kill them."
"You won't, Jennifer," Needy said. "We'll have to pull the weeds too."
"Okay."
When they had a patch they thought was big enough, Needy opened the packet of seeds.
"Now, we don't bury 'em," she said. "Mommy says to just push 'em into the dirt with your finger."
"We're done," Jennifer said, as she pushed the last seed into the soft dirt.
"No," Needy said. "We have to give 'em a drink now."
They found the red watering can with a pink heart on it, which had come with a pail and shovel that the girls used in the sandbox. After filling this with water, Needy gave it to her friend, who sprinkled the seeds, all the while holding Needy's hand.
Twelve days later, Needy was getting out of her mother's car at the Check house, when Jennifer ran up to her, grabbed her hand, and pulled her into the backyard.
"Come quick, Needy!" Jennifer said. "Look! The snapdragons are growing! They're growing!"
Needy had never seen Jennifer so excited about something that was not a dress, toy, or doll. The two friends knelt down before the flowerbed. As Jennifer tilted her head to look at the tender green shoots, the sunlight flashed resplendently off the silver barrette decorated with a swan in her black, black hair.
"They're really growing!" she exclaimed.
"Yeah!" Needy said proudly. "We did it!"
"They're so small," Jennifer said, as tears swelled in her blue eyes.
Needy saw the tears roll down her friend's cheeks. "Don't be sad, Jennifer," she said, hugging her. "They'll grow bigger."
"I'm not sad," Jennifer said, wiping away her tears. "I love you, Needy."
"Oh," Needy said, not quite understanding the connection. "I love you too, Jennifer."
The friends locked hands and smiled at each other.
"I think they need a drink," Needy said.
And they scrambled to find the red watering can with the pink heart on it.