Stones Have a Way - Chapter 6 - Heart Stones Planted and Harvested
"Oh no, Berit, too bad," Quinn said as Berit opened the little Mystery Date door. "You drew the dud dude. You lose."
Berit looked at the little card closely then up at Quinn.
"Dud? Oh, you mean he's kind of a muppet? A loser? Hmm, I don't know, Quinn. Look at him. Looks like he's back from one craic of an good adventure and ready to take you on a another ripping fine one. And with those boots he's wearing, I'd say he's not afraid of a little dirt here and there. Then a fine evening at a good restaurant."
Quinn skeptically looked closer at the dud card apparently reconsidering.
"You know, I think he would clean up nicely at that, Berit. Anyway, it's funny to see someone else get the dud besides Daria. He's been Daria's 'dream date' for as long as I can remember."
"Only because you bring me such good luck when we're playing, Quinn," Daria deadpanned as she herself regarded the dud with greater scrutiny. She was more interested in calculating how much money she had accumulated from the five dollars a session compensation which her parents secretly gave her for playing Mystery Date with Quinn and her friends.
Quinn covered her mouth demurely as she yawned widely. Daria and Berit exchanged covert glances and helped put the pieces of a couple different board games away.
Quinn yawned again. "Oh, excuse me, Berit. That corned beef your mom gave us with our dad's chicken fried steak on top of your dad's cheesecake made me all sleepy. I hate you guys for letting me eat so much. You have to promise to go on bike ride with me. A long one but slow, don't want to work up an icky sweat."
Berit gave a credible yawn performance herself. "Mom and Da wanted to make sure we girls had a full larder while I stayed overnight, Quinn. You know, it's not that early, I think we all need a good night's stretch of kip. Your 'rents turned in already I believe."
The three girls nodded to each other as they listened to two tones of snoring coming from behind the Morgendorffer parent's bedroom door.
"I think the food and that 'spot of Irish' your Dad gifted ours with put them both out like a light." Daria opined as they all got ready for bed. "I expect some to go everybody's coffee but mine tomorrow morning."
"Are you sure, Quinn, you don't mind staying alone while Daria and I take the guest room?" Berit asked with concern.
"Oh, that's okay," Quinn granted magnanimously. "I'm sure you two have a lot of seventh grade gossip and boys to talk about." It was pretty clear Quinn was looking forward to even one night alone in their normally shared bedroom.
"True," Daria said. "Why, we still haven't resolved if they've changed brands of frozen lasagne in the lunchroom. It's a topic ripe for further discussion and debate."
Quinn hugged Berit good night, then almost as an afterthought gifted one to her surprised older sister who received it stiffly.
"Oíche mhaith agus codladh sámh, Quinn."
"Er, same to you, Berit."
Daria closed the door of the guest room and turned to see Berit clasping her hands and bouncing in anticipation. Daria wryly smiled and put a finger to her lips although needlessly as Berit nodded and silently pulled a black gym bag from the closet.
An hour later two figures in black garb crept out of the guest room which one of them had carefully greased the door hinges of that morning. They paused in the hall then moved silently down the stairs as they heard three sets of soft snores from different bedrooms. Bicycles were picked off the back yard and walked half a block before being mounted in the cooling moonless Texas night. The shorter rider wore a small backpack. Barely fifteen minutes later they dismounted at their destination. They glanced up at the darkened house then up and down the quiet dark street before moving into the middle of the front yard.
Daria slipped the backpack off and winced as the zipper rustled softly on opening. She reached around in the dark and handed her partner in crime a couple needed implements and materials.
"Are you sure this is going to work, Berit?" She whispered. "I mean I have faith in you, no one knows dirt like you."
Berit put her head close to Daris before answering softly. "Thanks I think, but I'll still get you for that one. Yes, Jimmy described this little university prank last holiday. Of course he and his mates were much cruder and coarser than what we have in mind. Claire and her folks are on holiday but we still need to work quick but careful then leg it back to your place before anyone's the wiser."
"No chance of that with Quinn."
It was dark so Daria gave a wider than habitual smile as she and Berit took up carefully planned positions and got to work on the lawn. It proved to be quicker work than either had anticipated but even so took up the better part of an hour. Once Daria's heart pounded as a car turned up the street. She and Berit flattened themselves and were apparently undetected as the car drove by. If the occupants noticed the bicycles they probably thought that the bikes were left out overnight by typically careless kids. Daria had already planned the excuses and contrition she would exhibit tomorrow for their bit of callousness of forgetting their new bikes overnight in the backyard.
When the two were satisfied with the work in Claire's yard they rode their bikes quickly back to Daria's house restraining their laughter until the halfway point. Then Berit needed to stop and giggle. Daria was even happy enough to bob her head a bit in rhythm with Berit's chuckles until they saw headlights from passing cars on side streets and a house light up with an insomniac or early riser. She lightly smacked Berit on the arm, pointed the way home and the two rode off silently.
It was easy to sneak back up to the guest room undetected, easy to stand smirking and smiling at each other in the half-light from the street, easy until the door softly and swiftly opened and closed and a flashlight swept their faces.
"Quinn! What the hell?" Daria exclaimed in a whisper after a moment to regain her breath and come down off the ceiling. "Turn that thing off."
"Quinn," Berit added in a whisper. "Oh, that was quite nearly the death of me. Please dear that torch is bright."
Quinn obligingly quenched her flashlight which left the three girls standing in dimness.
"Okay, where were you two?" was Quinn's predictable whispered opener.
"Nowhere, okay?" Daria started with in whispered intense sincerity. "We just needed a little air and went down to the back yard.
"Yeah, sure, since when are you a fresh air freak, Daria? And," Sniff, sniff. "You two smell like dirt. Ewww. I woke up and looked out our window and saw your bikes were gone. Mom and Dad aren't going to like it that you left your bikes out in the backyard all night but they're going to be triply royally ticked off that you went somewhere."
"The dirt smell comes from us digging your grave. I wanted one ready, deep and cold in case you ever ratted on me." Daria promised.
"Hmph." Quinn declared and crossed her arms insistently.
"Oh Quinn," Berit did a credible job of sounding excited and happy in her tiny whisper. "We were out matchmaking. Helping two souls who are meant for each other find true love. We cannot tell you who now; it's a secret."
Daria nearly choked on that but she could practically see Quinn's eyes light up with delight.
"Oh, Berit, matchmaking! How romantic." Quinn swooned but then got serious. "But you should concentrate on finding your own boyfriends. I mean you'll have no trouble; Daria on the other hand, er, might need both our help."
Quinn got even more serious. "But you still shouldn't sneak out at night. What if Mom and Dad heard you."
"Let's cut it off now, Quinn." Daria said. "Five."
"Fifteen."
Berit listened with interest to something she was not used to, the interactions of two loving sisters.
"Ten. You're killing me at that."
"Twelve-fifty."
"Twelve-fifty? Okay, okay, only because I'm tired. But why the coins? I thought anything other than folding money ruined the lines of your clothes." Daria prepared the bribe and handed it over with the tiniest of coin exchange jingle.
"I got that new Henri Bendel coin purse, silly. I obviously need something to keep in it." Quinn said layering the emphasis hard on the 'H' with the slight Texas accent she had.
"Smashing, Quinn." Berit said. "But I think it's pronounced 'Onri' or thereabouts."
She yawned in earnest then and Daria cut the yawn and magnified it with one of her own. Quinn was about to head out with her prize when the three froze as they heard footsteps outside the door. A moment later a parent knocked on the door.
"Girls?" Even sounding half-asleep Jake Morgendorffer's voice could be booming. "Are you all still up? It's late, get to bed. Hey, are you decent? Can I come in?"
The doorknob jiggled and began to turn.
"No, Dad, no." Daria improvised. "We're indecent. I mean, give us a few minutes to get ready for bed."
"You girls get in bed quick." Jake commanded sounding more awake and insistent. He paused. "Wait a minute. My old man never let me stay up, unless it was some military endurance training thing. Even if I had friends over it was lights out at ten sharp. Well, you girls enjoy yourselves. Stay up as late as you want talking about girl-stuff or what have you. Remember though, Berit's folks pick her up tomorrow morning for church at nine."
Jake slipped away down the hall and Quinn and Daria were thankful it was not their mother they had to negotiate with.
Quinn slipped out the door too. Berit and Daria turned on a dim light. They were too tired from their escapades to take advantage of the carte blanche to stay up all night. They gave each other small smiles and got into their sleep gear: Daria oversized tee and shorts matched by Berit's new pyjamas with unicorn and pegasus motif. Berit said a few silent prayers under Daria's curious eyes before they climbed into the bed. They slept toasty cozy until Jake and Helen woke them up for breakfast.
DM DM DM DM DM
"A secret admirer! It's so romantic, Claire."
"Who could it be, Claire? 'SS'? You should date them all."
Berit and Daria had been on pins and needles at school for a week and more as they waited to see if their plan led to fruition. Now as they slipped down the halls unnoticed and drank in those comments and more it seemed all worth their late night toil. Claire McCandry and her cadres were leaving them alone; indeed the whole school was ignoring them and swarming around Claire.
Berit nodded at the throng around Claire and said to Daria, "SS that was brilliant on your part. Lots of boys have those initials, some in other schools. Everyone will be guessing for weeks."
"Everyone but us, you mean. It was your brilliant idea and so far so good." Daria responded.
Being ignored was working almost too well as Daria had to push through the outskirts of the crowd of girls around Claire to reach her locker. Her new Tom Binh backpack held most of the books she needed throughout the day but she liked to keep some in her locker between classes. The girls paused to listen in on Claire and audience.
"Tell it again, Claire." Girls giggled and seconded the suggestion, some bouncing in giddy anticipation.
Claire was delighted to tell it again and ready for the privilege. "Not much to tell really, I mean until I looked out my bedroom window a couple days ago at our front yard. And imagine my surprise! In pretty, bright green leaves against the grass—Daddy sprinkles the lawn every day you know, we can afford it—was 'CM + SS' with patches of little hearts in bright leaves too. Well, I almost wanted to roll around in the grass. Dad gave up trying to kill 'em so now we're going to let the carrots grow and eat 'em. I don't understand it; it's one of those geek things, something about carrots being a narrow-leaf plant and immune to weed killers like grass is."
One girl spoke up. "You have to bring carrots in for us! You simply must give us some, Claire. Those have to be good luck veggies."
"Maybe it's Stewart Stevenson. That would be like the dud date in Mystery Date," Another girl speculated.
That brought howls of laughter from the group.
"It better not be him," Claire's voice turned cold. "If he knows what's good for him."
Daria and Berit smirked. Daria hoped they had not gotten Stewart into any real trouble. She did not care to talk with him much but she pitied him after a conversation with Berit made her look at him in a new light. She came to regard him as a poor, little rich boy with every toy in the world but no one to play with him. Still, he seemed to be taking care of himself; they had already heard Stewart denying his involvement in planting carrots as a mush note but in a sly way that left open the possibility that he was indeed the culprit.
As the days marched on to summer vacation time and the carrots grew, Daria and Berit observed Claire seeming to go through every boy with the initials 'SS' in the greater Highland area, every acceptable boy that is. Claire and her posse spent time reviewing every encounter. So far, no one had claimed responsibility although several SSers had learned Stewart's tricks of implausible possible deniability. The partners in crime occasionally biked by Claire's to observe their handiwork growing.
Then one morning everyone but them was acting like Bugs Bunny. Kids were standing by their lockers and strolling through the halls with carrots stuck in their mouths, bright green stems and leaves hanging down. Munch, munch, crunch, crunch sounds echoed up and down the halls. Teachers were at a loss as there was no specific rule against eating in the halls and no one wanted to be the first to pull a healthy snack out of a seventh grader's mouth.
Daria's locker was near the cause of the sudden health kick. Claire's cadre was gathered around Claire who was gathered into the arm of Sam Simonson. Sam stood tall for an eighth grader and the sandy-haired, green-eyed youth appeared at once proud, confused and happy that he could take responsibility for the carrot prank and claim the prize. A few of Claire's minions had snagged other worthy boys with the lucky initials or worthy in general.
"Ha. Ha. Look at them, Batty and Old Morgendorker" Claire pointed at Berit and Daria with a gnawed carrot. "No one's likely to plant carrots in their yards."
Berit gasped and Daria glowered but they silently moved on down an almost deserted hall to a class which they shared that semester.
Berit turned back to look at the hubbub. She bit her lip and said to Daria, "Another victory like that and we are done for."
"Now, Berit, don't get all Pyrrhic on me. Claire, et. al. are leaving us alone. I bet their boy toys will keep them busy for the rest of the year. Then we've got the summer to laze around and ignore everyone but ourselves."
Berit's eyes shone as she took Daria's hand. "Daria, promise me. When we go to that big dance party thing, your prom I guess, in a few years, we find a couple of fine things, one for each of us to take us there and dance all night. We dress up like a princess and laugh and carry on like there's not a care in the world and make everyone green with envy."
Daria had never heard Berit talk like that before.
"We'll show them, Berit. I'll clear my calendar now. We'll show them," she said half in earnest sincerity, half in jest. Berit only noticed the sincerity.
They finished the class and the school day and soon enough the school year. Over the summer Daria learned to dream a little bigger with the help of her journal and adventures with Berit and oddly enough for someone whose eyes were on the ground so frequently, Berit came down to Earth a bit from association with Daria. They explored the woods in back of their houses but no unicorns were sighted. Soon enough eighth grade was upon them.