The Garden Key

The hurt in Suzie Morgan’s chest made it hard to breath as she watched her Nina closed in the box. Everyone threw a hand full of dirt on her. Her mother gave her some dirt to throw on Nina’s box, but she couldn’t do it. She didn’t want to help bury her in the hole. She hurled the soil on her mother’s feet and stomped off to the car. Her parents told her they weren’t going home. They had a meeting they needed to go to first. She didn’t understand why they made an appointment after Nina Jackson’s funeral. All she wanted to do was hold Mr. Peaches, the teddy bear Nina gave to her. She tried to bring Mr. Peaches, but her mother pulled him from her arms and tossed him on the sofa.

Her mother, Jennifer Jackson, carried Suze into the tall building onto the elevator. Suze leaned into the corner of the elevator and hid under the silver bar, hoping to disappear from the world. Her Nina got to hide in the box in the ground. Her mother dabbed a tissue at her eyes as David Morgan, her dad, loosened his tie and pulled off his jacket. She squeezed her eyes shut to block out the hurt of never getting to see her Nina again.

She opened her eyes when the elevator doors whispered open and her parent stepped out. Suzy pushed herself further into the corner. Her mother walked back onto the elevator and pulled her out of the coroner.

“Really Suzy? We don’t have time for you to doddle.” Jennifer said as she dragged Suze off the elevator.

“We are all dealing with a lot today. Suze was close to you mother. Just give her some slack.” David said.

Jennifer handed Suze to David then marched toward the glass door with Dale Riggles Lawyer in black lettering. The click of her heels echoed in the hall as she walked through the door.

“Is mommy mad at me?”

“No, she’s upset that her mother is gone.”

“She can hug Mr. Peaches when we get home.”

David smiled at her. “That will help.”

He followed Jennifer into the office and set Suzy down. “Stay here while I talk to mommy.”

By the back wall was a large desk with a man in a black suit with dark brown hair. To the right was a big window that looked over the city and across the room were bookcases filled to compacity. In the middle of the office were two rows of chairs. Suze set down in one of the chairs in the back row. She watched her parents talk to the suited man in shushed tones.

A few minutes later Uncle Kevin Jackson sauntered in dressed in his usual blue jeans and black tee-shirt with the sleeves torn off. Followed by his wife Abigail, who liked to make a fashion statement, wore a black dress with a red hat and red heels. They both took a set in the front row.

Abigail turned and patted Suze on the leg. “How are you doing, honey?”

“I want to go home.”

“I can understand that. I don’t see a reason for your parents to bring you here.”

“Abigail, that’s none of your business why she is here.” Jennifer said as she set down beside Suze.

Uncle James Jackson with his wife Chloe rushed in dressed in matching navy outfits. James nodded at Kevin as they set with them in the front row. As David took a chair on the other side of Suze, Theodore Jackson dashed in and plopped down in the last chair.

The man behind the desk stood. “Now that we are all here, I can read the will. I’m Dale Riggles, Norah Jackson’s lawyer.”

Dale picked up a paper and walked around to the front of his desk and leaned on the desk. He put on his glasses and flipped through the papers.

“For Kevin Jackson and his wife Abigail, you will get ten thousand. James Jackson and his wife Chole get five thousand.”

“That’s not fair.’ Chole said.

“You make more money than I do.” Kevin said.

“I would have to quit my job to make than you do.” James said.

“There’s no point in auguring about the money. This is what mother wanted.” Jennifer said.

“That’s because you are getting more than all of us.” Abigail said.

“Let me continue.” Dale said as he adjusted his glassed. “Theodore Jackson will get fifteen thousand and Jennifer Jackson Morgan gets the house and twenty thousand.” He reached behind him and picked up a box. “And the granddaughter, Suze Morgan, gets the contents of this box.” He stepped forward and handed the box to Suze.

Theodore grabbed the box and ripped in open. He found a note that said to my beloved granddaughter from Nina. He tossed the note on the floor. David grasped the box and tried to pull it from Theodore. He turned from David and dug in the box and found a key. He tipped the box upside down and shook it then dropped it on the floor.

“There’s only a key in here. What’s it even for?”

“It’s for the gate to the garden. Now give it back.” Jennifer said.

“That gate is never locked. Why would Suze need a key for a garden that is never locked.”

Jennifer tugged the key out of his hand. “Because this is what mother wanted to give to Suze as a gift.”

She placed the key in the box and gave it back to Suze. She gave her a gentle hug and smoothed her curly blond hair.

Suze caressed the box. She imagined all the secret places she could unlock in the garden. Nina garden was the best place in the world. There were fairies and gnomes tucked under several of the flowers. A table with two chairs where she had tea parties with her Nina. Her favorite part was the log they set on, and her Nina would read her stories from their collection of books.

“Can we leave and go to Nina’s house. I want to see her in the garden.”

“Nina not there anymore.” David said.

Suze wiggled out of her mother arms and jumped down. “Yes, she is. I just need to find her with this key.”

“We can go to Nina house for a few minutes.” Jennifer said.

“You need to teach her about the real world. My child will know there is no imaginary world.” Abigail said.

“She’s six. Everything in the world is a special place.” Jennifer picked up Suze. “When you have children let me know how it goes teaching them not to use their imagination. Just think of all the thing that wouldn’t exist without someone making them up.” She stormed out of the office.

In the car, Suze held the box to her cheek, the last gift from her Nina. A key to the secret world hidden in Nina’s garden. Nina told her about the place on her birthday. She begged her to take her to the secret place but she said it wasn’t time for it to be opened. ‘Soon you will be able to open the secret in the garden.’ Nina said.

Suze hopped out of the car with the key in her hand. She ran around the house to the garden. The flowers planted with her Nina danced with the wind. A squirrel scurried up the tree in the middle of the garden. She skipped along the paths and looked under the plants for her Nina.

“Nina, where are you? I have the key you gave me.”

She stopped and listened but all she could hear was the breeze in the top of the tree. A red cardinal flew down and scratched in the dirt. When it saw Suze, it flew over to the gate and landed on top. The cardinal chirped at her and she looked at the key in her hand. She remembered that her mother said the key was for the lock in the gate. But how do you unlock an open gate?

The bird twitted at her again then looked at the lock in the gate. She ran over and put the key in the lock but it wouldn’t go in. She investigated the lock; she saw her mother watching her from the back yard. Her mother made circles with her finger. She turned the key over and tried again but the notches bumped against the wood of the gate. She thought for a moment then moved to the outside of the garden and inserted the key.

A laugh came from Suze’s favorite place, the reading log. She hurried through the garden to the far corner. There under the arch, that was covered with blue morning glories, setting on the log was Nina holding a book.

Tears filled Suze eyes as she leaped into her grandmother arms. “They all told me you were gone.”

Nina wiped away the tears. “Suze my dear, the key I gave you has magic powers that will bring me back for a short time when you need me.”

“I need you all the time.”

“I can’t be here all the time. Only when you me, and only for a short time. When you get older you won’t be able to see me.”

She tugged at her hand. “All you have to do is get up and leave here.”

She pulled Suze onto the log. “I can’t leave the garden. That’s why I gave my house to your parents. So, you can come out and see me.”

“I can come and see you every day?”

“Not every day. Just a few times. You don’t want to use all the magic up in the key. Only use it when you really need me. Promise me you won’t use it every day.”

“I Promise. Can I get Mommy so she can talk to you?”

Suze started to run down the path. Nina gripped her hand and stopped her.

“No, your mother won’t be able to see me. She’s to old to see me, like I was too old to see my mother when she went to Heaven. This key has been passed down from grandmother to granddaughter for many years. You need to keep it safe in the box until it is time for you to give it away.”

“I don’t want to give it away. I want to keep it forever.”

Tears flowed from her eyes. Nina held Suze face and kissed her forehead.

“One day you will understand. Now, lets read the book. We don’t want to keep your mother waiting.”

Nina saw Jennifer, her daughter, lean against the gate. She placed a hand over her heart as Jennifer’s tears fell to the ground. She remembered standing at a garden gate watching Jennifer when her mother passed talking to her grandmother. She felt the same thing that Jennifer felt now. Incredible sadness for the loss and the joy that her daughter had a few more moments left to see her grandmother.

Suze poked at the book. “Read Nina.”

Once a week Suze used the key to unlock the magic of the garden. As she aged, the time she needed to spend with Nina lessened. She depended on the advice of her friends and some guidance from her parents. Until the box with the key was buried in the back of her closet, forgotten.

Years later, she dug through her closet and found the key in the box. She sprinted out to the garden and inserted the key into the lock to find her Nina didn’t appear on the log. She needed her one last time. To tell her she was getting married to the best man in the world. The kindness he showered to everyone, and that they were moving to the other side of the state. Her parents were moving away from the magic garden. How would her daughter see her grandmother after she passed without the garden? She wiped away the tears that rolled down her face. Tears her Nina would have brushed away telling her everything will be ok.

Jennifer set down on the log with Suze and handed her the key. “The magic is all gone.”

“She said she would be her when I needed her.”

“You don’t need her anymore. You haven’t for a long time. You have grown into a strong woman with the help of Nina. But, it’s time for you to move on with your life.”

“What about the garden?” Suze turned away from her mother. “You’re moving away leaving the garden behind.”

Her mother placed her arms around Suze shoulders and hugged her. “The magic isn’t in the garden. It’s in the key. That’s why I’m moving to a place that I can create a garden that I can share with your daughter.” She took the key and box from Suze. “It’s time for the key to rest to become magical again, so it will ready to open the secret garden for your daughter.”

Suze helped her mother design and build her garden to share with her daughter Penelope Rose Carter. She watched her mother help two-year-old Penelope dig a small hole to plant a seed for a beautiful flower. Her heart ached at the knowledge her mother would one day pass away but it also leaped with joy knowing her daughter would have a few more moment to spend with her Grammy because of the magical garden key.