I know a lot of people are liking my story so far. And I REALLY do thank you for reading and leaving comments. Most good. Others bad...And I already know you all want to know why Lincoln has become Lindsey. That is for later on in the story but I know some of you would rather I speed it up and explain what happened. I could do that but where's the fun in that?
Lana walked in the hallway as she spotted Lindsey going up the stairs. She walked out the door and trailed behind her.
"Hey Lindsey." She replied catching the girl's attention. "Oh hello, Lola." She said.
"Oh I'm not Lola." She said.
Lindsey looked confused. "Oh...ok...I'm sorry..." She said.
"You don't have to apologize. It was a simple mistake," Lana replied as she placed her hands in her overalls. "People mix us up...rarely... Just remember not to mix me up with my prissy pink sister next time."
"Ok..."
"...Anyway...I just wanted to know if you wanted to spend some time with me."
"Me?" Lana nodded. "Oh, I'm not really interesting to be around."
"That's ok. Neither is Lucy but I still like her."
"Sigh." They both heard as they looked around for the monotoned voice.
"Ignoring that. What do you want to do first?"
"What I want to do?" She asked confused. Lana nodded.
"No ones really asked me that before. I don't really have a hobby. Or talent."
"You got to have something you like to do."
Lindsey quietly shook her head sadly. "Well, we can find you something you must like to do."
"I don't have anything I really tend to enjoy."
Lana then thought. "Wait, what about flowers? You said you loved daisies right?"
"Mmhm, I love flowers in general." She replied. "Why don't we plant you a garden?"
"A garden?"
"Yeah. You can plant all the flowers you want in the backyard and I can get down and dirty in the mud."
"Well, I have always wanted to plant a garden." She replied with a small smile. "And why would you play in the mud? Shouldn't girls stay clean?"
"Pssh! Whoever told you that has never met me. Let's go to the hardware store and pick out some plants."
"How will we get there?"
"Mom and dad are just downstairs. They could take us." Lana held out her hand. Lindsey looked at her hand. But she reluctantly took a hold of it. "Just follow me they should still be downstairs. After you."
Lana turned towards Lori's door and gave them a thumbs up. The rest of the girls has a relieved look on their faces.
"Hey dad, can me and Lindsey get a ride to the hardware store?" Lana asked. "What's broken now, Lana?" He asked with a sigh.
"Nothing this time. Lindsey and I are gonna start a garden in the backyard." She answered. "A garden? That sounds like fun. Ya know I used to help my mom in the garden when I was younger. I can help you out with the garden."
"Thanks dad. Can we go now?"
"Sure thing Lana. Let me get my keys." Lynn walked off as he went to look for his keys. "Whoo hoo! Race you to vanzilla!" Lana ran ahead of her as Lindsey watched her dash to the car.
Lana stopped and turned to her. "C'mon slowpoke!" She said as she calmly held her hand and escorted her to the family car.
After a short car ride, the trio made it to the store. Lana ran ahead and walked passed the automatic doors. She took a deep sniff of the air. "Ahh...I missed the smell of power tools and sawdust."
Lindsey stared at her surroundings. She saw the grey store littered with tools of various shapes and sizes and many people walking around her. Lindsey nervously shook. "Lana, where's the gardening section again?"
"On the side by aisle 9. I'll take you there." Lynn grabbed a basket and followed Lana. He then noticed the Lindsey wasn't following and she was clearly nervous. Lynn turned around.
"Lindsey, are you alright?" Lindsey didn't look him in the face. "There's so many people here..."
"You're not used to being around so many people yet are you?" She had tears prick her eyes as she shook her head. "It's ok, no one's going to hurt you. We can leave if you want to."
"Wait, we're leaving but we just got here..." Lana replied. "No. I-I want to make a garden. But I don't mind leaving if that's what you want."
Lana shook her head. "No way! We're gonna start a garden and that's what we're gonna do!"
Lynn flashed her a small smile. "I'll be right next to you the whole time. I promise." He held out his hand. Lindsey hesitated. She reached her hand out to him and eventually took a hold of it. "Just stay close to me." Lindsey walked with Lynn on her right while Lana walked to her left.
"No one's going to bother you on my watch!" Lana said with a proud look on her face as she stood next to her. They reached the garden section and began searching through the abundance of plants surrounding them.
"There's a ton of plants you can choose from Lindsey. Pick any ones you want." Lynn said. "Oh, maybe this tomato plant would be great for an all natural pasta dish."
Tomato, squash, roses, peppers, daisies, lavender. She had so many to pick from. She held up a small pouch of pumpkin seeds.
"Cool pumpkins. Lucy will like having some fresh pumpkins for Halloween." Lana said as she held some plants in her hands.
"Or we could use them to make pumpkin pie." Lynn replied. Lindsey nodded. "Will that be ok with you?"
"It's your garden, Lindsey. You can plant whatever you want." Lana said as she placed the seeds in the cart. "Then I want..." She picked up two pouches. One with tomatoes and the other with cucumber.
"These." She placed them in the cart. Lana came behind her and placed in some flowers. "I thought you would like some flowers to plant in the yard too."
"How about some squash? I can make my famous squashzitti casserole." Lynn said. Lindsey placed more of the plants and seeds in the cart. "That should be enough to start your garden girls." Lynn said. Lana picked up a bag of soil and dropped it in the cart. "Don't forget about the good old grade A manure dad." She jumped in the cart landing on the bag of soil cheering.
"Whoo hoo! To the check out line!"
"Come on Lindsey." Lynn said. Lindsey held on to the side of the cart as they walked to the nearest open register.
After some time driving and unloading, Lindsey and Lana were in the backyard looking for the perfect place to plant.
"Where do you think we should plant Lindsey?" She asked. Lindsey looked around. Every place was perfect for her to plant but she picked a small corner in the backyard. "Maybe over there?"
Lana dragged the soil over to the corner. "Perfect choice Linds. Not in the shade and not in the way of when everyone plays outside."
"T-Thank you."
Lana's frog Hopps bounced around the yard as he approached Lana with small shovels. "Thanks buddy. You can help out too." Hops replied with a croak.
Lana grabbed the two shovels and held one out for Lindsey. "Let's get to work!"
Lindsey grabbed the shovel and followed Lana's way.
The duo silently dug into the ground clearing away any weeds and other debris from the ground. Lana handed her the packets of plants. "Let's get to planting. You can grab the water hose."
Lana carelessly sprinkled the seeds into the ground while Lindsey started the garden hose.
But as usual with the faulty plumbing, the water wasn't coming out of the hose. "Uh Lana?" She asked trying to get her attention. "The hose isn't working..."
"Just turn it a few more times. The plumbing can be a bit sticky." She turned the nozzle again. She then felt the water pressure buildup. Only for it to spray uncontrollably. The water hit Lana causing the soil to turn into mud.
Lindsey dropped the hose in shock. "I'm sorry!"
Lana laughed. "What are you sorry for? I love the mud!" She said as she rolled around in the wet dirt.
Lindsey was confused. "Huh? You...enjoy the mud?"
"Yeah! It's the best thing to ever roll around in." Lana made an angel on the ground. "Daddy always told me girls can't be dirty."
"Well...learn to live a little." She splashed around in the mud splashing some on Lindsey. "Oops. Sorry."
"It's ok it was an accident." She said. Lana then thought. "Do you want to join me?"
Lindsey then thought about joining but daddy's words echoed in her head. 'Filthy girls aren't allowed to be dirty...'
"N-no thank you, Lana."
Lana had a saddened look on her face. "That's ok. The garden is done anyway. I'll just be out here playing in the mud." She said. Hops jumped in with her with a happy croak splashing mud around.
"I'm going to go take a shower." She replied. "Ok then. See ya later."
Lindsey quietly walked upstairs and into the bathroom where she closed the door and started the shower. She silently stripped out of her clothes and stared at herself in the mirror.
She looked at every inch of her body. She always remembered how she felt uncomfortable looking at her bare body especially with daddy looking. Between the scars, she felt different. Daddy always said she was a pretty little girl but she never felt pretty. She felt dirty whenever daddy said that.
She looked at each mark and vividly remembered how she got them. How each one of daddy's hits was supposed to be out of love for her.
She walked into the hot shower. She sat under the stream of water, sat down and let the tears mix with the hot water dripping into the drain.