Stone Cats

Lizzy lived in an old house. The house was more of mansion, really. So perhaps the first sentence should be more like Lizzy lived in a mansion. Then go on to mention that the mansion had a garden. A beautiful garden because it was overrun and wild. Not in spite of, never in spite of. The garden was wild in it's beauty and beautiful in it's wildness.

Lizzy always felt it was an honor to live in the mansion with the beautiful garden. There were many other girls and boys who had to live in houses that weren't mansions and didn't have wildly beautiful gardens. That was why Lizzy went out every day into the garden. She stood in a tiny patch she had cleared out, and thanked the house for allowing her to live there.

When Lizzy was younger her aunt considered this cute. Lizzy lived with her aunt because her parents were gone. That was what Lizzy always said when people asked. Her parents were gone. Lizzy's aunt considered that cute when she was young too. As Lizzy grew the habit of standing in the garden and thanking the house grew less cute. As did her response that her parents were gone.

"The house isn't a living thing, you don't have to thank it." Lizzy's aunt told her.

"Her parents passed away." Lizzy's aunt would clarify to those who asked. Lizzy knew she should respect her aunt and thank her for taking Lizzy in. Lizzy ate her vegetables, went to bed on time, and never broke the rules. Lizzy thought that was respect and thanks enough. So Lizzy kept on standing in the middle of the wild garden and kept on thanking the house and kept on saying her parents were gone.

One day something horrible happened. Lizzy got home from school and noticed trucks outside. She thought her aunt was doing renovation. Lizzy went around to the back to stand in the wild garden and thank the house. When she got there Lizzy saw landscapers and professional gardeners. They were taming the wild garden.

Lizzy cried for days. She begged her aunt not to do this. She attempted to sabotage the workers. But Lizzy's aunt was determined.

"It's something I've been meaning to do for ages!" Lizzy's aunt would exclaim.

"It was dangerous." Lizzy's aunt explained kindly.

"It was an eyesore!" Lizzy's aunt told Lizzy firmly. But nothing would make Lizzy calm down. Lizzy still went out to the garden every day, but she couldn't find her spot. The workers would stare at her as she searched before giving up and simply picked a random place. They'd glance at each other in wonderment when she thanked the house for letting her live there. Lizzy could feel their stares burn into her as she walked back to the house.

The workers found something strange as they began clearing out the garden. There were stone benches and paved pathways. They had all been covered by the wild garden. There were also stone cats everywhere. Staring from beneath a thorny patch of roses. Hiding in an overgrown bed of azaleas. Stone cats were found in every bit of the garden the workers tamed.

Lizzy loved these stone cats the moment she saw them. Soon the workers learned to tell her when they found one. Lizzy would smile and run to the stone cat and stroke it and pet it. The workers would watch in amazement as she talked to the stone cat. The amount of time she spent with the cat varied. Sometimes it was only a couple minutes. Sometimes it was a few hours.

Lizzy was still sad about the garden. All that wild beauty was gone. The garden was still beautiful, but this time it was in spite of it being tamed. Lizzy didn't like the garden much anymore. If it hadn't been for the stone cats she would've abandoned it completely. But Lizzy loved talking to those stone cats.

Lizzy still thanked the house every day for allowing her to stay there. She couldn't find that one spot she had had before, but Lizzy did her best. Lizzy's aunt began to worry for her niece.