Earth Legend by Florence Witkop Page B

event happening I was
napping. Until the door opened and someone entered the jail and
looked around. Two someones.
    I opened one eye a crack and sat up fast.
Alicia and her grandfather, Wilkes Zander, mayor of New Rochelle,
stood in the middle of the main room. Alicia tenderly held a wilted
plant. Braveheart was cradled in Wilkes' arms. He cleared his
throat loudly until someone noticed and then he said, "We're here
to visit Elle Olmstead."
    "Ellle?" The deputy sat up, almost in shock.
"No one visits Elle. At least no one ever has."
    Wilkes looked over his shoulder towards me.
"Sorry we didn't come sooner, Elle. Things have been going on."
    "I know. Word gets around, even here.
Especially here. A food shortage?"
    His sigh was answer enough. "But we're here
now."
    "Did Alicia have anything to do with your
coming?" Her insistent tugs on his arm told me who was behind the
visit.
    "Yep." No one could hold out against the pint
sized politician-in-training for long. Wilkes pointed to the cherry
tree in her hands. "It's almost dead, like most of the trees. She
thinks you can bring it back to life."
    "Maybe." Alicia loved that tree so she'd done
everything she could. It wouldn't be as far gone as many of the
plants on the Destiny.
    "And I brought Braveheart for a visit. He
misses you."
    I came to the door of my cell and reached for
my kitten. "I was worried about him."
    Wilkes knew what I was saying without using
words because we didn't want to talk about my possible demise in
front of Alicia. "Don't worry about Braveheart. We're keeping him
for now, but if you can't care for him later, Gerald will take
him."
    "Gerald?" The guy who tallied produce at the
harvest center. I always took Braveheart and Gerald always petted
him.
    A frown appeared on Wilkes' brow. "Funny
thing, that. When I asked Gerald to take Braveheart, somehow the
conversation got around to you. He said the harvest from that
particular orchard dropped precipitously as soon as someone else
took over." He watched me closely but I didn't give away what I was
thinking so he went back to the reason for the visit, turning
imperiously to the deputy. "Well? Can we see Elle or not?"
    The deputy quickly unlocked the cell door and
Alicia entered but Wilkes remained outside, coming just close
enough to hand Braveheart to me. My kitten mewed and jumped into my
arms and snuggled against me, making me realized how much I'd
missed his tiny body next to mine. "I have a meeting, Elle. That's
why we came to the government center. An important meeting, so I
have to go but I'll be back as soon as it's done. You know what
it's about."
    "Dying crops."
    "Yep." His shoulders were slumped. It would
be a difficult meeting.
    The cell door shut on Alicia, Braveheart and
myself. Wilkes left, leaving the deputy undecided about his next
move. Cullen wanted to be informed of any visitors but he'd have to
go into another room to make contact and he wasn't sure if he
should leave me alone with Alicia. Until Alicia set her miniature
cherry tree on my cot and hugged me, blubbering loudly. "I missed
you."
    "I missed you too." We hugged for a long
time.
    "My mom doesn't give me cookies."
    "That's too bad. I wish I had some but I
can't bake in here."
    "My tree is sick. You have to make it well."
Her head lifted as the deputy decided I wasn't likely to slit
anyone's throat. He went into the inner office to contact Cullen
and popped out moments later to say he'd go look for some cookies.
Alicia took time from insisting I fix her tree to tell him what
kind. She's big on chocolate chips.
    As soon as he disappeared, I gently pried her
from my waist and picked up the cherry tree. "It doesn't look too
bad."
    "Oh that's good. I was worried." I took the
tiny tree and turned it around a few times and then closed my eyes
and did my thing. It was easy, I'd been doing it ever since one
time when I was a kid and had an argument with a prickly pear
cactus. My whole family had erupted into laughter when the cactus
won. Then