Chapter 35
Chapter 35
The morning is thick with cold fog hanging heavy across the land. It's cooler now too, as if the storm has chased away the summer heat. The ground is a muddy mess, the gravel drive partly washed away, and the gardens badly beaten and drowned.
Today is a day for cleanup.
The kids are less scared now that the storm has passed. We leave Amber, Bailey, and Debra on the porch to watch the kids while we cover the cleanup. Asher and the twins are splashing and stomping in the rain puddles and getting covered in mud. Even the toddler's are splashing around, chasing the bigger kids as they play.
Carol has the girls, including the newest girls, working on cleaning up the gardens. The new girls have traded out their long stiff dresses for some shorts and tshirts that Carol must've found for them. I need to remember to thank her for looking after them.
The driveway is littered with branches and fruit knocked free from the trees linning the path. Merle found a wheelbarrow that we've been tossing the broken limbs into. The dropped fruit is tossed in a large basket. Carol said she will go through the food later to salvage as much as she can.
I toss another branch into the wheelbarrow, wiping my muddy hand off on my already dirty shirt, when Danny comes running up from around the back of the house. He huffs a little out of breath but tells us, "The others houses have about the same amount of damage. I told them to collect the food for Carol to sort. Only big issue is a tree on the far end fell against the containers."
"Our side or outside," Daryl asks, wiping his forehead with his sleeve.
"Outside," Danny answers, "easy to climb too."
"Can one of you deal with it?" I ask.
He wrinkles his nose in thought, "Me and Maddie tried to lift it but it's too heavy for us."
"Even lifting together? What about lightening the weight first?"
"It's a big tree," he hedges.
I wipe my hands off on my trousers which are already messy, "Come on and show me. We can work on it together."
"You need me to help you?" He asks surprised.
"No," I answer honestly, "but you need to learn."
The tree is large. It was growing on the side of the road, heavy with moss covered limbs and crawling vines. The ground around its roots was already exposed as it sat up on a small incline and when the wind blew hard enough it's weight caused it to topple across the road, landing hard against the container that we had filling up the lane. It's an easy climb too, which a couple teens from the boats are proving by jumping about among the branches.
"Okay, everyone, off the tree," I call as we reach the container.
A ladder sits against the side. A flick of my wand has the old ladder transform into a sturdy set of stairs mostly because I'm not in the mood to climb. The teens have climbed off the tree to gawk at the stairs, a few grinning gleefully as they encourage me to 'Do more tricks!'. Maddie, the other brunette werewolf, and two of the guy werewolves stand watch on top of the container.
Danny follows me up the stairs. I look over the tree and it is large, no doubt about it, but it shouldn't be impossible for them to move. What follows is a test of patience. They don't want to try at first, believing that it isn't something they can do. I talk them though how to approach it. After all, I won't always be around.
"One way would be cutting it into pieces with cutting charms or axes," I suggest, including the teens still hovering close to watch. "By making it smaller, it becomes more manageable."
"But you can do it, right?" One of the guy werewolves asks.
Danny smacks his arm with a hissed, "Nick, quiet!"
At least I have a name for him now. "I can do this but you need to learn how to handle this if I wasn't here."
"Are you leaving?" One of the teens asks, then points a thumb at himself and says, "Cody."
"No, Cody, I am not leaving but something could happen while I'm away and you can't always wait for me to get back."
"So we should get an axe?" A teen girl moves forward, tucking short dark blonde hair behind her ear, adding with a self-deprecating smile, "I'm Star, and yes my mother actually named me that. I blame drugs."
I smile back at her, "If you don't have magic then yes, the best way to tackle this is with an axe."
"But you have magic," Cody points out with a bright grin.
"And so do they," I wave towards the werewolves who are all looking put out. "They should know their strengths and weaknesses and know how to handle any situation that comes up."
"Yeah but we can't lift it," Maddie says, "me and Danny tried."
"You each tried to lift it alone?" I ask, mostly to clarify.
She nods yes so I suggest, "Have you considered lifting together? If all five of you focus on a part of the tree and try to lift, could that work?"
She shares a baffled look with the other woman, both shrugging. I motion them forward, "I want you to try it, just once. I want each of you to focus on part of the tree and lift."
It is more comical than it should be. Maddie, as if to prove that she can, puts her all into just one branch. A branch that happens to be laying across the container and cracks under the pressure, smacking her hard in the stomach. The other girl manages to pull a birds nest towards her face and flails to stop it from hitting. One of the guys gets splattered with dirt, I'm not even sure where he was focusing his magic.
The teens are rolling with laughter.
I try to wave away the embarrassment that is clearly burning at them, "Okay, let's try again but a little different. You had the right idea, focusing on smaller areas, but let's think this through. The majority of it's weight is in the trunk and we mostly want it off of the container so instead of lifting or pulling, let's try pushing the trunk to roll onto the street."
Even that doesn't go smooth. It gets done, with a lot of huffing, puffing, and cursing but it is finally off the container. The tree is still large, now taking up the entire lane, with branches that would be visible from the other side of the container. It's still a danger but the werewolves are looking so proud that I spend the next few minutes praising them for a job well done. After all, magic doesn't come easy to them and this was something they really struggled with.
"Is it okay to leave the tree there?" Cody asks, standing near the edge of the container and looking down.
"It will be alright for now but we'll need to chop it up later."
"You gonna use magic to do it?" Star asks eagerly.
I shrug, "Maybe we will give you an axe and let you try to break it down."
I may as well let them play around so long as it's safe.