Rootbound — The Winter Trowel, Page 13
By Suha · Published
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Transcript
Scene: Fern, on her knees at the base of a rose arch, hauls a long rusted iron chain out of the root tangle, hips scattering beside her in first amber light. Caption: "And at the end of it,..." A wide shot shows Fern gripping the taut rusted chain that disappears beneath the farthest arch, the garden dim beyond, an open question on her face. Caption: "a door."
Image description
Fern kneels at the base of a rose arch and hauls from the roots a long rusted iron chain that runs out of sight beneath the arches.
About this chapter
While raking the Compost Yard at night, Fern hears a name in the steam. The ghost of Joss Millard, her great-uncle who died in the yard in the hard winter of 1963, waits for one unfinished errand: he never buried his mother's trowel under the old apple tree as he promised before the frost took him. Fern searches, finds the trowel nicked at the corner with a fern stamped near the tang, and learns through Ida why Joss still lingers. When she buries it, the old apple breaks into impossible blossom and Joss fades. In the root pit he reveals the trowel's buried secret, opening the next numbered-location mystery at the Rose Bed arches.