Enchanting World of Garden Irene McGeeny Read Online Free

about her home. They were now at the top of Pleasant Street, and had to walk only about a quarter of a mile to reach the location of Garden Irene’s tiny house.
    â€œPeter, I’m not supposed to tell anyone about this, but I guess I have no choice,” she said.
    Peter’s expression was like one of the guards’ at Buckingham Palace or the Arlington National Cemetery. He was like stone, expressionless. He was looking at Garden Irene, but didn’t speak for fear of missing her every word.
    â€œPeter, when my daddy was a little boy,” she began, almost reluctantly, “his daddy and Uncle Jess hunted in these hills and valleys. They owned it because their grand-daddy had bought it at the turn of the twentieth century, so the McGeenys were the only ones who hunted or built on the fifty acres that they owned. Well, one day when grand-daddy was in the valley, he spotted a herd of deer, so he wanted to alert my great-grand-daddy and Uncle Jess. He turned to motion to them in their tree-stand, and guess what happened?”
    â€œGosh, I don’t know. Did he see a bear?” asked Peter.
    â€œNo, worse. He fell through the ground into a hidden hole, and Uncle Jess and great-grand-daddy couldn’t see him anymore.”
    They were now approaching the same location of the tree and tree-stand of Garden Irene’s uncle and great-grand-daddy, so she stopped to show Peter which tree it was. Parts of the old tree stand were still visible, even though most of it had rotted.
    She said, “Peter, you go down to where my house is, and I’ll stay up here where the tree is, and you’ll see how well they could see each other.”
    It sounded like a neat thing to do, even though Garden Irene hadn’t gotten to the point of her story yet. Peter ran ahead like a kid who was about to discover something, and she remained by the tree, ready to wave.
    When Peter reached the bottom of the hill, he gave a long wave, as if he was aboard a ship and leaving Garden Irene forever. She smiled at his gesture, and gave him her American flag “waving in the wind” return wave.
    It was evident that the McGeeny hunters had a clear view of each other, from either the tree-stand or the stoop of her house in the valley. And by now Garden Irene realized that Peter’s wave had become an insistent “come on down and join me” motion.
    With this, she began her long walk to join Peter. So far, nothing had been difficult, but once she reached him, she didn’t know what she was going to do.
    She maintained a rather slow pace, and it was evident that Peter did not appreciate this deliberate snail-crawling speed. She could hear him yelling, “Come on, Garden Irene! We don’t have all day!”
    About midway she heard him call, “Why are you being so slow?”
    She yelled back that she was tired, and that walking slowly took care of this sudden ailment. However, in her mind, she didn’t know what she was going to do about Peter. Now that he had skipped school with her, and he really was her best friend, she didn’t know whether to take him and show him the truth about her home or tell him once again to go back to school. All she could think about was the promise she had made to her parents.
    She finally reached Peter, now in what appeared to be a calm manner, although in her diary she would have entered that she was confused and scared about what to do next. They had arrived at Garden Irene’s itty bitty house.
    She had no choice; no words would ever convince Peter after he had risked his neck by missing school. Considering that he had walked this far, it would be unreasonable to think that he would not be invited into her home.
    The underground castle.
    She gathered her courage, and decided to do what she had to do: take Peter inside, and explain everything, step by step.
    â€œSo, tell me what happened to your grand-daddy. Why did he disappear?” asked