At home, Aisha told her husband about the conversation.
He asked whether Celia had apologized.
“She said she never meant for anyone to get hurt,” Aisha replied.
“That’s not the same thing.”
Aisha looked at the unsigned petition she had kept in a kitchen drawer.
She had once thought of it as evidence that she was too cautious.
Now she understood that refusing to sign had protected her ability to speak for herself.
She put the paper in a folder with the school notices and returned to making dinner.

Chapter Thirteen AA: A Choice in the Garden

Lena was kneeling beside the fence when Celia appeared at the gate on Friday afternoon.


The weather had turned warm enough for bees to move among the lavender flowers.
Lena stood slowly and brushed soil from her knees.
Celia did not open the gate.
“I heard you might go back to your old job,” she said.
“I haven’t decided,” Lena replied.
“You must be pleased with yourself.”
Lena waited.
Celia looked toward the shed, then at the path beyond it.
“Everyone talks about what I did,” she said.
“Nobody talks about the things I fixed before you moved here.”
“Ruth talks about them,” Lena said.
“So does Harold.”
Celia looked surprised.
“They do?”
“They remember the cleanups and the help you gave people.

”
“Then why did they turn against me?”
Lena rested a hand on the gatepost.
“They didn’t agree to have hazards created near their homes.”
“You make it sound so simple.”
“The consequences aren’t simple.”
Celia looked down at the path.
“My husband warned people about that railing for months,” she said.
“Nobody listened until he fell.”
“That should never have happened,” Lena replied.
“You don’t know what it was like.”
“No,” Lena said.
“I don’t know exactly what it was like for you.”
Celia looked up sharply.
Lena continued before she could interrupt.
“But I know what it is like to review an injury and find that people had chances to prevent it.

”
“Then you understand why I couldn’t ignore things.”
“I understand why you were frightened of being ignored.”
Celia’s eyes filled with tears.
“I was trying to make them see.”
“You made dangers that weren’t there.”
Celia wiped her face angrily.
“I thought if people were frightened, they would finally take precautions.”
“They were frightened,” Lena said.
“Maisie was frightened, Samuel was frightened, and Ruth was frightened when strangers came to her door.”
Celia looked toward the street.
“I didn’t want any of that.”
“But it happened.”
A bee moved from one lavender flower to another between them.
Neither woman spoke for several seconds.


Celia finally asked whether Lena intended to remain on Alder Street.
“Yes,” Lena said.
“Even after everything?”
“This is my home.”
Celia nodded slowly.
“I don’t know how to live here now.”
Lena could not answer that for her.
“You can start by telling the truth when someone asks what happened,” she said.
Celia looked at the closed gate.
“Will you ever believe me again?”
“I don’t know.”
The answer seemed to hurt Celia more than anger would have.
She stepped back and walked toward her house.
Lena watched until she was safely across the street.
Then she returned to the garden.