The Zombie Who Loved Flowers

Lily's cat, Mittens, always knew where the magic was hiding. One sunny afternoon, Mittens led Lily behind the old palm tree at the edge of her grandmother's garden.

There, sleeping among the flowers, was someone strange—a green-faced zombie with flower petals in his hair!

Lily wanted to run, but Mittens purred and rubbed against the zombie's knee. The zombie opened one eye, then the other. He didn't say "brains." He said, "Bloom?"

"I'm Z," the zombie whispered. "I was made from a spell gone wrong. Everyone runs away from me."

"Not Mittens," Lily said, smiling as her cat curled up beside Z. "And not me."

Every day that summer, Lily visited Z behind the palm tree. She learned he wasn't scary at all—he was just lonely. His green skin was actually moss. His messy hair was a nest for baby birds. And his hands, though bumpy, were gentle enough to hold fragile butterflies.

One day, Z told Lily a secret. "The magic that made me also made this palm tree special. If you whisper your true wish while holding a palm leaf, it might come true."

Lily held a long palm frond and closed her eyes tight. "I wish for everyone to see Z as I see him—kind and wonderful."

The palm tree began to glow. Golden sparkles drifted down like rain, touching everything—the flowers, Mittens, Z, and Lily.

When Lily's grandmother came looking for her, she didn't scream. She smiled. "Who's your friend, Lily?"

"This is Z," Lily said. "He takes care of the garden."

"Well then," Grandma said, "Z must stay for supper."

Mittens purred loudly as if to say, "I told you so."

That night, Lily learned something important: Sometimes the scariest-looking things are actually the most wonderful, if you're brave enough to look closer. And true friends, like cats and zombies and grandmas, always see past the outside to the heart within.