Save the Flowers (2 page)

Chapter 2

“Don't pluck the flower. Don't pluck the flower,” the voice said. Shocked, Mabel stood up and turned her head around to see where the voice was coming from. She did not see anyone. She leaned her body forward and was about to touch the flower when she heard the voice again.

“Don't pluck the flower. Don't pluck the flower.”

She
swung
her whole body around but still could not see anyone. Feeling guilty, she decided that she should continue on her way to school. After a few steps, she tripped over something and fell forward. She managed to save herself from falling flat onto the ground with her two hands. When she picked herself up, she saw a large pebble in front of her in the middle of the path.

“You must have made me fall,” said Mabel to the large pebble. She gave it a hard kick and it flew a few metres away from her.

“Stop kicking me!” a voice said again.

“Who's talking?” she asked angrily. Why did she keep hearing voices but not see anyone? Was someone playing a trick on her?

“I'm talking to you. Can you please not kick me? It's very painful!” exclaimed the same voice. The voice seemed to be coming from the direction of the large pebble. Mabel moved closer to the pebble and lowered her head towards it.

“Are you talking to me?” she asked. She thought her ears were playing tricks on her.

“Yes, it's me! Why must you kick me while you are walking? Can't you just walk normally?” cried the large pebble.

Mabel jumped back. A talking pebble! Was she imagining it? After years of talking to objects around her, had she really gone crazy?

She moved closer to the pebble, rubbed her eyes and stared. The pebble was silvery-grey in colour and much larger than the rest of the pebbles.

“What are you looking at?” cried the pebble. “Don't you know it's rude to stare?”

Mabel froze. “Did… did… did you really just talk to me? But… but… how can you talk? You're a pebble,” she
stammered.

“Yes, I was talking to you. Of course I can talk. Don't think that only humans can talk. I'm very special. I can talk and think. I'm also very smart,” said the pebble, adding, “And, for your information, I am not just a pebble.”

Although Mabel was still in shock, she quickly calmed herself down by taking a deep breath. After all, she had not been talking to objects for years for nothing. Now that something was finally talking to her, she did not want to scare it away.

“So you're a talking pebble,” she said. “But please get this clear, I didn't want to kick you. You made me trip. So I was just, well, taking revenge.”

Suddenly, she remembered something. “Were you the one who asked me not to pluck the flower?”

“Yes, it was me. The flowers give food to the bees and butterflies. How could you pluck the flowers? They will also feel pain when you pluck them from their stems,” said the pebble.

“Really? They feel pain? How would you know? You're not a flower,” said Mabel.

“They told me,” replied the pebble.

“You mean you can talk to the flowers too?” asked Mabel. It was all getting too much for her. First a pebble talked to her, and now this pebble said it could talk to flowers too.

“Yes, I can talk to the flowers, the trees and even the animals. You can too,” said the pebble.

“Me? Talk to the flowers, the trees and even the animals?” exclaimed Mabel, her big eyes now bulging like a goldfish's. Talking to things around her! It was her dream coming true!

“How can I talk to the flowers?” she asked softly. She was afraid that the flowers would be frightened by her loud voice.

“Just say, ‘Hello, flowers!'” said the pebble.

Mabel looked at the flowers around her. She took a deep breath and said gently, “Hello, flowers.”

Then she heard it. It was the sweetest voice she had ever heard. It was like singing. In fact, it was not one voice but a
chorus
of voices!

“Hello,” the flowers sang together.

“Oh, you can really hear me! This is so exciting!” exclaimed Mabel. She started jumping up and down. She was not dreaming.

“Yes, we can hear you. Thank you for giving us the water,” said the flowers.

“You're most welcome,” smiled Mabel.

“Could you help save us, please?”
pleaded
the flowers.

“Save you? Why do you need me to save you?” asked Mabel.

“The two boys, they're hurting us,” sang the flowers.

“Which two boys? Where are they?” asked Mabel, curious. She looked around, but there was not a single person in the park. The hot sun must have kept everyone away.

The pebble answered for the flowers. “Those two boys who walked past here earlier. They took their water bottles and hit the flowers as they walked. They thought it was fun! They were trying to see who could hit the most number of flowers. They have been doing it for the past few days.”

“How could the boys do that? No wonder the flowers were dying. If I see those two boys, I'll teach them a lesson!” said Mabel, a sense of justice filling her heart. She put her hands on her hips and stamped her feet.

“You will do that? Then you must come earlier tomorrow. I'll show you who the two boys are and you can stop them.”

Mabel suddenly felt nervous. Her sense of justice was overcome by her fear. “Me? Stop them? But I'm only a small child. What if they beat me up instead? I don't think I can do it.”

“You
coward
! You just said you were going to teach them a lesson,” said the pebble angrily.

“Well, I want to, but I really don't know how,” replied Mabel softly.

“Please save us,” sang the flowers again. “Only you can help us.”

Mabel felt very sorry for the flowers. How could she continue to let the two boys hurt them?

“Please, please, please. You've got to help the flowers. You're the kindest and sweetest girl. Only you can help,”
urged
the pebble.

Upon hearing the words “kindest” and “sweetest”, Mabel smiled widely. “Let me think. Let me think.”

She
paced
up and down the path. “I tell you what. I'll ask my best friend, Julie. She's the smartest kid I've ever known. She has, like, read almost all the books in the library.”