she stared down the garden , over the soft , long grass , past the bright , colourful dahlias and roses , oranges , pinks and yellows , past the shrubs and the bushes , through the cruel barbed wire her sister 's boyfriend had erected on top of the fence to deter would-be burglars to the shady copse beyond , with its pale green shadows and darting dragonflies and gently winding stream and old , gnarled , moss-smothered trees .