Well, How Does Your Garden Grow?

Friday, July 22, 2005

Thursday, Rose called Collette at work, twice. The first time:

“Hello?”

“Oh, hi, Collette,” Rose giggled. “What does precocious mean?”

“What? Why?”

“Oh, someone just said that we were precocious.”

The second time:

“Hi. What does ubiquitous mean?”

“Why?”

“Someone else called us that.”

Collette didn’t ask any further questions. She wondered exactly how those definitions applied to two giggling girls at 5-Day Clubs on the other end of the line.

Meanwhile, Mom picked up Collette after work and they walked around Hobby Lobby before picking up Francis from the Silverspoon’s where he had spent the day at the City Museum with Izzy and Chester for Izzy’s twelfth birthday. Collette saw a very Caribbean-pink cabinet, worn and then painted over. It was pretty nifty. And there was a trunk which could have come directly from a Medieval castle. She placed them both in her imaginary house.

And as they continued to look around, Mom relayed to her how Aunt Jo and Uncle Dan were considering selling their home in California, paying cash for the house up for sale right next to the English’s, and living in a beach-front home for two years until Aunt Joe retired from the LAPD. Then they would move to Saint Louis and home school their twins, who also knew sign language at such a young age. It was an exciting prospect. How fun to have one’s aunt, uncle, and cousins living next door. The English’s had always adored Aunt Jo. And then when she was married about seven years ago or so, they were absolutely thrilled with Uncle Dan.

There was also news about Carrie and Joe. When Joe went to get his hair cut at the Hair Saloon, the lady who was cutting his hair asked if he would like a job as a shoe-shine, or a shoe caddy. She handed him an application and said he should put down her name as a reference. It was a perfect first job for Joe. He was so careful at detailing and polishing cars and bikes, why not shoes?

Carrie had put herself through a rather painful experience that afternoon, going with Elizabeth to have an odd part of her ear pierced, only on one ear. Collette did not know the technical term for that part of the ear, but it was higher than the lobe.

“It didn’t really hurt,” she told Collette over the phone, “but it bled a lot.”

And there were plans made to head down to the archaeological sight early that Saturday morning before the heat set in. As it was put on the evening news twice that week, it was sure to be crowded. Mrs. Swiss told them about how they had taken the beams to a dendrochronologist and that the latest find had been a U.S. Calvary buckle which no one could date because they had never seen one like it before.

And that evening when OLeif arrived back home, they had a dandy time driving out to an old 1950’s subdivision toward The Loop to place a down-payment on the 1996 Accord which was approved. They had a great old time talking of things: plans for the future, ideas about life and death, savings, how God works through all circumstances… Collette was encouraged through her talks with Dad, Mom, and OLeif that day. It was good to discuss things, to see how fortunate, how blessed they were and to see perspectives correctly.

The news that Friday morning picked up more details on the Thursday morning bombings in London. The space shuttle was also rescheduled to launch on that coming Tuesday. And a heat advisory was in effect that Friday morning. Ivy and the family were out in the heat at Six Flags that day with Ivy’s eighteen-year old brother, (who had driven up from Oklahoma for the week). Sunday was still predicted to reach 100. And a marijuana farm had been discovered in Redwood, California. The farmhands scattered when they heard the police helicopter. The plants were worth sixty-three million, once all rounded up.

“Well, how does your garden grow? Heh, heh, heh…” The radio announcer asked his invisible audience.

He always had a comment to offer after the news. This time, he was quite flabbergasted.

“My word… I’ll have to check and see how the tomatoes are growing. Somehow I don’t think I’ll get the same price for them.”