Interlude: Grandpa and Lops!

"-And then she ate it!"

"Thus avoiding the pointless waste of valuable nutrients-"

Auntie Lisa and Grandma was arguing again in the kitchen, and they were all a bit more far away from the kitchen window than usual (next to Grandpa's plants!) so they couldn't hear Grandma and Auntie but sometimes Lops could hear them when the wind stopped blowing and she was still for a bit.

But she wasn't still for very long.

"Heads up shortstuff!" Auntie Lynn called out.

"Ok- oof!" Lops gasped as the ball bounced off her head.

"I warned you." Auntie Lynn said and Lops heard giggles from everyone else.

They were all playing ball outside while the sun was out. Her, Lizy, Lacy, Lynn Three (they had to Call Lynn two Auntie Lynn and Lynn One Grandpa, but their Lynn didn't get another name for some reason) and Lyle and Liena. Auntie Leni was here so she made them come out even though Lyle was a sissy who didn't like dirt and Liena always stayed with Lyle.

"You alright there tiny?" Auntie Lynn asked.

"Yea…" Lops nodded, glaring at the ball before she kicked it at Lynn Three. "But I not tiny!"

The ball bounced off Lynn Three's legs and she gasped and ran after it.

"Sure thing shortstop," Auntie Lynn smiled meanly.

Auntie Lynn was the mean Auntie. She made them do exercise when they all wanted to go watch Blarney or Cartoons. And she kept calling Lops short. Lops wasn't shorter than anyone else (much) and the babies were all smaller than her!

And Auntie Lynn was the shortest grownup so she wasn't allowed to be mean to anyone like that anyway.

But she got meaner when Lops told her that anyway!

"I get ball!" Lynn said, running back while holding the ball above her head. The kids were all in a big circle with the two grownups. Auntie Lynn on the top to make sure everyone got sore and tired and Auntie Leni on the bottom closer to the fence so she could catch the ball before it got over since she was tall and could stop it.

Not like Auntie Lynn.

"Okay mini-me, throw it to Liena!"

"Okay!" Lynn Three chucked it at Liena, but it fell down too soon so Liena ran forward to go get it.

"Nice try L3, good job Liena- now go get ready to throw to the next person!"

Liena nodded and ran back to her spot. She looked around and smiled when she saw Lizy, then threw up from underneath the ball!

The ball went up!

And came down.

But not on Lizy.

The ball bopped Lops in the eye and she gasped again, falling back! Her butt landed on dirt though so she was okay.

"Ooopsie daisy!" Auntie Leni called out and Lops found herself being picked up. "Are you okay there Loops?"

"Her name's Lops Leni," Auntie Lynn said in her tired voice.

Auntie Leni never remembered her name properly. She didn't remember a lot of things properly but she was still really nice though.

"Yea." She spoke up before Auntie Leni got worried and called the wambulance again.

Wait! No; that's just what Auntie Lynn called it, everyone else called it something else….

"Okay sport, let's get you on your feet then." Auntie Lynn nodded to Auntie Leni who put her down feet first, "nice throw Liena but lets work on your aim okay?"

Lops brushed the dirt off the butt of her onesie and looked around-

"Oh no!" She gasped.

She'd landed in Grandpa's garden!

Not in the grown part though, but in the veggie patch. It was a big rectangle of smooth dirt, except for the raised bits where little green shoots were poking out, except now she could see a Lops-sized shape where her butt had been and the little plants inside were all squished.

"Ah, dang it" Auntie Lynn groaned.

"… and then she just fell in."

It wasn't too bad. Grandpa only put in the plants a short while ago, and Auntie Lynn was getting told off!

"it's okay L.J., but try to be more careful next time," Grandpa told her off! "If the ball goes over the fence I'm not sure the new neighbours are the type to give it back."

Auntie and Grandpa were talking in the other room while Lops got changed into clean clothes since her onesie was a little dirty from the dirt. Dad was doing it since Moms and other Dad weren't here (Lizy and her got two Moms and Dads, even if they had share one of them!), and Auntie Leni was still outside playing with the other kids.

"All right, leg through!" Dad called out and Lops put her foot into a fresh onesie leg.

"And the next one!"

It didn't take long for her to get dressed up. But Grandpa was suddenly there.

Grandpa was always nice, but Lops had never ruined his garden before. Grandpa loved his garden, what if he was mad?

Lops felt her face get hot and she hid her face in Dad's shirt.

"Ah, I could have sworn I saw little Lops around here," Grandpa said in his confused voice. "I guess she's not around."

It was working!

"… Seems not." Dad's voice sounded funny. "Maybe I could take a message?"

"Well since you're offering," Grandpa crouched down and whispered to Dad. "Lynn told me about the plants-"

Oh she was in so much trouble!

"- and I thought Lops might want to help me fix them up."

Wait, what?

"Ah, well I'm not sure she would." Dad said sadly. "She seems to have run off- it's really weird because she was here a moment ago."

"Dang it," Grandpa was sad now too. "And here I thought we could go and make a full day of it, just me and her-"

That sounded exciting!

Lops pulled her head out of Dad's shirt, "No wait! I down here!"

Grandpa and Dad gasped in surprise. Lops let go of Dad's shirt and ran over to Grandpa, "I sorry I broke your veggies, I help make them good again!"

Grandpa did that smile where his wrinkles got big and reached down and patted her on the head, "well as long as you're really sorry then I suppose we can go get started right away." Grandpa looked at Dad. "Son, could you go get her outside wear? We're going to be out for a bit."

Lops got dressed in her overalls and green hat, they looked just like Mom's work clothes except smaller and her hat was a different colour (Lizy got the red hat because she won scissor-paper-rock but Lops liked green better anyway) and got to ride in Vanzilla with Grandpa! She had to go in the special seat that went on seat and in the back like always but it was all quiet except for Grandpa and the Van noises so it was weird.

It a while to get there so Grandpa and her talked for a bit since they couldn't play anything, except for the 'silent' game. They got to play that after a while and Grandpa lost when they got to the store so Lops got a lolly!

Now they were in a big store with a really high ceiling and lots of space to fit all these long tables inside. Lops was too short to see the ones in front of her but way back down she could see they were covered up with boxes of dirt with little plants in them, and some of the ones in the back had pots with big plants in them instead.

"This is the Hazeltucky nursery," Grandpa said, holding her hand while she chewed on her lolly. "We have one in Royal Woods but this one has some more… exotic plants I think you might like."

Lops looked up in confusion, "what exotic?"

Grandpa's eyebrows went together like they did when he was thinking. "Hmm… I think it's a bit like special!"

"Special!" Lops liked special things!

"Yes, special plants." Grandpa said the word in a special way so she'd notice. "Do you want to go see?"

"Yea, go see special plants!" Lops tried to run forward, but Grandpa was slow so she pulled him!

Grandpa laughed sped up a bit. "Careful Lops, Grandpa's not as spry as you!"

"Go faster!" Lops commanded anyway, but slowed down when they got to the end of the plant tables. There was a few places they could go since the store had lots of glass rooms in front of them and a few places that were cut off from the other places with plastic sheets. "Where we go?"

"Well we have a few places we could go," Grandpa tapped his chin. "Maybe… no, that place would be too scary for little Lops-"

"What place!?" Lops demanded, puffing herself up so Grandpa could see how big and strong she as. "I not scared!"

"Hmm…" Grandpa leaned down so he could get a good look at Lops. "I don't know… it might be too scary even for me."

"That okay- I protect you!" Lops promised.

"Well, as long as you're sure." Grandpa nodded seriously. "I think we can start with the man eaters…"

"Man eaters!" Lops gasped, and her imagination was filled up with pictures of daisies with teeth reaching down to gobble up people! "That is scary!"

"They are," Grandpa agreed. "Maybe we should give them a miss…"

But they still sounded cool, and Grandpa was forgetting something!

"No!" Lops declared with her hands on hips. "They man eaters, not kid eaters! They no eat me!"

"Well that's true," Grandpa thought. "But what about me? How will you get home if I get eaten?"

"Stay after me!" Lops got in front of Grandpa to show him. "That way they can't get you!"

"Well that's very true," Grandpa's voice sounded funny, and he put his hands on her shoulders. "Well then, as long as you're sure- I suppose we can go in…"

The meat-eater plants place was under cover, and they were in glass boxes on special tables. They didn't look like daisies though.

Some had two petals with teeth on them and a single stalks, others were just big stalks with an open end. Then there ones that were big and shaped like the vases in the top of the house they didn't break, except they had water inside and a big leaf on top that would close if a bug got inside.

"Can we feed them?" Lops asked excitedly. "Can we!? Can we!?"

"Well I don't know." Grandpa looked at one of the garden people, and gentle tapped him on his shoulder. "Hello there young man, would you mind if…"

Lops turned out as they went into boring grown up talk and stared at one of the little plants with two petals. It was green on the outside but the petals turned pink inside and red on the most-inside, it had another one like it next to it but its petals were mostly closed.

"Hey Lops," Grandpa touched her shoulder, and she looked up to see him holding a bag. "Do you want to feed that one?"

"Yea! Yea! Yea!" Lops quickly nodded, and Grandpa handed her the bag. It was a brown paper one and inside were lots of moving bugs.

"Okay, so I'm going to lift you up and you're going to feed it a bug, these can't hurt you so don't be afraid, but only grab one and you have to wash your hands right after okay?" Lops nodded, and Grandpa lifted her up by her hips until she was right next to the plant. She got to put her fingers into the bag of bugs, and grab one-

No they was all smushy!

"Be gentle Lops." Said Grandpa. "You only need one."

Lops just pulled out a hand of bug bits and picked one that was mostly together, then carefully put her hand next to the plant petals.

"You need to put it on the petals dear," said Grandpa. "Gently!"

Lops nodded, and put the bug on the bottom petal. It was a little sticky so it stayed even though the bugs legs were wiggling and-

The plant started moving!

Lops gasped and pulled her hand away without the bug and the plant closed up like the other one!

"See Lops," Grandpa said into her ear. "Its going to eat that for the next few days and then it'll open back up again and the bug will still be there, but it'll all be empty because the insides were eaten!"

"Woooow!" Lops gasped, then looked up. "Can I feed mores?"

"Sorry Lops, Grandpa shook his head. "We need to get you cleaned up, and we're not allowed to feed plants we don't own."

"But we don't have this one?" Lops was confused.

Actually they did!

Grandpa was buying the bug eater (not man eater because it was too small to eat people, and Grandpa promised it wouldn't get big enough to gobble him), and they were going to take it home! Lops got to carry it as they went around the plant store some more.

There Lops got showed all sorts of plants, like moss which grew on rocks, and mushrooms which grew in dark places!

"Mushrooms are actually fungus," Grandpa explained, showing her the roots of one through the glass. They were in a specially made dark room in the store so the mushrooms could grow properly. "They aren't really plants, but are more like animals that act like plants!"

"Really?" Lops looked at the mushroom doubtfully, it was a white thing with a stalk and the part of it underneath the dirt sure looked just like plant roots. "It look like plant!"

"Yes… but give it a touch." Grandpa lifted her up, and Lops touched it gently like she was supposed to.

Her eyes got bigger. "It really soft and smooth and squishy!"

"That's because it's more like meat than wood, isn't it?"

"Yea!"

"That's a mushroom for you," Grandpa put her down. "We can't really grow any at home because they're really hard to grow in a garden and some are really poisonous, but a lot are really tasty for eating."

"Why not we grow this one at home?" Lops looked at the mushroom again. It looked really different from other plants but it was small enough to fit under some places in the garden.

"Well you know how plants have a body on top of the ground that sucks up sunlight and some beneath the ground that eats stuff in the dirt and drinks water?" Lops nodded. "Well mushrooms aren't like plants'. See those roots?" Grandpa pointed again, and Lops nodded. "They're actually the mushroom's real body. That part on top it is actually just a fruit like an apple, most of the time it just lives underground and just eats stuff in the dirt, no sunlight at all."

Lops gasped. "Really?"

"Yep, and those roots can go for miles," Grandpa pointed at the mushroom. "This one is just a small one, but a lot of them are bigger than this store!"

"WOW!"

They didn't get a mushroom, but Grandpa said it would be too hard anyway.

Instead they got some more veggie seeds so they could plant them. Tomatoes and onions and some other stuff she didn't know, since Grandpa liked growing those.

"When you're cooking, you can really make something special with fresh ingredients." Grandpa told her as he picked out seed bags. "The ones from the store are fine, but they usually only stock a few kinds of each ingredient. If you want something that's even better, or a different kind of vegetable the best way to get them is to grow them yourself."

"Is that why your food is so tasty?" Lops asked, holding her new bug-eating plant.

"Well there's also years of dedication and experience in the cooking business," Grandpa smiled. "But if you grow your own you can make something really special with them, that's why I put so much effort into making sure they grow properly."

Lops remembered all the crushed little plants that had just started to grow and her face felt hot again.

"It's okay," she felt Grandpa patting her head. "We're going to go home and plant new ones, and you can help me do it!"

It didn't seem to take as long to get home since she and Grandpa were talking about stuff, like how to take care of her new plant. She could keep it indoors so she could take from the big house and back but…

"I have to water it whenever the saucer get low!" Lops repeated as Grandpa lowered her out of Vanzilla.

"That's right," Grandpa patted her on the head again as they got inside. "Now, stay in the living room while I go get your Dad, we're going to get you a special pot."

"Okay!" Lops said happily.

Grandpa did his wrinkly eyes smile and went into the kitchen. Lops sat on the ground next to the couch but T.V. wasn't on so she could hear bits of Dad and Grandpa talking.

"… Really Dad?"

"… It'll be like's from both of us this way."

"Fine… more surprised you even still have them at this point."

She stared at her plant some more as she heard footsteps come closer, but they went up the stairs again and she looked back and saw Dad and Grandpa's legs going up the stairs. She looked back at the plant again and wondered if the bug could get out since it wasn't closed all the way.

She couldn't really see into it though so it was probably fine.

"Lops?"

She looked up and saw Dad, who was holding something behind his back and had a weird smile on his face, and Grandpa who was doing his crinkly eye smile again, "yea?"

"Let's go outside, your Dad's going to help us get you a nice thing to put your new plant in."

"My plant?" Lops looked down at the bug-eater that she thought was going to go in the garden, "you mean I get to keep it for me!?"

"Only if you promise to take care of it-"

"Yea! Yea! Yea!" Lops almost hopped, but she didn't want to hurt her plant.

The kid and two grownups got outside quickly, and Grandpa showed her how to get the plant out of the plastic box thing it grew into.

"Now, the trick is to loosen the sides like this." Grandpa held the plastic pot thing good with one hand started quickly tapping on each side with a knife. "Next, you get a good hold of the plant's soil like this," he covered up the dirt on the pot-thing with his hand, letting the plant out in between his thumb and fingers.

"Once you're sure you have a good grip you turn it upside down like this!" Grandpa turned the pot upside down with his other hand, but moved the hand that was covering the soil at the same time so nothing fell out. "Now you just gently let the dirt fall out…"

Grandpa lowered his hand holding the dirt in a bit, but the plant stayed put.

"… just gently let the dirty fall ooout…. let the dirt faaalll ouuut-"

Grandpa had to say it again because the dirt come out the first time, and then came off too easy the third, letting the plant and roots come out but lots of dirt fall down as well.

"… Well that's why we did this outside." Grandpa sighed. "Lincoln?"

"Already got it," Dad said and pulled out a weird green cup thing and a deep saucer like the ones Grandma sometimes used when she was pretending to be fancy. The cup wasn't a pot because it had a handle though.

Maybe pots should have more handles though? She should tell that to Auntie Lisa!

"All right, Lops?" Dad called out and Lops came over to him, "you see the soil in here already?"

Lops looked in and yes, there was dirt in there! "Yea!"

"When you're moving a plant from pot to pot you need to be careful about how much soil you have in the new pot, did Grandpa already tell you why?"

"Ummm.." Lops thought back to before. Yea, just when they were talking about planting things! "Need space for roots, but also dirt for plant food and ummm…."

Grandpa was making a word with his mouth but not talking, silly Grandpa! No one could tell what you were going to say unless you say it! But it sort of looked like he was trying to say…

"Acid!' Lops says proudly as her brain started working. "The dirt is acidy!"

"That right," Dad smiled at her. "The dirt inside has to have the same kind of acidity as the dirt the plant already likes. Grandpa has some already, but you have to be careful if you need to move it again okay?"

"Okay!" Lops nodded, putting the lesson into her brain.

Dad put the saucer on the ground, and then put the 'pot' into it.

Grandpa brought the plant over, put his other hand around the roots and flipped the plant right side up again. "All right, now this is the easy part, just lower it in gently…"

Grandpa was careful to get all the roots inside first, and the pushed the plant into the put gently. "And now all we need to do is get a bit of dirt to cover up the roots-"

"I got some!" Lops called out, quickly scooping up sort of half handfuls from the floor where it had fallen out and dumping it into the pot.

Grandpa closed his eyes and breathed out. "… Very good Lops, but your Dad got some as well for us." Grandpa pointed to another pot, this was was filled up with drt as well. "Why don't you get some of that, but wait and see how I do it all right?"

Lops nodded again, feeling a little like she'd messed up.

Grandpa took out one his little spades and got out some dirt, then carefully started putting it in the pot. He stayed away from the plant part though- the stem- he just did the outside first and then the roots until they were all covered up.

"All right then, we're almost done." Grandpa smiled. "We just need a little water-"

"But Granpa," Lops pointed to the 'pot'. "It not filled up."

"Ah, good eye!" Grandpa nodded. "But you're not meant to fill it all the way up, always leave a about a little away from the top. It's better for the plants that way."

"Umm, okay…" Lops accepted.

"Good, good." Grandpa pointed at a watering can nearby. "If you're up to it, I think your Dad can help you give this a little water."

"Oh, yea!" Lops ran over to the can and tried to lift it on her own, but it was half her size so it didn't really work. Suddenly Dad was nearby and put his hands underneath hers on the handle to give it a lift!

It was really light now, and Dad wasn't pushing or anything so Lops could lead! She carefully walked over, and Dad followed her, stooped over like Grandpa did some mornings but over her so she was in shade (it was nice).

She pointed the spout end with the cap with lots of holes at the plant and turned the watering can in the way she saw Grandpa do it a lot, but Dad stopped it going too far. "Not too far Lops."

"Why?" Lops looked up.

Grandpa answered. "Too much water at once can be bad for some plants, and you can mess up the soil." He pointed at the soil, "the soil is all light and fluffy right now, right?"

Lops let go of the can and Dad kept up his light pouring. Lops could see the loose dirt around Grandpa's finger, even as water droplets started hitting it and soaking in. "Yea, it all light."

"Well, that lets the roots grow more easily and get air." Grandpa told her. "If you pour too much water in at once it all gets pushed in, and the water can fill up too fast in the pot and run out from over the top. Then the plant has less air and water, so you have to let it soak in like this- see?"

Lops nodded as she watched. Dad kept his hands still and the water kept flowing out like light rain, and the fluffy soil stayed like that, but got nice and wet anyway after about a minute. "It light and wet now!"

"That's right, much better than getting squashed down." Grandpa nodded to Dad, and Dad took the can away.

Lops agreed, the plant's dirt was nice- but…

"Water getting out!" She gasped, and pointed to the puddle forming in the bottom of the saucer.

"Ahh so it is," Grandpa nodded, then help up the plant's old plastic pot and showed her the bottom. "But do you see these holes?"

Sure enough, in the bottom there were a few little holes.

"Yea, how water stay in?" Lops asked in confusion.

"It's not meant to," Grandpa told her. "The soil holds all the water the plant needs, anything more and the plant gets sick and could die-"

Lops gasped, "oh no!"

"Oh no indeed," Grandpa agreed. "But the plant still needs a drink now and then, what we do is get a pot with a hole in the bottom like your Dad made for us-"

Dad's leg twitched like he was annoyed by something, and Grandpas wrinkles got deeper while his smile got bigger.

"-and put it in a saucer like this." He pointed at the water rising in the saucer. "It keeps a bit of water in it so the soil still touches it, and the plant can drink when it needs too but not too much that it gets sick."

"Wow!" Lops gasped. "That smart!" She looked up at Dad, "you smart Dad!"

Dad blinked, and his smile was weird again. "… Thanks sweetie."

"Yes, yes he is." Grandpa did his little laugh. "Now, let's get this somewhere safe inside. Then you can come help me plant some new veggies!"

"Yea!" Lops smiled, and Dad helped her get the plant inside where the other kids wouldn't knock it over by accident.

The three would spend that afternoon together, and Lizy and the other kids would be jealous of Lops' plant in the bedroom window for the full hour it was a novelty to them. But they quickly grew bored of the thing since it didn't move.

Lizy was interested when it ate things but not after.

Leia and Londey didn't like dirt or stuff that came from it.

Everyone else thought it was green and found something else to play with

Lops however found herself very happy with her little pet plant from Grandpa, and loved to see it grow in the pot Dad had made for it.

And it was in the dirt with Grandpa, learning about how to grow things and seeing how all the bugs and water and dirt all came together to make new things that she found a love for the seemingly simple but intricate and strange world of gardening. A passion she would carry with her from house to house like her new bug-eating plant, and to many new places long after.

A/N:

Thanks to Nuuo for the Beta-Read