CHAPTER SIX

Getting started was easier said than done when you considered I had one hundred people every single day vying for my attention on the internet.

After retiring to my bedroom with both my dinner from the previous night and my breakfast from this morning, I answered a ton of questions and scheduled the replies to post over the course of the next two days. I needed to focus entirely on this assignment, and maybe a physical plot of land was what I needed to get inspired.

Although I was really pushing it at this point.

I clasped my notebook with grid paper close to my chest as I made my way to the unused area of land my father had long wanted to expand the public gardens into. I already knew exactly which area he’d given me—it surrounded a large patio that he wanted to house picnic benches so visitors could sit and enjoy lunch. It was a little out of the way but close to the play area with swings and other things for children, so it was perfectly situated for parents.

I simply had no idea what to bloody well do with it.

It seemed like such a huge area when I looked at it in person. It was dauntingly large, and as I stood in the middle and looked up, spinning in a circle, I realised I was completely and utterly lost.

I was in over my head.

Over my head.

I paused, holding out one hand. Over my head. Could I have a pergola erected here? It would offer both shade to families with young children or the elderly and we could grow climbers up it. Was that an option?

Of course it was an option.

Everything was an option.

I sat cross-legged on the cold slabs and opened the grid paper. I’d already marked the area out with the measurements to scale, and that made it relatively easy for me to guess approximately where the pergola could go. Ideally, I wanted the posts of the pergola to come from the flowerbeds where the climbing plants could get enough nutrients, but I didn’t know if that was feasible.

If not, how did I make it so?

I tapped the end of my pencil against the pad of paper. Planters, maybe? But would they restrict access?

That was another thing. We strived to ensure the gardens were as accessible as possible for people who had mobility issues, whether that was including ramps with steps or adding extra benches. The last thing I wanted was to design a space that not everybody could access.

Hmm.

I was in a right pickle.

A huge clanging noise came from somewhere on the other side of the fence, and I started. What on Earth was that? Had the aliens finally found a landing place? Was it on top of one of our sheds?

What was going on?

I dropped the pad and pencil and went in search of answers. I didn’t have to look far to find the culprit.