A cure for a Friend “Sarah, Maya, I have some news!” cried Lizzy bursting into their bedroom. “Mum told me to tell you that Laura has a beastly bruise on her left leg, but she’s coming to school on a wheelchair though!” “Liz you’re not saying; Oh goodness! We said we’ll help lower grades in sports. How will she do that on a wheelchair?” exclaimed Maya. “Calm down both of you.” said quiet Sarah, the oldest of the lot. “Why not we sneak and tell the school that we’re not well and go ask Maggie what cure we need for Laura? I’ll call the school and put on a voice exactly like Mum. Mum will think we’re in school! Is that fine?” “Yeah!” cried Lizzy. Maya nodded her head. “What are we waiting for? Let’s start packing!” They packed a few bread loaves, several fruits, marmalade, jam, few knives and spoons, water, and a chocolate bar. They took a backpack for each of them, spare clothes, and their caps. They set off. “Maggie lives on the next street I think.” said Maya. “You’re right Maya.” replied Sarah. They finally reached an old, cobbled house. Inside was an old woman, probably the age of the house, sat reading a novel. She looked up and greeted them warmly. “Well, Maggie, our friend has a bruise on her left leg. What will be able to cure her?” said Sarah, determined to find exactly what they needed. While Maggie searched for her book, they all had water. They had taken big water bottles and hoped that it would be enough. Maggie came back with a thick and heavy book which she struggled to carry. “Here, I’ll help.” said Maya. “Thank you dear!” replied the old woman walking back to her chair. Maya, being strong, lifted it with ease and gave it to Maggie. “Wow! How can a 12-year-old be so strong?” laughed Maggie. Maya smiled. Indeed, she was quite strong. Maggie opened the page and read it. The sisters waited patiently. “A bruise on her left leg? Is that so?” Maggie asked. “Yes, that is, Maggie.” Sarah answered. “Then come with me.” said Maggie. She led them into a room. It was filled with books. Maya and Sarah knew why the books were there, as they had been there many times. Lizzy, being only 9, was not sure but was very curious. She longed to know what was to happen, but as she was a patient girl, so she waited silently. Maggie opened another book. As she flipped through the pages, Lizzy whispered loudly, “Maggie! There’s a spider on your shoulder!” Lizzy, who was terrified of spiders, quickly darted behind Maya. “No need to be scared my dear, it’s just my friend Spinny! He loves to spin webs! Now I am sure Maya will ask me if she could borrow it for tomorrow’s Science lesson, which you can, but please return it afterwards. Okay?” “Oh! Thank you so much Maggie! He’s a dear!”, exclaimed the overjoyed Maya, who in fact was a nature buddy like Sarah. Sarah laughed, “Well thanks a bunch Maggie, but we’ll take Spinny after we collect the things required to cure Laura’s bruise. Mind we may come at 10-ish, I hope you’ll be awake then!” smiled Sarah. She glanced at Maya, whose face did frown as she had expected. “Oh well,” thought Maya, “I’d better wait”. Maggie then opened a page in the book that she had been holding and read from it. “You will need 8 acorns from the oak tree in Muskerry Golf Club, in the outskirts of Cork, just follow the road and you’ll get there. Maya can climb the trees and send the acorns down; Sarah can catch them, and Lizzy can put them in this basket.” She produced a woven basket from a cupboard. “Then head south until you reach river Lee, collect 10 leaves from the trees on the riverbank. Then cup your hands, each of you, like this” she put the book down and showed them, “and collect the pure, fresh water and pour it carefully into this small pot and remember to shut the lid tight or else it will spill. Clear? That’s all you need.” Sarah and Maya were discussing and writing it down in Sarah’s notepad. They thanked Maggie and set off. “Follow the road to Muskerry Golf Club” the Irish girls kept saying to themselves. They then met a young boy who was around 14, and he looked just a bit older than Sarah. “Hi! we wanted to go to Muskerry Golf Club just to sign me and my sisters up. By the way I’m Sarah. This is Maya” Sarah said, looking over at Maya, “and this is our youngest sister, Lizzy. And are you allowed to climb the oak tree there?” Sarah added. “Hi! I’m Liam. Well, you can sign up, and I think you could try climbing the trees. Where do you live? Oh! How old are you? You may join the 11–16 group with me.” Sarah and Maya did love golf, hockey, and volleyball very much. Lizzy liked golf too, and hockey was her favourite. All of them were tennis players as well. Sarah being only 14, could play points and win against Margot, the tennis star in their school, could beat her father, 17-year-old cousin, and uncle. Maya was good at rallies and would never miss a forehand or backhand. She plays strong, fast swings and is at an advanced level. She can sense where the opponent will hit the ball and would stay confident. Lizzy could even beat Sarah or Maya in a rally. She would act fast and was quite strategic. She played backhand the best but struggled a bit in forehand. “Muskerry Golf club is just around the bend. I go there for training every day. Do you play golf? I could check if there’s a place for us four to play in the club.” Liam said breaking the silence. “Well,” started Sarah checking the time on her watch, it was 6:17 pm. “we could play for an hour or so, as we have to head to river Lee later.” “But Sarah, we don’t have clubs to play.” said Lizzy, her sharp brain suddenly remembering. “It’s ok. Maybe they’ll let us borrow clubs after we sign up.” Liam said calmly. “But is it free? I have only a few Euros in my purse.” asked Sarah. Maya nodded, “Same here.” she frowned. Lizzy was fretful. “Wait,” Liam said, thinking, “it is actually free.” he informed them. They finally reached. Liam spoke up, “Excuse me, these girls here want to sign up.” He said to a young man. “Okay, age and name please.” the man said. “Sarah, 14.” said Sarah. Maya followed, “Maya, 12.” “Lizzy, 9.” said Lizzy. “That’s all.” said Liam. “So, you need to get permission to sign up with the group coach, so I’ll tell you who to go with. Sarah and Maya in the 11-16 group. Liam here will take you. Natali you take Lizzy.” “Okay!” said a young girls’ voice. It was Natali. Natali was a girl of Lizzy’s age. She had brown hair tied in a ponytail with a white cap. Lizzy had darker hair than Natali and was in a ponytail like her. Natali gave a cap and told Lizzy to wear it. “The coach needs to know that the receptionist has let us come, so he always gives me or one of the others who are taking the person to get signed up a cap, and they wear it so that the coach knows they have got permission from the receptionist.” Natali explained. “Oh, thanks for letting me know Natali.” Lizzy said. They chatted merrily until they met a coach. He signed up Lizzy and they ran over to Sarah and Maya who just got signed up too. “Time to borrow your clubs.” Liam said. “They usually come free, and you get to keep them till you buy one for yourself, then you can return these ones.” explained Liam. They walked over to a small stall and borrowed their clubs. They then found a place to play. “Let’s start!” Liam said, and they started playing. They played well. After a good one and half hours of playing, they returned their clubs and Liam told the exhausted girls “Now you can climb the oak there.” He showed them. “I’ll be here.” Maya walked over to the oak and told Sarah to be ready to catch the acorns. Lizzy took the basket that Maggie had given them. Maya started climbing. She struggled at the last branch and scraped her knee. She exclaimed. “What happened, are you fine Maya?” Liam, Sarah, and Lizzy asked. “Just scraped my knee. I’m okay.” Maya replied. A sigh of relief went around the tree. Maya started dropping acorns. Sarah caught them. Lizzy put them in the basket. Liam was impressed. He smiled. “They are a team!’ he thought to himself. Lizzy was counting. “How many do we need again?” asked Maya from the tree. “8” replied Lizzy. She counted, “4, 5, 6, 7, 8, Ok Maya! You can come down now!” Maya was sitting peacefully on a branch. She jumped down from the branch. “We’ll meet you later Liam.” said Sarah. “Bye!” “Bye!” They headed south to river Lee. “Is that it?” asked Lizzy. “Yes, I think so. Yes, yes, it is.” said Sarah. They came closer to the river and saw the trees that Maggie told them about. “Time’s 9:40. Maggie will be waiting.” Maya told them looking at her watch. “Quite late, isn’t it? It’ll be dinner soon.” Sarah replied. “10 leaves right? Let’s start!” Lizzy said. They shook the trees and quickly collected 10 leaves. “Now the water!” said Lizzy taking out the pot that Maggie gave them. One by one, the girls cupped their hands and carefully collected the water and poured it into the pot. Once the pot was full, Maya picked it up and they started walking back to Maggie’s old, cobbled house. “It’s already 10:20. We told Maggie around 10!” laughed Lizzy. “Yeah, you’re right Liz.” said Sarah. “Wait, mother will wonder where we are!” cried Maya. The girls froze. “Oh! but today we were meant to have volleyball, so she’ll think we’re there.” Sarah said. “We anyways stay there for hours.” “True, we usually come at around 10:50 or something.” said Lizzy. They just went past Muskerry Golf Club, and knew they were not far from Maggie’s home. “Here we are!” said Lizzy, knocking on the door. Maggie had just come out and Lizzy nearly knocked her face too! “Sorry Maggie.” said Lizzy looking down, not at all willing to look up. Lizzy was a great actor. She was funny and cracked the most hilarious jokes. Lizzy laughed and shrugged her shoulders. “Here’s a joke for you guys!” said Lizzy. “Come on Liz! Tell us a good one!” Maya and Sarah said together. “Okay, listen. What did the fast tomato say to the slow tomato?” The others thought hard. “Not sure?” asked Lizzy. “Yes Liz, not sure.” said Maya. “Ketch-up!” laughed Lizzy. “Ohh, okay, I get it. Like we say ‘catch-up’ tomatoes say ‘ketch-up’.” said Maya laughing. Lizzy giggled. “You’re right!” she told Maya. “Oh! Got it, got it. Not heard many jokes!” Maggie said, laughing at Lizzy’s humour. Everybody loved the joke. Sarah laughed too. “She’s exactly like dad.” Sarah said smiling. “Maggie, we’ve got everything plus we had a little golf play, it’s a long story. Here are the things, Maggie.” Sarah told her, changing the subject. She laid the basket and pot on Maggie’s wooden table. They had stored the leaves in the basket too. The acorns were showed first, by Maya, leaves came out next, showed by Lizzy and Sarah gently opened the pot and showed Maggie the water. “Okay, good to know that you’ve collected everything.” Maggie started. Sarah and Maya knew what she was going to ask next. They glanced at each other and exchanged worried glances. They were like twins, just of different age and looks. “Did any of you get injured?” Maggie continued, specifically eyeing Maya. Sarah stayed silent. She and Maya exchanged a quick glance. Sarah nodded. She meant “tell her how you scraped you knee.” Maya knew what her older sister meant. “Well Maggie,” started Maya, “while climbing the oak in Muskerry I scraped my knee at the last branch that I was about to climb to get the acorns. Right knee.” she added. “Oh, may I see?” Maggie asked. “Yes” replied Maya. She walked up to where the old woman sat and showed her. She wore jeans which had almost become red because of the blood. They had not taken plasters or bandages so they couldn’t do anything. “Does it hurt?” asked Maggie. “Well, it kind of hurts but I’m fine.” Maya told her. “Okay, at least the blood has started to clot a bit. But if you’re fine, let’s get on. Nobody else hurt?” Maggie said. The girls shook their heads. “What about Spinny? Want him for your Science lesson?” Maggie asked. “One second” Maya said taking her phone. “I’ll just check the timetable.” “Okay.” Said Maggie. “Sarah, did you send me and Liz the timetable?” Maya asked. “Yes.” Sarah replied. “Okay. Wait, there’s no Science lesson today!” Maya sighed. “That’s because there was one today!” Sarah laughed, looking at the lessons which had happened today. “Oh!” Maya said. “Never mind! So, Maggie, what do we do with the collected stuff now?” Sarah asked changing the subject. “Well, I make a liquid, and then, what I do is turn it into Laura’s favourite fruit. If she eats it, the pain will go away immediately.” Maggie told them. “Laura likes…apples, yeah apples!” Lizzy said, confused. “Oh, and strawberries.” Lizzy added. “Strawberries and apples.” Maggie said noting it down. “Okay girls, I’ll be back with an apple for Laura.” Maggie said. “10:30, we have 20 more minutes to get home at our usual time.” Maya informed them, looking at Maggie’s clock. The quiet ticking noise of the clock was heard. Maggie then came out of the room holding a lovely ripe, red apple for Laura. “Here you go.” she said giving the apple to Lizzy. “Give it to her in school tomorrow and she if she jumps out of her wheelchair.” Maggie said smiling. “Bye! Bye!” the girls waved bye to Maggie. They walked home. “Hi!” Maya said. “Hello!” her parents replied. “We came early because we actually weren’t in school.” Sarah said calmly. Her parents were taken aback. “We asked Maggie what cure we needed for Laura.” Sarah told them, then went on with the whole story, showed them Maya’s scraped knee and the apple Maggie had given them. The girls took a shower and had pasta for dinner. “Mum, how is it that your food’s always the best?” Lizzy asked her mother. Her mother laughed. “Not sure Liz.” she said, smiling. “It’s because she’s the one who always makes food for you Liz.” her father chuckled. “Dad!!!” the girls cried, chasing him into the garden. * * * * Soon, the girls were on their bunk bed. “Goodnight.” said Sarah switching the light off. “Goodnight.” her younger sisters replied. “Don’t let the bed bugs bite!!!” they all said together, laughing, just before snuggling under the covers. * * * * “Good morning!” Sarah, Maya, and Lizzy chorused at 7:25am early in the morning. “Good morning!” came the warm voice of their mother from the kitchen. “Good morning!” their father said, coming into the room. “When you go to school it’s easier for us, as we don’t have to bother about you lot. Did I ever tell you that?” “Dad!! Really? Do you mean it?” the girls asked their father. “I obviously don’t mean it!!” their father replied. “Breakfast time!” called their mother. “Coming mum!” Sarah said, telling her sisters to come with her. They sat at their table and had breakfast. It was cereals. Lizzy accidentally poured too many cereals in her bowl that it nearly spilled out! “Today we can give Laura the apple!” she cried, suddenly remembering. “Oh, why not we pick some flowers from our garden and give them to her?” Maya suggested. “Good idea Maya, maybe we should.” said Sarah. “Okay, what are we waiting for? Anyways, we’re already wearing our uniforms, so let’s quickly pick the flowers and go to school! It’s nearly time!” Lizzy said, taking her backpack and satchel. Sarah and Maya also put theirs on. They picked quite a few flowers and tied them into a bouquet. “Okay, I think we should go!” Sarah said, looking at her watch. Their school was just down the road and then left, so they got there quite quickly, and it wasn’t much of a problem coming back either. They reached and met Laura on her wheelchair. “Hi Laura!” they chorused together. “How are you? We’re fine.” “Hi Sarah, Maya, and Lizzy. Good to know that you are good. I’m good as well.” Laura told them. “By the way this is for you.” Maya said giving Laura the apple and the bouquet of flowers. “Oh wow, thanks soooo much!!” Laura exclaimed, overjoyed. “You’re welcome.” the sisters replied gladly. * * * When Laura ate the apple, she felt as if absolutely nothing had happened. Luckily, this happened right in front of the doctors when Laura went to the hospital for a check. The doctors made sure she was fine and said she could be up from her wheelchair and back onto her feet. Sarah, Maya, and Lizzy were very happy for Laura and thanked Maggie for her help. —-
The End
By Nila Naresh
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