Page 34 of Out on a Limb
Now that the seed had been planted, I wanted some sort of justice.
For my friends who had to spend their day chasing chickens and repairing the damage they’d caused.
For my grandmother and the garden she loved.
For myself.
“You’ll break your neck.” Sylvia shook her head. “There’s no way. It won’t work.” She climbed down and I immediately went up, checking out the situation for myself.
Sure enough, the trailer was too far for anyone to reach, let alone jump to. “It seemed so much closer when they parked it.
It had been one more insult added to injury. The pricks tore down everything in what used to be a lot filled with trees and shade. A lot I wanted to buy to add to the garden.
Then they parked their cheap-ass run-down office trailer under one of the largest and oldest trees at Sweet Side Gardens, taking advantage of the shade it offered while trying their best to drive us insane.
My eyes slowly lifted to the tree.
The giant tree, stacked with thick, strong limbs.
Limbs that extended over both the fence and the trailer we were trying to get to.
“We can use the tree.” I picked up the ladder and took it right below the lowest, widest branch I could find. “We can use it to get across.” I rushed up the ladder as fast as my alcohol-tinted brain could sustain. I grabbed the branch with both arms like I was giving it a hug, then kicked one of my legs up to the side, managing to hook my foot over the top. I used my leg strength to get myself up and onto the branch.
Unfortunately, that involved a fair bit of dragging across the rough bark. I sat up, legs wrapped like I was riding a horse and I grabbed both my boobs. “Ow.”
“If you wore a bra you wouldn’t have that problem.” Sharon tsked me. “Those things’ll be down to your waist before you know it.”
“I wasn’t planning on leaving my house again.” I adjusted the flowy tank top I’d changed into after showering.
“Don’t make your saggy tits our fault.” Sylvia put her hands on her hips as she stared up at me. “Can you make it?”
I leaned forward to peek down the branch. “I think so.”
Sylvia clapped her hands together. “That’s my girl.” She went toward the pen Andrew built earlier in the day. “You tell us when you’re ready.”
I slowly worked my way across the limb, inching along as the bark cut into the skin of my thighs. I was going to look roughed-up tomorrow, and my nipples might not ever be the same, but I was finally doing something about those dicks and that made it all seem worth it.
I reached the fence and held tight as I leaned to one side to swing my left leg over, repeating the process with the right.
Then I started to scoot again, slowly inching along like some sort of half-drunk, braless, chicken-throwing caterpillar.
I snorted out a laugh.
There were no half-drunk, braless, chicken-throwing caterpillars.
“What’s happening?”
I turned to find Sylvia peeking at me from where she stood on the ladder right next to the fence. Julia sat on the same branch I did, eyes wide as she held tight.
The top of the trailer looked sturdy enough, so I stepped onto it, testing it before putting my full weight down.
It wasn’t a nice trailer. It had definitely seen better days, which made what I was about to do seem a little less ruthless.
I got down on my hands and knees and crawled toward the center, where someone had taken out the original air-conditioning unit and covered it up with a panel of plywood. I turned back toward Julia. “I need a screwdriver.”
“What kind?”
I leaned down to get a better look at the screws holding the wood in place. “The plus sign one.”
