Enemies in the Garden

Welcome back to AnnaKate Writes! I am very excited about today’s post. My friend Allie and I recently submitted this snippet and illustration to a contest. I wrote the snippet, and Allie did the illustration, having a lot of fun in the process. Enjoy!

Charles Lightfoot jerked out another weed, tossing it onto the ever-growing pile. Risking a glance at Homer, he saw his grimace.

“You don’t need to be mad at me, this is all your fault,” Charles pulled his tail out of the dirt. “If you hadn’t come after me, we wouldn’t be here.”

“Don’t blame me. You shouldn’t have run away. If you hadn’t, I wouldn’t have had to chase you through these flowers, and we wouldn’t be sitting here weeding them.”

“I shouldn’t have run away? What did you expect me to do? I knew the moment I saw you crouching behind the cheese booth that I wanted to avoid you at all costs.”

Homer sat back, surveying the work they’d done. “This should be good enough to please Lady Weatherby.”

“Do you have to be so grumpy? Or is it your unpleasant job that makes you unhappy all the time?”

“Unhappy? You’re one to talk! What about your constant sighing and humming? It’s enough to make a mouse go crazy. Maybe I should just finish my mission and get out of here.”

“You wouldn’t. You couldn’t get away with it.”

“You don’t think? Being an assassin has been my whole career; you don’t think I know how to do it right? I’ll let you know that I’m one of the best.”

Instead of answering, Charles chose to stay quiet. He could tell that Homer was getting touchy, and if he had learned anything in the past two hours, it was that you didn’t want to make an assassin mad, especially if his target was you.

“How’s it going out there, dearies?” Lady Weatherby hobbled into the garden, leaning heavily on her cane. “My my, it looks much better. Perhaps this will teach you not to go storming through other people’s gardens.” She frowned, poking her cane at them.

“I’m sorry, Lady Weatherby. I promise it won’t happen again.” Charles shot Homer a look. “Does it look alright? What would you like us to work on more?”

She surveyed the area, nodding in approval. “You’ve done a lovely job. Thank you. Now, would you two like to come in for some tea and cheese scones? My cook just pulled them out of the oven.”

Both mice looked horrified at the prospect of spending even more time in one another’s presence. 

“No thank you, Lady Weatherby,” Charles said in his politest voice. “I really need to get home. Thank you for the offer, though. I’m sorry again about your flowers!” he shouted, scurrying away.

Homer also attempted a hasty getaway. “No thank you, I have somewhere to be. Have a nice day, Lady Weatherby. I promise this will never happen again.”

As they ran off, Lady Weatherby cocked her head to one side. “What’s the matter with them? Is it something I said?”

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