Be Careful What You Wish For

I stepped out the front door with Sam, zipping his backpack as he struggled to get his arms in his jacket. He was late for the bus again today. Thankfully it stopped at the entrance to our cul-de-sac a block away. As I watched him sprint down the sidewalk, I saw Nina from next door working on her petunias. 

A little early for that isn’t it, I thought to myself glancing at my watch. 7:18 A.M. It was too early for chit chat, so I waved and smiled in her direction before sneaking back inside. 

I walked past Nina’s house yesterday afternoon as she was transplanting tulip bulbs. I have no interest in discussing flowers, but I undertook the role of ‘peacekeeper’ on our intimate street years ago. I felt it my duty to be involved in everyone’s life in case I needed to use that inner knowledge as leverage in future squabbles amongst the housewives of the block. Nina was middle of the pack when it came to snootiness. She was friendly with a subtle air of pretentiousness. 

“I wish these flowers would magically multiply and plant themselves,” Nina smirked. “If I had more time I would surely beat Mrs. Donahue for Garden of the Year. What I wouldn’t give to see the look on her face as they announce my name instead of hers.” 

“I think it looks lovely as always, Nina. Who knows, maybe a flower fairy will plant them while you sleep,” I said jokingly. 

---

The baby monitor lit up with Marnie’s cries, bringing me back from yesterday’s conversation to reality. I plucked a few weeds from my garden bed before heading inside. Better than nothing, I grinned to myself. 

---

The next afternoon I sat on our front porch steps while Marnie colored with sidewalk chalk. Sam was racing his friends around the cul-de-sac on his bike. The sunshine felt amazing on my face, and I was content sitting here doing nothing. Just as I started to daydream about our trip to the beach next month, I heard Claire Baker from across the street yelling my name. 

“Ellie! It’s nice to see you this morning,” she yelled across the pavement. 

I waved and got up, as she was coming toward me. Claire was the resident overachiever mom, and she was desperately trying to rub that off onto her kids. They were in every sport imaginable whether they liked it or not. I swear Jacob, the seventh grader, was wearing shin guards with football pads while he carried a basketball the other day. 

“God blessed me with five handsome, talented boys. Must be for a reason,” she frequently reminded us. She was determined to have at least one of them on a professional sport’s roster someday. As if that was truly God’s grand plan for her house of testosterone. 

I met her in the cul-de-sac, and I stifled a giggle as I saw that she was wearing five photo pins on her shirt - one of each of her boys. 

“Claire! You must be getting ready to head off to a game. Whose is it today?” I asked, feigning interest. 

“Oh gosh, it’s crazy, Ellie. Jacob has lacrosse. Then off to the gym for Rowan’s futsal game. Rick will take the twins to baseball. To round out the day, Graham has a tennis match.” 

“Wow. I don’t know how you keep it all straight, Claire, I truly don’t,” I said, waiting for the gloating to start. 

“Well, it’s an important time of year. Any other mom in the stands would be ecstatic with kids like mine. But I want more for my boys. I wish they would all become professional athletes. Wouldn’t that be a dream come true?” The question was rhetorical, and I could see her mind picturing it. 

“I’d be the first to buy a jersey with the Baker name on it.” I really did mean that. I roll my eyes a lot at these ladies, but we really do love each other’s kids. 

Two of her boys came outside carrying giant duffle bags full of their gear. I waved at them and shouted good luck as I strolled back to my simple life. 

---

After a relaxing weekend playing outside, we were back to our Monday routine. Marnie and I were pulling weeds whenI heard the brakes of the school bus. I brushed the dirt off my pants and took Marnie’s hand to walk to the bus stop. I spotted Sam walking with his buddy, Collin. His mom, Maria, was following behind them holding Collin’s stuff. Sam muttered a ‘hey, mom’ as he tossed me his jacket and lunch box.

“I’m a walking mudroom,” Maria said as I met up with her. 

“I feel you,” I said, holding up Sam’s stuff, “hey, at least they still need us for something.”

Maria and her family moved in when the boys were starting kindergarten, and we’ve been friends ever since. We have raised the boys together and welcomed our second children the same summer. 

She is the complete opposite of Nina. Nina’s perfectionism is nicely balanced by Maria’s easy-going oura. Maria is currently expecting her third child, and although she loves her kids, she hates being pregnant. 

“How are you, Ellie? Playdate tomorrow morning?” she asked. We both knew that was an excuse for girl talk and Starbucks. 

“I would love that. I’ll pick up the coffee after I send Sam off. Decaf latte?” I asked. She was fourteen weeks pregnant, and it seemed like the first trimester woes were lasting longer for her this time. 

“A decaf latte would be wonderful,” she smiled and sighed.

“Is there something you want to get off your chest, Maria?” I asked as we reached my driveway. We sat down on the front steps as the kids ran around in the grass. 

“Oh, my mind is a wandering place right now. I’m sure I should wait until the pregnancy hormones have gone away to make any huge life decisions, but I’ve been thinking that maybe three kids will be all I want,” she said without a hint of doubt surprisingly.

“That’s a new twist,” I said, trying to stay as neutral as possible. 

“I know. Five has always been our plan since the day we met, but I find myself wishing I was pregnant with multiples so I could complete my family sooner. I’m worried that five pregnancies will be too much on my body. If I have five kids I want to be able to keep up with them. Plus, at this rate, I’ll be over 40 by number five,” she said. 

“Those are all very valid things, Maria. Can you imagine going to an appointment and having them tell you there is more than one baby in there?” We both laughed a slightly nervous laugh.  

“Can you imagine?” Maria finally said in a whispered tone, shaking her head. 

---

The sun was shining through our French doors on this last day of April. I stepped out onto the patio with my cup of coffee to enjoy the beauty of my backyard, realizing that the “beauty” was overrun with weeds. My lovely tulips were trying to outshine the dandelions growing in between them. 

As I stood there deciding whether I should pull weeds or enjoy my coffee it occurred to me that I hadn’t seen Nina or her flawless landscaping since before Spring Break. I wonder if she ever got her hundreds of flower bulbs planted? I was thinking to myself as I coincidentally heard her voice. 

“Ellie. Psssttt. Ellie,” she was whisper-yelling at me as she peeked over the fence, “you will never believe. I, uh, I can’t explain. My yard, it’s covered. I can’t see the grass. What happened?” 

“Whoa, Nina. I don’t understand. What is going on? I haven’t seen your yard recently. Do you need help?” I said, confused and concerned. Everything looked normal last week.

“Yes, come, come. Please. I woke up and all my blades of grass have magically turned to flowers. Maybe Mrs. Donahue did this? She probably saw my hyacinths and felt threatened,” she was talking faster with every word. 

I walked to the gate, my mouth hanging open. I had never seen Nina so flustered. I stopped, stunned when I saw her. She was wearing pajamas. I had never seen her with a hair out of place let alone in a nightgown. 

I was so surprised by her appearance that I briefly missed the millions of flowers surrounding her. Millions. She wasn’t kidding when she said every blade of grass changed into a flower. Every square inch of her quarter acre lot was covered. I would say it was pretty, but no, it was bizarre. 

I bent down and felt a petal. Maybe some high school kids filled her yard with fake flowers as a joke. The petal was soft and ripped in my fingers. They were 100% real. As I tugged on the stem it was firmly planted in the ground. 

“Nina. This is crazy. How did this happen? It would take days, if not weeks, to plant all these,” I said. 

“I don’t know Ellie. I don’t know. It wasn’t like this when I went to bed,” she was obviously spooked by the whole thing, “I guess it’s true what they say, ‘It’s all fun and games….until all of your wishes come true’. I have been dying to win that contest, constantly wanting more flowers, more color, more everything. This is not what I had in mind. I’m going to be the laughing stock of the garden club.” 

She seemed to be concerned about her reputation but not the very peculiar, other worldly thing that happened in her yard. There she is. There’s the Nina we know and love. 

As she called a landscaper, I slowly walked back to my yard. Her yard was visible from the main road and people were stopping to take pictures. It would only be a matter of time before the newspapers were showing up. You better change out of your pajamas, Nina. Your dreams might be coming true - a famous garden. 

---

By Wednesday, Nina had managed to transplant all of the tulips with the help of a ten person landscaping crew. Her yard was now a barren field of dirt, but she reassured the committee of judges from the Garden Club that all new sod was being installed on Friday. 

The whole neighborhood has been gossiping about Nina and her odd phenomenon. Some people are saying she did it herself, or hired someone, just so she could make the front page of the newspaper, which she did. Multiple times. 

Nina was still basking in her new found fame when the local TV stations zoomed into the neighborhood that afternoon. Hearing the frenzy of reporters yelling and slamming their van doors, we all rushed outside to see what was happening. 

“Mr. Baker, Mrs. Baker, how does it feel to have all five boys recruited to professional sport leagues on the same day? Are they going to drop out of school to pursue this? Is it even legal for a thirteen year old to get paid for sports?” The questions kept coming as Claire and Rick stumbled out their front door looking completely shocked, trying to shield their eyes from the flashes. I saw the boys peeking through the curtains. The reporters must have spotted them too because they frantically began shouting their names and even more questions. 

“We, uh, wow. This is very new for us. We are obviously very proud of all of them. We are talking to agents, so we have nothing to say at this moment until we have more details,” Claire said with fear in her voice. 

Once the reporters realized they weren’t going to get to see the boys, they left. Claire sat down on her steps as Rick went inside. I walked across the circle to see if she needed anything.

She looked up as she saw me approaching. “Ellie. I don’t know how this happened. I’ve always wanted the boys to excel, but this is nuts. Why would a professional soccer team recruit a junior high kid? And I didn’t even know scouts were looking at the twins.”

“I don’t know, Claire,” I said sympathetically. 

“Today was overwhelming. I’ve secretly wanted this fame, the glamorous mom of an all-star life since Graham was born. I never in a million years saw it happening like this though. It was fun to dream about, but I guess it’s true what they say "it's all fun and games….until all of your wishes come true”. 

What did she say? That sounded familiar. I couldn’t think of where I heard it. 

I gave her a pat on the leg. “It’ll all simmer down, Claire.”

I walked back to my house, wondering what ridiculous thing was next for our quiet little street.

---

Five months passed with no new wacky happenings. Once or twice a week a reporter would knock on the door of the Blake house hoping to get an update from one of the boys. Nina was flaunting her Garden of the Year win with a huge sign in her yard. She still swears that the $20,000 it cost to remove the flowers and replace the grass was worth it. 

I was sitting on my front steps one Saturday morning while Max and the kids were at the park. I looked over at Maria’s house. We had been missing each other for playdates lately with school starting again, and this weekend she was visiting her parents. At least that’s what I thought. 

My phone buzzed on the porch with Maria’s name and a photo. I opened it, and let out an audible gasp. She was sitting in a hospital bed, holding three babies. Three identical babies wearing tiny pink hats. 

What?? Three?  

I sent the message and waited impatiently for her response. 

I went to the hospital with contractions on Thursday night expecting to have a quick c-section. Well, as they were delivering the first baby I saw the doctor’s eyes widen as he said ‘I think I see another one’. At that point I passed out. When I woke up, Miguel told me we had three healthy daughters. 

I wasn’t sure what to say, but I tried to be a good friend. 

They’re perfect, Maria, congratulations. I’m a little stunned. Your scans only showed one baby. How are you? 

I’m shocked, but grateful. We were not prepared for this. Miguel is scrambling to get more car seats, bassinets, diapers, all of it. I know nothing about raising multiples. I remember sitting on your front steps daydreaming about multiples so I could have fewer pregnancies, and now here I am. With triplets! It’s true what they say, ‘it’s all fun and games….until all of your wishes come true’. 

We texted a few more times before she needed to rest. I sat there holding my phone, a funny feeling in my gut about what Maria had said about her wish coming true. I had heard that before, somewhere. Max and the kids returned just then, and I forgot about trying to figure it out. 

---

Sunday morning, the kids rushed into my bedroom with homemade cards, sprinkle toast, and a silly birthday hat. 

“Wow, look at this. I love the sprinkles! And this card with the robots. Sam, did you make that?” He nodded proudly as I admired it while I took a bite of the toast. 

Max came into the room, carrying a huge chocolate muffin with a candle in it, singing ‘Happy Birthday’ as Sam joined him. I closed my eyes and blew out the candle. As the flame went out, and my mind flashed to visions of Nina, Claire, and Maria telling me ‘it’s all fun and games….until you get everything you wished for’. That’s where I have heard that. 

My eyes widened as I thought about my wish. No, those were all just coincidences. There’s no way my birthday wish would be part of the outlandish occurrences of this cul-de-sac. Right? No way. 

---

The day after Halloween, I was pulling the candles out of our jack-o-lanterns when three huge moving trucks pulled into the circle. I thought someone across the way must be secretly moving, but the driver of the first truck was walking toward me. 

“G’morning ma’am. It will take us two days to get everything packed up. We’ll do it extra carefully since it will be going overseas. I’m guessing 60-90 days before it arrives over there,” he said matter-of-factly. 

“Um, where will it be arriving?” I said, confused. We weren’t moving. Were we?

“Sienna, Italy, ma’am,” he said as he showed me the information. 

I stared blankly at him as I was transported back to my birthday, blowing out my candle as I wished we could live in the Italian countryside and show our kids a slower way of life. 

“What if I tell you I didn’t set this up?” I asked, hoping he didn’t think I was crazy. 

“It looks like it’s already paid for ma’am. It says it will be delivered to your address in Siena, a private home that is under your name,” he said.

The movers filed past me with boxes and paper. An e-mail popped up on my phone with a forwarded message from Max’s work. It was plane tickets for all of us to Siena in two weeks. 

I guess this is happening. Maybe I shouldn’t question it. But I should. Why do I not remember doing any of these things? It’s just like Nina not remembering planting those flowers or Claire not knowing her boys were being recruited or Maria not knowing she was carrying triplets. Life handed us exactly what we wished for, and like they all said…..

It was all fun and games until all our wishes came true.