Thank You!

Each morning, Leira sprinkles warm seeds beside the ivy wall. One morning, the leaves rustle a reply when Leira thanks Momma for helping fill the blue seed tin. Leira and Momma test the strange rule with thank-yous large and small, but the ivy’s rustling grows louder as rain clouds gather over the garden. What is the wall trying so hard to say before the seeds are washed away?

Every morning, Leira used her garden seed map to find the yellow dots beside the ivy wall. She sprinkled warm seeds into the soil. Momma filled the blue seed tin. "There you go, seed keeper," she said. Leira snapped on the silver lid, ready for the next dot.

Leira pressed the lid shut. "Thank you for helping me fill it, Momma." Rrrrshhh. The ivy leaves shivered against the wall. No breeze touched Leira's hair. Momma paused with one hand over the tin. "Did you hear that?"

"Thanks for the puddle," Leira told a dry pebble. Nothing. She carried a huge watering can for Momma, then said, "Thank you for letting me help." Rrrrshhh went the ivy. Leira tried again after Momma tied her muddy bootlace. The leaves answered, louder than before.

By afternoon, dark clouds stacked above the garden. Leira thanked Momma for finding her missing glove. Rrrrshhh! The ivy flapped hard. Its leafy tips leaned toward the garden seed map. "Maybe it's warning us about rain," Momma said, as a cool gust lifted the map's corner.

Momma looked up. "It may just be the wind." Plip. Plip. The first raindrops bounced through the loose seeds beside the blue seed tin. Leira bent over the map. Green crayon curls crossed its yellow dots, just like the curling ivy above her. "Momma, look at these!" she said.

A gust stopped. The garden went quiet. Leira saw the ivy tip bend to a yellow dot tucked under its leafy curtain. "It isn't warning us," she said. "It's thanking me for the seeds. It's showing us dry spots!" Momma grabbed the map. "Then let's use them."

Rain poured in silver ropes. Leira and Momma raced along the wall, tucking every remaining seed into the sheltered pockets marked on the map. Leira held back ivy leaves while Momma tipped the blue seed tin. Then they pressed the last seeds into a dry gap just as the rain swept over the path.

Under the dripping ivy, Leira wiped mud from the blue tin's sunflower. "Thank you for helping, Momma." Rrrrshhh. One soft rustle ran through the leaves above their tucked-away seeds. Momma squeezed her hand, and Leira set the clean tin beside the map.