The Secret Garden of Martha Grim.
By Richard A. Lopez
(c) 1992
page 23

Martha's vine's often whispered to her when the wind blew, or when some small animal had the misfortune to stray too close to the blooms. They told her who came and went, what was going on in the valley, who was near the house, and who had found out too much about the garden. Or had been inquiring a bit too much.
She knew of Rudy's "accident" long before he was found by the delivery man. She had considered sending the vines to retrieve the boy, but Cole had handled that for her. And now he was bringing him back to her. Only he didn't know it. Silly mammals. She couldn't have them running around telling stories about her and her garden. People would come. They would destroy it. harm her children. She could not have that. No, she would have her children prepare. She was going to have guests. Yes, she would have them prepare...For a feast.
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Carmine bandaged Rudy's cut, while he recanted the story of how he was run off the road by Willie, and how he had just come to in time to see Cole's truck drive off with Tommy. He'd managed to get out of the truck and flag down Beck and get a ride into town. He apologised for the tenth time for losing Tommy, and John told him, again, that it wasn't his fault. Beck had gone for the Police, but they were out on Route 47 involved in some big pile up, something about a tree falling across the highway.

Callie knew this was wrong. The police were conveniently out of the picture. She knew Martha had to be the cause of this. She had this control over the plants. Not all plants, just that ugly vine. But if it could move like she saw today, then what would stop it from moving and uprooting a tree? This was impossible. Plants don't do this. Sure there was the Pitcher Plant, and the Venus Fly Trap, and Sun dew, but we were talking about plants that crawled, and lured animals to their death, and uprooted other trees five miles away!
"Oh my god!" Callie said aloud, "It's her. She's doing this. Don't you see. Those vines move, they move, they killed Sarge, and they're going to kill Tommy! He witnessed it! I didn't see it then but now it all makes sense!"
"What does Callie?" John asked, he was looking thru the racks for a good size ax handle, he was going to use it on that idiots head..
Callie continued, "My Mother, she used to tell me, she would see the vines move against the wind...I used to tell her, don't you mean with the wind? and she would say "no dear, they move against the wind." Then I found her dead in the garden, I thought she had died of a heart attack, they even said they'd found pieces of the leaves in her nostrils, but thought nothing of it because we had found her tangled amongst the vines and foliage in her garden, but she hand been pointing. Oh mother, you were trying to tell us." Callie voice caught in her throat. The tears began to well up in her eyes, as she thought of her mother being murdered by that vine.
"Wait a minute, what are we talking about here?" Rudy asked, the disbelief in his voice as palpable as the sawdust that hung in the air. "Stalking vines? come on now.."
John came back from the bins with two short handled machete's with hooked blade, "I don't care if its Vines or what, all I know is that Willie Cole has my son, and I aim to have him back or I'm going to split his skull like a ripe melon."

Carmine came around the counter, and stood in front of John, "Listen, my son got hurt, too. If I want anything in this world right now it's to have my hands on that bastardo's throat! but we have to think clearly. We can't just go storming off like some wild west lynch mob. If we are going to get your boy back, we have to have a plan."
John looked at Carmine, he knew he was right, but right didn't matter now. Only getting Tommy back. He stepped back, lowered the cutting tools. He would listen to what his friend had to say.
"OK, so lets get some things together, that we might need. Now miss Callie, you said this vine, it moved..like a snake? hmmm,
Only vine I know that can act like that is kudzu." Carmine explained.
"What the hell is kudzu?" John asked impatiently.
'' Kudzu," Carmine continued, "Is a vine that completely takes over the area it grows in. It's predatory. Chokes out everything.."
"Yeah Pop, but Kudzu doesn't do the things that we've heard here." Rudy interjected.
"No," Callie said, " but the Grim's were botanists, and they did travel extensively. Who's to say they didn't bring back something that had yet to be categorized? A new or maybe thought extinct species of plant or vine that just needed the right environment to grow and flourish. Maybe Martha saw this and cultivated it."
"You know this is a lot of maybes." John said. "The only absolute is that Willie has my son. We know he's been hard up to get her secret for growing. What if he plans to use my son in someway to get that secret..." John trailed off..
"Oh my god," Callie finished his thought for him, "You don't think he'd offer Tommy in trade for that 'so-called secret' do you?'
It was Rudy that spoke this time, "If he thinks it will get him what he wants,and he wants it bad enough, he'd trade his soul for it. If this so-called vine does what you say it does, and she is controlling it like you think she is, then this idiot is not going to make a bargain, he's going to his death. With Tommy in tow."
"Tommy was a witness." Callie said, "Just like my Mother..."
"We have to go now!" John was heading for the door as he spoke.