Gnomeo and Juliet (5 page)

A
t the same time that Gnomeo was on his way to meet Juliet, Nanette was busy helping Juliet make some finishing touches of her own. After a little sanding and buffing and a little drying with a leaf blower, Juliet looked lovelier than ever.

“Juliet!” Lord Redbrick suddenly called out. “There you are!”

Juliet looked over her shoulder to see her dad approaching. She bit her lip. Was it just her, or had her father been popping by at the most inconvenient times lately?

Lord Redbrick took his daughter by the arm and led her farther into the garden. Juliet looked back longingly at the garden gate. Nanette followed them. No way was she going to miss this.

“I've maybe misjudged your situation on that pedestal,” Lord Redbrick announced. “It must be boring up there…and lonely. What you need is
companmanship.
”

“Huh?” Juliet asked, startled.

“You know Paris, don't you?” Lord Redbrick continued, referring to a local gnome.

“Yes, yes, of course, why?” asked Juliet.

“Well, he's come to pay you a visit,” her father announced, beaming with pleasure at his own cleverness.

Juliet, on the other hand, was not happy. “Dad!” she cried.

Lord Redbrick nudged Juliet around a corner. And there stood Paris, waiting for her. He adjusted his glasses nervously.

“Hello! Juliet! I've got something for you,” Paris said as he shoved a bouquet of flowers in her direction. “Here. It's gypsophila. It means ‘lover of chalk.'”

Juliet took the bouquet and sighed. She hated to be impolite, but she needed to end this conversation quickly or she would be late to meet Gnomeo. “Right…well, it's been nice speaking with you,” she said. She hurried in the direction of the garden gate.

Paris scurried after her. “Where are you going?” he called, determined to see his courting of her to the end. He stepped in front of her. “But…um…surely it's a bit rude to leave me on our first date?”

Juliet raised an eyebrow. “First date?” she questioned.

“Yes,” Paris replied. “And I thought, ‘
What does a boyfriend get his girlfriend?'
”

Boyfriend? Girlfriend?
Juliet groaned at the thought of dating Paris.

Juliet was sure Paris was a nice,
dependable
gnome. But she had her heart set on someone else. Why couldn't her father just understand that she needed to live her own life?

Nanette giggled. “Oh, this is good!” she cried.

With a magician's
ta-da!
motion, Paris yanked a sheet off a large bush. The bush had been trimmed into the shape of the two of them dancing. “A small token of my affection,” Paris declared. He grinned at Juliet.

“Oh, wow,” Juliet mumbled, unsure of what to do. It was a nice gesture and all, but she was
not
about to be Paris's girlfriend!

“Juliet,” Nanette said. “Do you realize what this is? It's a love triangle!”

Juliet moaned. A love triangle was not what she needed right now. What she needed was a way out of this mess!

Juliet motioned to Nanette with her eyes as Paris began describing his creation in great detail. He was very excited about it.

Nanette nodded and slipped in close to Paris. As she listened, she began to see Paris in a different way. He was so passionate about his work! And so handsome!

It was now or never! As Nanette led Paris in the opposite direction, Juliet slipped out the back gate. She had a date to get to!

I
nside the deserted garden, Gnomeo gazed at his reflection in one of the windows of the greenhouse. For what must have been the tenth time, he practiced what he would say when Juliet arrived.

“Hey, Juliet! What a name—it goes with your eyes. Did it hurt when you fell down from heaven? So, how you doing?”

As Gnomeo was talking to himself, Juliet appeared in the reflection behind him. “Oh, I'm fine. How are you?” she said in a teasing voice.

Gnomeo spun around and blushed.
Busted!

He leaned against a stack of firewood, trying to regain his cool. But the stack started to wobble and Gnomeo lost his balance!

Juliet pushed Gnomeo out of the way just as the logs went crashing loudly to the ground.

“I forgot. Stealth is your middle name,” she joked, giggling. “Do you think anyone heard that?” she then wondered nervously.

“There's nobody here,” Gnomeo replied. He smiled to himself. It was just the two of them. On a date. Together.

Juliet spotted something in the overgrown lawn nearby. She ran over and parted the long blades of grass in front of it.

“It's a 1950s model!” she cried. She couldn't believe it. This type of old-fashioned lawn mower was rare these days. “It's got the original chrome hubcaps!”

“Yeah, they featured those the first year,” Gnomeo remarked, admiring the antique.

“Actually, they were available by special order through 1954, when they switched to aluminum,” Juliet corrected him, winking.

Gnomeo grinned. Not only was Juliet beautiful, but she also knew her mowers! She was too perfect.

“Let's start it up!” Juliet exclaimed.

Gnomeo hesitated, but only for a second. “Okay,” he agreed. An opportunity like this was too good to pass up. He jumped on board and grabbed the throttle. “Check out the power on this beauty!”

He tried to start up the mower.
Putt, putt, putt.
He tried again.
Putt, putt.
Nothing. “She's empty,” he said, disappointed. He looked around and spotted the old shed. There had to be some kind of fuel in there!

“Bingo,” he said, taking Juliet by the hand.

Juliet found a long metal rod and offered it to Gnomeo. He used it to pick the lock on the shed door. The heavy door creaked as it opened.

The two gnomes crept inside the dark shed. As their eyes adjusted to the gloom, a gust of wind blew the door shut behind them.
Slam!
Gnomeo and Juliet jumped. Then, in the darkness, they heard an unfamiliar voice.

Gnomeo and Juliet screamed and scrambled to open the door. Racing into the yard, they dove behind the toppled pile of logs.

“What was that?” Gnomeo asked, panting.

“I have no idea,” said Juliet. She eyed the shed door nervously.

Gnomeo took charge. “Okay,” he called to the shed door. “Whatever you are, come out slowly. I have a loaded weapon and I'm not afraid to use it.” He held the metal rod in his hand, ready to strike.

Gnomeo and Juliet waited. But nothing happened.

“Do you think I scared him?” Gnomeo asked Juliet.

“Oh, definitely,” came a voice from behind them.

Gnomeo and Juliet shrieked again.
Who was that?

“My name's Featherstone,” said a plastic pink flamingo. Featherstone grabbed the metal rod Gnomeo was holding. He shoved it into the ground and perched on top of it. How nice to have his leg back!

Gnomeo looked relieved. Featherstone was a lawn ornament, just like them!

“Sorry, we didn't think anybody lived here!” Gnomeo told Featherstone.

But Juliet still looked nervous. She couldn't afford to be seen with Gnomeo. It was too risky.

“Yes, we shouldn't be here. We'll be going now,” Juliet said nervously. She tugged on Gnomeo's sleeve, urging him to leave with her. The two took off across the grass.

But Featherstone wasn't going to let them get away easily. He was thrilled to have visitors, and besides, he'd recognized young love as soon as he'd seen them. “I think you two are on a date,” he said knowingly.

Gnomeo and Juliet began talking at the same time, each trying to come up with a good cover story. “Date?” Gnomeo repeated. “Nooo. No, we're not—”

“Date? No way! What makes you think—?” Juliet started. “Definitely not dating—we're fighting. That's what we're doing.”

“Yes,” Gnomeo agreed. “Fighting to the death.”

Juliet pointed at her hat and then at Gnomeo's. “Don't you see, we're mortal enemies,” she said. “He's a Blue…”

“And she's a Red,” Gnomeo finished.

Featherstone looked bored. “And I'm pink,” he said with a shrug. Featherstone frankly didn't care why these two gnomes were in his garden. He was just glad to see
someone
. He had been locked in the shed alone for twenty years!

Featherstone looked sadly at the broken greenhouse windows and the scummy pond. He strode past Gnomeo and Juliet toward the old mower. He started to drag it across the overgrown grass.

“She's empty,” Gnomeo told Featherstone.

“I've got gas in the shed,” Featherstone replied. “It's in a can. Come on.”

Gnomeo and Juliet beamed at each other. This was going to be
awesome
!

Within minutes the trio had the mower gassed up and ready to go.

“Let her rip,” Gnomeo told Juliet, inviting her to start the old mower. A wide smile crossed her face as she pulled the throttle and revved the engine. Then she took off!

Juliet made some wild, sharp turns, almost flipping over, but she took each curve like a professional driver. After a few tricky, hair-raising moves around the old place, she screeched to a halt in front of Gnomeo and Featherstone.

“Ta-da,”
Juliet announced as she leaped from the mower and landed in front of Gnomeo. When he looked at her path, he saw that she had carved the initials
G+J
into the tall grass.

“Fantastic penmanship,” Featherstone said, admiring it. “But we still have to do something about these weeds.”

“They're not weeds,” Juliet said. “They're dandelion wishes. Go on. Make a wish and then blow on it.”

“A weed by any other name…,” Featherstone replied sarcastically, before giving it a try. But his attempt at blowing on the dandelion didn't quite work. “It's kind of hard with a beak.”

Then Featherstone tried one more time, and only one little white seed flew into the air. Featherstone sighed and walked away to be alone.

Juliet and Gnomeo looked at each other shyly and started to talk. Juliet decided to explain why her father was so strict.

“My dad's a little overprotective,” Juliet admitted. In truth, driving the mower was the first unsafe thing she'd ever done—aside from sneaking around with Gnomeo.

Gnomeo understood exactly what Juliet was talking about. “Well, my mom raised me to hate you guys,” he replied. “So it could never work. Could it?”

“A Red and a Blue,” Juliet said sadly. “It just can't be.”

Meanwhile, Featherstone had been blowing dandelions successfully, and he wanted to make as many wishes as he could. “I wish we could all come back and do this tomorrow,” he said. “I promise that your secret is safe with me.”

Juliet looked at Gnomeo. It was as if Featherstone had read her mind.

“Should we?” Juliet asked Gnomeo.

“I can do eleven-forty-five,” he said.

“Not soon enough,” Juliet replied, giggling.

Gnomeo took Juliet's hand one last time, and then they parted.

G
nomeo walked through the Blue garden gate happily. He couldn't stop thinking about Juliet and their date. And he
really
couldn't wait to see her again tomorrow!

He was jarred out of his daydream when Shroom barreled into him.
“Ooofff!”
Gnomeo grunted.

Shroom was usually excited when Gnomeo came home, but this time he was acting a little crazy. Why was Shroom so anxious to see him? Gnomeo looked around for clues. When he saw the yard, his face fell.

Gnomeo spotted broken and cut pieces of wisteria branches everywhere. They were scattered all over the lawn.

Gnomeo gathered his courage and looked toward the prized wisteria tree in its toilet bowl planter. He cringed. All that was left was a leafless bunch of broken sticks.

“Oh no,” Gnomeo muttered. How could this have happened? He frantically looked around and finally saw his mother.

“How did it come to this?” Lady Bluebury sobbed from across the lawn. She sat on the ground and hugged one of the broken wisteria branches to her chest. “She was thriving so well this year,” Lady Bluebury said sadly. “Struck down in full bloom!”

Gnomeo ran to his mother. “Mom!” he cried.

Lady Bluebury looked up at Gnomeo sternly. “Gnomeo! How could this have happened? Where were you?”

Gnomeo hung his head in shame. He had no excuse. The wisteria was ruined, and he had deserted his post in the garden. “I was—I was nowhere,” he mumbled.

Lady Bluebury continued sobbing.

“Don't worry, Mom. I'll make it up to you,” Gnomeo promised.

“How?” Lady Bluebury asked. “Redbrick and his hoodlums destroyed the most beautiful thing we Blues have. Your father and I planted her. We raised her from a seedling!”

Lady Bluebury ran across the lawn, crying. A group of small stone bunnies followed her.

Gnomeo didn't know what to do. He had never seen his mother so heartbroken before. And it was all his fault.

Benny held up a spray gun of weed killer. “Those blasted Reds! C'mon, Gnomeo, we'll make them pay!” he shouted, ready for revenge.

The crowd of Blues cheered. “Make 'em pay! Make 'em pay!” they chanted.

Benny thrust the weed killer into Gnomeo's hand. “Every last one of them!” Benny yelled, his fist raised into the air. It was a war cry.

Gnomeo looked at the spray gun in his hand and then at the chanting Blues. It was obvious what they wanted him to do. But he wasn't sure.

“Every last one,” Gnomeo said, repeating Benny's words. But as he said it, he was thinking only of Juliet.