Gargoyle Garden

As Marci very slowly opened the wrought-iron gate she thought about a promise that she had made to herself a long time ago—never, ever, to pass through the gate to Mrs. Stone’s private garden. It would be too painful.

Max Able and Danny Boyle were about as adventurous as boys could be. If there was something that they were told not to do, they did it. Today all three friends were here-- Marci, who wanted to do everything boys did; Max, who wanted to prove to her once and for all that she was ‘just a girl’; and Danny, who – although he felt that girls were ‘too soft’ to hang out with the guys in their clubhouse – liked her more than he would admit to anyone, including Marci. He didn’t understand, though, why she insisted on being a member of a boys club. She should be hanging out with the girls. Today the boys hoped that it should finally put her request to rest as it was becoming annoying.

Max said, “This is the deal Marci. You have to prove to us that you can handle anything if you want to join our club. It just doesn’t look right for guys our age to be in the company of a girl when we all know that girls should be home baking cookies or something.” “Yeah, Marce, girls are afraid of everything so it just doesn’t look good for us to have you in our club because boys are fearless but we can still be friends” added Danny.

“Just what do you two supermen have in mind? You think I’m some kind of mashed potato?” Marci believed that girls were far more superior!

Max said, “Well, uh, Danny says” Danny looked at Max and was about to say something when Max continued with, “I mean, Danny and I discussed this and we decided that you have to enter Mrs. Stone’s garden—they say Gargoyles live there—and walk around for 5, I mean 3 minutes and come back out. If you make it back; (at this point Danny chuckled), I mean when you make it back through the gate we’ll be waiting here and you will have proven that you can become a member of our club.”

“Let me get this straight so that no one is sorry for anything said. You and Danny decided I have to go where no one – including yourselves – has dared to go since Mrs. Stone’s daughter, Robin – who loved the garden - was buried after having been hit by a car driven by a drunk driver. Mrs. Stone has kept the garden gate locked and has been known to use extraordinary means to punish anyone who walks through the garden because she feels no one but Robin should be there surrounded by everything she loved.  You are both hoping she, or the gargoyles, will catch me and punish me so that you do not have to let me join your club of supermen! I accept the challenge, but I have a condition of my own. Should I return from the garden, you will personally apologize to her for using her daughter as an excuse for membership to your club. If you agree, I’ll agree to go into the garden at my own risk. Deal?”

Thinking that there was no way that Marci could escape the wrath of Mrs. stone for trespassing into her garden, the boys agreed to her condition. Besides, they believed that the rumored gargoyles—slayer monsters—surrounding Robin’s grave would be enough to send Marci hysterically screaming and running out of Mrs. Stone’s garden and this would put an end to Marci’s continuous pestering about joining the boys club. They believed that she had been given a task that no girl would be able to meet.

Marci didn’t like having to go into the private garden. She knew how much the garden meant to Mrs. Stone, but Robin had been her best friend at school and Marci knew that Robin believed as she did that girls have an inner strength so strong that they could endure more than any of the boys they knew—which would include gargoyles! The boys had it too, but for some reason they just didn’t know it. They were all talk and nothing more.

Once she was in the garden, she stopped and looked around. She saw Mrs. Stone kneeling at the gravesite of her daughter--praying. It also looked as though she had just finished planting flowers by the gravesite. Marci slowly and cautiously approached her. Startled, Mrs. Stone reached for the shovel at her side. Marci said, “Please don’t, Mrs. Stone” and explained to her why she has there. She began with an apology for disrespecting her wishes. The two of them talked for a long while and Mrs. Stone asked Marci to come back to visit with her from time to time as Robin was her only daughter and she missed her constant companionship. She said it made her feel as though her spirit was alive and nearby her by having her best friend there to talk about the many good times they had had together. Remembering how close she and Marci were helped ease the pain—since kindergarten they had been inseparable. Marci assured Mrs. Stone that she would come back soon as it eased her pain as well and that Robin was always in her heart and on her mind. Marci genuinely liked her and always had. She was a kind person.

She then went back to meet with Max and Danny. They were obviously surprised that she was not abused in any way, and told Marci that she could now be a member of their club. Marci told them that she no longer wanted to be a member of their club. Her final words to Max and Danny were, “Someday I hope the both of you discover that there are people who have valid reasons for what they do. Loss is a terrible thing and it affects people differently. The bottom line is that each person has the right to grieve in his or her own way and it’s not for you or I to judge them for how they react to their loss—instead, we should grieve with them and pray for them.   I think I’ll start my own club!”