The impact stunned me. I took a few clumsy steps, buckled my knees and frantically grasped the sidings for any sort of support. My nails clacked along the boards as they slipped. I slumped down against the house, but somehow kept myself from falling flat on my bottom.
“Hooray!” Little Sis shouted. Her short, little hands shot up into the sky.
Father looked over at us, mildly alarmed. “Are you okay?”
“I helped Big Sis pull it out!” she proclaimed, seemingly oblivious as to who he was addressing.
Letting out another deep, frustrated breath, I picked up plant. I only had to glance at it briefly to confirm what had happened.
“No, the roots are still there.” I tried not to yell, though I could hear the irritation in my voice. “You played with it so much that you made it easy to snap. Now we have to dig up the rest of it.”
She looked at me like she did not understand. But she knew I was upset.
Father chimed in. “Ai, it’s okay. Your sister is trying her best.” He turned to her. “Right?”
This cheered her up. “Yes!”
I sighed and didn’t say anymore. I rubbed out the pain on the back of my head and got up. Throwing the broken stem into the pile, I went to the other far end of the patch and worked by myself. I grabbed a plant and realized my hands were just as irritated as I was.
“Where are you going?” Hotaru’s voice trembled. “Help me with this next one.”
I ignored her and started yanking. Father filled in the silence, moving towards her with his shovel. “Here, Hotaru. I’ll help you out.” I didn’t hear her respond. Her silence told me I had struck a nerve.
It was harder to pull at the edge of the patch. The grass kept the ground from cracking, and some of the roots were tightly knit with the grass roots. Repeated yanking only ripped those roots off the sprout, leaving white threads stuck in the dirt. However, I cared less at that point.