Doug's Garden

A few weeks ago our pastor gave a message on encouragement and after I came home, I was wandering around the yard looking at the various plantings, deadheading here and there and pulling a weed here and there. As I went along, I began to make some analogies about what I was doing and encouragement----comparing gardening stuff to human care of each other. I went in the house to send some of these thoughts to our pastor and ended up writing a 16 page story about Doug D. Gardener. His middle name is Deep.


DOUG’S GARDEN
By Esther Waayenberg
August 1, 2010


Once upon a time, God decided to give a man a garden and because He wanted the man to become productive with that garden, He prepared the tiny baby’s mind before he was even born, with an instinct to love growing things. As the boy grew and developed, he naturally found it fascinating to learn and collect the necessary information about nature. He happily absorbed what was needed to be a good gardener. This had taken a while because there were many things the boy had to experience for him to become an excellent gardener. His parents were not interested in his strange attraction to plants, so he didn’t have a chance to plant anything as a child; but that didn’t matter, and he continued to read and study and observe.

Eventually he became a grown man with a job and was able to purchase some land with a small house on it. But it was winter, so he spent that time researching and planning how to best beautify his property. He Googled and Binged and even threw in a Yahoo or two. The living room floor became cluttered with magazines and books about garden design, flowers and plants. The garage walls were almost covered with shovels and rakes. The storage drawers were crammed with every garden tool he could imagine. Here and there were stacks of fertilizer, bottles of bug spray, a roll of string, pieces of fence, a bright red wheelbarrow, and even a nice straw hat and gloves.

He inquired at the garden center what things would grow best in his yard and went home to make some plans. He quickly sketched the shape of his yard and placed his house where it needed to be. The porches were positioned in the sketch and the garage and even every tree in the yard. He was trying to decide where to put his flower garden and how to decorate his yard with growing things.

Eventually the time came when the weatherman announced the danger of frost had passed. He was so excited. But then he realized that someone had to prepare the soil, so he grabbed a shovel and began to dig at the mat of grassy sod; but it was hard digging, so he became frustrated. He dropped the shovel and started to the house to get a drink.

Then he noticed a neighbor slowly approaching from the yard next door. He was old and bent, and it was obvious he walked with difficulty. But Mr. Gardener decided to be polite and greet his new neighbor. The two exchanged names and Doug told the old gentleman he was about to give up on his plans to make a flower garden because he hadn’t realized that the sod was so matted and the soil so hard. The old man grinned and patted Doug’s arm and said, “Yes, son, I know. I’ve lived here all my grown years and have spent many an hour working in my yard.”

Doug looked across at the neighbor’s yard and, sure enough, he noticed for the first time all the emerging plants, growing in special places around the trees, surrounding the front of the house. Each area looked as if it had been perfectly transplanted from the cover of a magazine. He was astounded by the beauty there. Old Mr. Next Door Neighbor assured Doug that, with effort, he too could have a beautiful yard like his; but even though he’d love to help, he just didn’t have the strength any longer to keep up his yard and help Doug too. But he would be happy to lend his tools and give him pointers and advice about this new adventure.

This little talk sent Doug back to digging, and he even forgot he was thirsty. The old man had shown Doug which shovel to use, how to place his foot just so and how to jump on the shovel to cut through the sod, and now it wasn’t so difficult. He was surprised to learn that the fresh soil had a unique smell, and he kind of liked it. Before long he had a nice section of fertile soil exposed in the grass, ready for his flower bed..

Doug remembered that Mr. Next Door Neighbor had talked about making compost and told Doug that if he wanted to use some to bring his wheelbarrow over and help himself, as he had more than he’d ever use. Doug grabbed up his shovel and went to get his bright red wheelbarrow. He had wondered if that compost stuff would smell badly because NDN had told him he was putting left over kitchen vegetable scraps, egg shells, leaves, grass clippings, sawdust, and even shredded newspaper, in the pile. He told him that anything that grew out of the ground at some time would work well. He told him never to use animal meat, chemicals, oils or fat, cat or dog droppings, as they would be harmful. Doug surmised that this concoction certainly must rot and have a bad odor; but oddly enough, when he dug into the pile, he noticed it looked a lot like soil and seemed warm inside and didn’t smell bad at all. He took the compost home and turned it into the soil as the neighbor had instructed. He spent a lot of time breaking up the chunks of soil and making sure the compost was distributed well, and while he worked, he determined to begin his own compost pile. Mr. NDN had suggested he use some old wood pallets that were out behind the garage to make a simple structure to hold his pending treasure. He had learned that worms like this mixture, and worms were excellent bait for fishing; and Doug loved to fish.

The next day he came home from work, and there behind his garage, in the shade were several pots of plants. He looked up to see Mr. N. D. Neighbor peering out the kitchen window. Doug waved at him and soon was joined by his new friend. Next Door N was grinning ear to ear as he proudly told Doug that he had found it necessary to divide some of his overgrown plants that day, and it didn’t take him long to decide to share them with Doug. He knew these plants were perfect for Doug’s yard because over the years he had coped with the same soil and weather conditions that Doug would be facing. He wished him luck and started toward home. Doug called across the way to thank Next and inwardly smiled because he realized that the old gentleman hadn’t just happened to decide to divide his plants that day. He did it to help Doug get started on his garden.

Doug was filled with energy and could hardly wait to change into his old jeans and get out his tools. He lugged the pots of healthy plants back to what would eventually be his paradise garden. But as he stood there, he realized he didn’t have the foggiest idea of what the plants were, or where to place them. He became defeated and decided he was hungry and headed for the house, hoping the plants would live if they weren’t planted right away.

Just as he approached the house, he noticed Mr. Next Door slowly making his way across the yard. Doug told him his problem and Mr. ND kindly handed him some 3 x 5 cards, and on each one was a drawing of a plant, its name, a description of it’s needs and how to care for it. Doug thanked him and turned right around and proceeded back to his plants.

Esther's going to get hooked on writing like I am. You do write well Esther, you should keep it up. I belong to "Accentuate" a writer's forum. Everyone there is very friendly and helpful. There is a "critique" section where you can submit work and they will make suggestions and critique your work. Michy, the forum owner is a professional editor. They have contests where you enter short stories like this, one book of short stories has already been published. If you sign up, introduce yourself and if you post it in the critique section, that part is password protected from the bots. The password is password. here ya go, http://accentuatewriters.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=12

This past week, Pete and I have been weeding around the plantings at our parsonage at church. As we worked, I kept having analogies pop into my head about weeds and bad stuff (sin) in our lives. Then I got the idea of writing a sequel to Doug's Garden. I know a lot about weeds in my life.

Sorry, guess I forgot. We went over again today around 9:30 and worked until I caved in and begged to go home at 3. Then because I may have gotten into poison ivy, I had to shower real well and launder all our clothes. Just got done with supper.

Pages 3 & 4

He began comparing the pictures with the plants and thought it would be best if he labeled them. So he found some popsicle sticks and a marker and made sure each plant was labeled correctly. He now knew which plant flowered and what color the flower would be. He knew which would be the tall grasses and which plants would work best for the edges. He grabbed the pots and carefully positioned them here and there until it looked just right. He was amazed at how easily the shovel seemed to work this time. After every last plant was safely in its new home, he realized it was almost dark, and oddly he hadn’t even noticed the passing of time without a bite of supper. That night Doug slept soundly, having worked so hard in his garden.

The next day at work, Doug told his workmates of his wonderful garden and compost pile. They smiled at his enthusiasm and secretly questioned his decision to “garden.” But they wished him well and wondered how successful he would be. After all, wasn’t he a city boy? They didn’t know about his precious secret and how God had given him an internal love of growing things.

That night when he went home, he decided to again stop by the garden center. As he passed the various pots and containers of plants and grasses, he passed a plant with a pretty little yellow blossom. He touched the green leaves and was surprised to find that his fingers had an odd odor and were stained a light green. Just then a garden center worker passed by and noticed him sniffing his fingers and said, “Yah those tomato plants have a definite smell, not so nice. Don’t get that stain on your suit.”

”Hmm” he thought. “Tomatoes, I love tomatoes. I could grow my own tomatoes!!!” he thought excitedly. “Mr. Garden Center Man,” he called. And the next thing he knew he was walking to his car laden with seed packets, baby vegetable plants, and yet more fertilizer and bug spray. He had so many things that the Garden Center Man carried the pitchfork to the car for him. He needed that to turn the contents of the compost pile from time to time.

At home he quickly unloaded his car and went to change his clothes. He moseyed around his yard, trying to decide where the garden would grow best. But because he doubted himself, he hesitated and began to notice his stomach rumbling. So again, he gave up on starting his project that night and stepped along toward the house, leaving the plants in the yard.

Just then he heard a noise and noticed Mr. NDN raising his kitchen window. “Yoo-hoo Sonny” he called. “I see you’ve bought some vegetable plants. I’m so glad you’re going to put in a vegetable garden. I would help, but my back just won’t take the bending any more, but come on over and I’ll give you some tips about how to go about it.” The old fella was so excited to share his lifelong hoard of knowledge about vegetable gardening that he stumbled over his words. He had given Doug a blank notebook to take notes, and he scribbled, fast and furious, trying to record this abundance of knowledge being shared by the old guy.

When Mr. NDN finally ran out of words, Doug decided to meander out to the location that had been pointed out as a good place to start his new endeavor. The shovel was still lying there, so he thought he might as well dig a little before it got dark. The more he dug, the more he couldn’t wait to tuck those seeds in their tiny ditches and put those baby vegetable roots in their new home. The next thing he knew, it was so dark he could hardly see and realized AGAIN that he hadn’t eaten supper yet and had hardly noticed he was hungry. He quickly rinsed the soil from his shovel and scraped it on the grass to dry, as Mr. Neighbor had warned him that if he left soil clinging to his tools, the metal would rust. My, he was hungry!

The next morning when he woke up, as he moved to stretch, he noticed it hurt to move and then realized why. He had made a garden, his very first vegetable garden and he couldn’t wait to get dressed to go out to visit his plants. They looked healthy enough, and he almost thought they tipped their leaves toward him as if they were waiting for him. But then he realized he was standing with his back to the rising sun and knew the plants needed that sunshine, and they knew it too. He decided they were doing well and dared leave them and go to work.

That night on the way home he stopped at the garden center intending to look around a bit. The Garden Center Man recognized him and called to him, “Say, I remember you have started a flower garden. Have you considered adding a bird bath to it?” He looked at the variety of bird baths there for sale, and noticed one that would look just perfect in the center of the flower bed. Oh, that would be fun to give the birds a place to drink and maybe a bath now and then. But then he realized that if he were going to help the birds have a place to bathe, he probably should buy a feeder and some seed too. Now he’d have to find out which birds ate what seed and where to best place the feeder. So along with the bird bath, feeder, and seed, he bought a book about birds and decided to place the feeder where he could sit and watch them while he drank a cup of coffee. He remembered that Mr. Neighbor had told him of a metal post in his garage on which to place the feeder. It needed to be placed so that the wandering neighbor kitties couldn’t bother the birds.

Doug asked his neighbor to come over and make sure he was doing this job correctly as he didn’t have much experience with putting posts in the ground and working with cement. Mr. N. had brought over a level and used it to make sure the post was plumb and then steadied the post as Doug splashed the water into the hole that mixed with the gray powder. He wondered out loud if this was really going to work. The neighbor assured him he was doing just fine. Sure enough, the next morning, the cement was hard to the touch, and that night he fastened the feeder to the top of the post and proudly filled it with fresh seed, eager to watch the birds find their new restaurant.

He was thrilled to watch the birds come to the feeder, and he would sit for hours and try to identify each feathered friend from his new book. It wasn’t long until he was adding arms to the post to hang different types of feeders. He found a finch feeder and loved to watch the bright colors of yellow and purple as each day they filled their bellies with the black seeds.

Then he put up a simple feeder that had a sharpened peg on it. He attached halves of oranges to the peg and was rewarded shortly after with the visit of an Oriole with its brilliantly colored feathers.

pages 5 & 6
One day he was working in the yard. He was wearing an old yellow shirt that Aunt Maggie had given him after visiting Hawaii. Opposite the pocket on the shirt front was a bright red Hibiscus. He was very warm and stopped his work for a minute to wipe the sweat from his brow and view his accomplishments. In that moment, he stood still; he heard a buzz and before he could move or think, he saw a tiny bird approach the red flower on his shirt as if it were studying it. Doug was so surprised to see the little bird stop in mid air about a foot from his shirt and hover there. He realized it was a hummingbird trying to decide if the red flower was a place to get a sip of nectar. He felt excitement rising as he realized there was another one of God’s creatures he could help by buying a feeder.

He went in the house and put on clean clothes and washed his hands, because he was going back to the garden center to find a feeder for that beautiful tiny clump of energetic feathers. After he arrived home, he realized he didn’t know what to put in the feeder. But it wasn’t long and Yahoo had advised him to boil a cup of water and then stir ¼ cup of sugar into it. After the water had cooled, he carefully poured it into the new feeder. There just happened to be a spare hook on one of the arms of his feeder pole so he hung it there. As soon as the hummingbirds discovered the feeder, Doug was rewarded to experience more wonders of God’s creation.

Earlier he had purchased a length of hose and a shiny yellow sprinkler at the garden center. He was going to be prepared. He knew he didn’t dare take the chance of waiting for rain. After he got home, he hooked up the hose and sprinkler and dragged them out to the flower garden. The hose was just the right length and the sprinkler had several different sprinkling patterns. He tried them all and became thoroughly soaked as he was too involved to bother to turn off the faucet between each different pattern.

But then he became afraid to leave the sprinkler running because he didn’t want to drown his beautiful plants. He knew that too much water was as dangerous to them as not enough. So he didn’t water them at all.

He had noticed that Mr. NDN was an early riser so was not surprised to find him over looking at his garden before Doug left for work the next morning. “Sonny, I see the hose and sprinkler lying here, but it’s not been used. When you move a plant from one location to another and when you plant new seeds, it’s a good idée to give them a drink to help settle their roots and give them a boost. You don’t want the soil to be soggy but then you don’t want it too dry either, so you’re going to have to keep an eye on the soil and learn what is best.”

“But before you start, be sure to fertilize your plants like this,” and he began to show Doug exactly what to do. He suggested that Doug might want to buy some mulch or even use newspaper for mulch to keep the soil moist and prevent the weeds from sprouting and stealing the nourishment from the soil that had been put there by Doug to feed the plants. “You can even use the grass clippings from mowing your lawn, but sometimes you are putting grass seed into your garden that way and end up having grass begin to sprout right where you don’t want it. Besides, as long as you don’t let your grass get too long, it is good for your lawn when the clippings fall back on the grass.”

Doug was almost late for work that morning. He was so distracted by the information Mr. NDN was sharing. During the day, he found his mind wandering away from work, turning toward home and to his little piece of heaven.

After he changed his clothes that night, he couldn’t wait to turn on the new sprinkler and then quickly realized that would be a mistake as he hadn’t fertilized and mulched yet. So again he worked and worked and found joy in watching the water droplets spraying gently over his little tribe of plants as they lifted their leaves to the fresh cool water. The rich dark loam seemed to welcome the cool drink as the water soaked into it. He thought the plants seemed taller and the colors brighter, but then wondered if he was just imagining it. He was proud to be helping God make things grow. Later he entered the house and wearily plopped down to realize he was starving. This gardening stuff sure worked up an appetite.

As the days went by, he and Mr. Next Door Neighbor watched as the seeds sprouted and some of the maturing plants began to develop blossoms, giving a hint of good things to follow. Mr. NDN suggested that Doug remove some of the tiny new radish, carrot, and lettuce seedlings. Doug was aghast!! “What do you mean? They just started growing well.” Mr. NDN gently pointed out that if they were left to grow like they were, they would crowd each other and none would reach their full potential. So Doug dropped to his knees and began doing what Mr. NDN had told him, knowing that even though he didn’t want to destroy the little plants, he’d better take the advice because he knew his neighbor knew best.

Doug was thrilled to see how God sent the sun and rain and his plants flourished. But one day, Doug noticed something odd about his most prized tomato plant. There were leaves missing or partly gone. Then he noticed a gray powdery stuff on the bean plants. On top of all that, there were tiny white moths hovering around his cauliflower and cabbage plants. “HMMM,” he thought. “That cabbage looks odd. There’s little black things nestled down in the base of the leaves.” And look at that squash vine, it looks limp like something is wrong.” Things weren’t looking so well in his garden and he felt defeated, so he headed into the house thinking he ought to cook something for supper.

Just then the phone rang and it was Mr. Neighbor. “Say young man, I was looking at your garden and you have some problems.”

“You’re telling me,” Doug said. “My garden is dying and I guess it’s done so I won’t be bothering you any more about it. Thanks for your help anyway.”

“Now just a minute Sonny, there’s nothing wrong that can’t be corrected. Meet me in your back yard.”

As they wandered around among the plants, NDN wisely pointed out the nasty looking tomato worm chomping away on the top of the plant. “Here’s how you handle him,” he said. Doug was surprised to watch Mr. Next Door pluck the ugly thing from the plant and quickly squash it under his work shoe. He showed him how to watch for the signs of this pest munching on the leaves and how they manage to lie exactly along the stem, so are hard to see.

They then went to the cabbages whose leaves were riddled with holes, and sure enough, there were some tiny light green worms having lunch there too. Then he learned the pretty little white butterflies were laying the eggs that hatched into the worms that were so happily eating his cabbage.

Pages 7 & 8
Mercy, he learned a cutworm was working on his squash vines and powdery mildew had attacked his beans. But Mr. NDN sent him to the garage to get the things he needed to treat his plants with powders and spray so they could flourish and give him a good harvest. Instead of cooking supper and being in a foul mood, Doug spent the evening squashing and dusting and spraying, determined to stay ahead of this hoard of worms that seemed bent on consuming his precious garden before it had a chance to even give him one vegetable.

Mr. NDN continued to nurture Doug on the care of the gardens; and it wasn’t long before he noticed some tall stems towering above the flower plants, and tiny green globes were forming on the tomato plants. The beans had seemed to survive their brush with the mildew disease and had little flowers too and even some tiny pointy green beans. He couldn’t wait to taste his first bean and looked around to see if Mr. NDN was watching. He quickly picked one and put the tiny thing in his mouth and was surprised to realize it tasted like a green bean. He grinned at his silly thought and was tempted to pick another. But he decided it wouldn’t be a good idea to pick them before they were even mature, so he left them to continue to grow.

Oh, and he learned that there were some other pests in his area, as one morning he saw the cutest little bunny leaving his garden. “That is odd.” he thought. “What would a cute little rabbit be doing in my garden?” That night he went out to the garden and noticed several of his bean plants with the tops missing. There among his precious plants were rabbit tracks and over there were deer tracks. “Oh ho,” he thought, remembering the story of Mr. McGregor’s garden. He was furious but again had no idea how to protect his garden from these marauders. All of a sudden, he knew what to do. HE’D ASK MR. NEXT DOOR NEIGHBOR!!

Of course Mr. Neighbor wasn’t surprised in the least and apologized to Doug for neglecting to tell him to put up a fence. It just happened that there were a piece of fence and some old steel posts in Mr. NDN’s garage left from his old gardening days that Doug could use. He showed him how to hammer the posts in the ground and stretch the fence between them and fasten it securely with heavy wire. He then went to the house and brought back some shiny aluminum foil pie pans, two lengths of 2 x 4, and what looked like some clothes and a bag of straw. He handed them to Doug who wondered what on earth he was to do with them. NDN pulled some bag string out of his pocket and punched a hole in the plate and attached it to the top of a post. “There Sonny, this fence will stop those varmints from eating your beans and those dangling plates will help scare the deer and birds away because when the wind blows they will move and the sun will glisten on them and hopefully all that will keep away the birds and deer.”

“Just in case it’s not enough, hand me those pieces of wood.” Doug watched, fascinated, while Next grabbed up his hammer and stuck some long nails in the corner of his mouth. He constructed a simple cross structure about 5’ high and then grabbed up an old pair of worn work pants. Working quickly, he tied bag string around the bottoms of the legs and proceeded to stuff the pants with straw. He ran a length of string through the belt loops and attached the jeans to the vertical piece of wood about halfway up. He then slipped the arms of the red plaid shirt onto the wooden horizontal piece. He tied the shirt cuffs to the wood and tucked the shirttail into the pants. He pointed to the straw and said, “Here boy, stuff the shirt while I do the rest.” Doug picked up the itchy straw and began doing what he had been told. He stepped back to look and realized he’d better button the shirt or the straw would fall out. In the meantime NDN was drawing a crude face on the white bag with a marker. He stuffed the bag with straw and slipped it down over the very top of the post and, with one last bag string, attached the straw filled bag above the shirt. There lying on the ground was a dusty old ragged straw hat. Doug didn’t need to be told what to do with that. He was so pleased. He had his very own scarecrow. He named him Shoo. He “shoo” was glad to have something to help protect his garden.

Each day he’d go to the garden and pull a weed or two. He carefully recorded the growth of his beauties with his digital camera and before long was rewarded with pink buds here and there on the roses, and not long after he took the camera to work and proudly showed his workmates that he had successfully “hatched” beautiful flowers. They were amazed to see them and hear the stories of their friend and his garden.

During the following weeks, his flowers blossomed, his tomatoes ripened, and his beans grew so fast he could hardly keep up with them. His workmates were thrilled to accept the gifts of his hard work; and, of course, Mr. NDN loved the plump tomatoes, beans and corn.

He had more vegetables than he knew what to do with so began to research on the internet to find out how to preserve them. He thought and thought and remembered the happy times on the farm watching his grandmother canning and preserving and freezing the bounty that God had given in her garden. Then he thought, “If Granny could do that, why can’t I? If I can read a recipe and turn out a halfway decent meal, I should be able to learn how to do this stuff too.”

The next day was Saturday, so he spent most of the day harvesting and working in his yard. He took a few things over to his neighbor friend and mentioned he had thoughts of “putting up” some vegetables, seeing he had such a bountiful crop. Mr. NDN looked doubtful but said, “Well, I don’t see any reason why not. You know, my late wife Matilda used to do all of that stuff. Why she made the best jams and jellies. That woman could preserve anything. When our younguns were little, and we were on the farm, she’d put up the tastiest beef, pork and even chicken. Sure was handy and made a great meal. You know what? I think all those supplies are in the basement. Come on down. Let’s take a look.”

They went down the rickety steps and into a dimly lit room where there were cobwebby shelves galore, just loaded with dusty glass Mason and Ball jars. There were pint and quart jars, jelly jars, brass colored rings of some sort, bright red rubber rings, different size navy blue pots with white speckles on them, an odd funnel with a wide opening, tongs, and all sorts of contraptions that Doug didn’t begin to know about. Mr. NDN picked up one doodad and said, “I think this removes the pits from cherries. This thing was what she used to squish the cooked apples through and make applesauce. Oh and sometimes, she’d melt this Gulf wax and seal the jam with it. Say, would you want this stuff? I’ll never use it and when I die, my kids will probably just throw it away.”

Doug being the frugal guy he was, realized he was looking at maybe hundreds of dollars worth of equipment. “Sure”, he said, “I’ll run home and get some boxes.”

Pages 9 & 10
He went back and forth with his prizes, wondering if he were crazy to even consider doing this type of thing. It was woman’s work, wasn’t it? As he was making his last trip, Mr. Neighbor handed him a stack of booklets, brochures, and cookbooks, and he realized they were canning and “putting by” books. There were even some stained yellow 3” x 5” cards with recipes on them, telling how to make bread and butter pickles, pickled watermelon rind, and lots of other ideas about jams, jellies and pickles. Here and there he saw penciled notes and felt a tug of sadness as he realized that Ned’s precious Matilda had recorded these thoughts, never knowing how they would give him help many years later, when he needed it the most.

He opened one cookbook that seemed to be particularly blotched and ragged. As he leafed through the pages, he noticed carefully penciled notes by this recipe and that. “Ned Junior likes this. This is a good one for the Sunday School picnic. Use more salt in this. Substitute chicken instead of tuna fish.” Again he was touched by the thoughtfulness of this loving wife and mother who loved to cook and please people with her efforts.

The rest of the day, he scrubbed and washed each jar and metal tool in steamy, soapy water, until they sparkled and were ready to put to use. He had laid several bath towels on the counters and table where he put the freshly rinsed jars to dry.

He was so proud of his accomplishment he even took a picture of the stack of stuff, and on Sunday after church, he began telling the new girl in his Sunday School class about his ventures. He had noticed her a few weeks before and thought she was rather shy but seemed sweet. Then he remembered his camera was in the car, so he showed her the pictures of his gardens. He thought she might be bored with all his talk, but when he slowed down, she asked more questions and he then showed her the rest of his pictures.

It turned out that she had just moved in with her grandmother in the city to take some Bible courses and had grown up on a farm across state. Needless to say, she knew absolutely everything about gardening, sewing, cooking and “putting by,” so they had lots of things to talk about.

That evening, he and Mr. NDN were sharing a cup of coffee and a nice chat. Doug couldn’t get the image of that pretty girl out of his head. Before he realized what was happening, he found himself telling his neighbor all about his new friend. “She is not a fussy dresser, but her clothes seem special, you know, kinda classy. Her hair is a nice shiny brown and turns up just a bit at the ends. You should see how she looks at me with her green eyes. She has this way of tilting her head and peeking up at me sideways with a twinkle in her eyes.”
“Hmmm,” the neighbor said, “Sounds like you should get to know this gal a little better.” Doug was surprised he hadn’t thought of that himself, so decided right on the spot to invite her out for dinner the very next Sunday.

Sunday arrived and Doug found himself taking special pains with his preparations for church. For some odd reason, the part in his hair just didn’t seem to stay straight. Maybe it was because his hand was shaking just a tiny bit. Worst of all he couldn’t get his tie to look the way it should. This business of doing something backwards while looking in a mirror was pretty frustrating. He worried that he had chosen the wrong shirt. Did it match his pants? Well, it would just have to do, as he had no one to ask.

After church was over, he headed toward Sandi’s direction right away because he had been secretly watching for her the whole time, anxious to see if she could and would accompany him that day. Sandi seemed pleased to see him and they began to talk. He finally took a deep breath and the next thing he knew he was inviting Sandi and her grandmother to dinner at a nice restaurant nearby.

As time went by, the young couple learned they had many similar interests and decided to teach a Sunday School class of children. This of course meant they had to spend a lot of time together, and she would share with him fascinating things she was learning in college about God’s word. He became so interested in Sandi, he almost forgot about his gardens; but she was very interested in his projects and would constantly ask questions about them, so he kept working on his gardens, because the last thing he wanted to do was disappoint her or have her think he was lazy.

One day Mr. NDN came ambling up to the door and rang the doorbell. “Haven’t seen much of you lately and kinda missed ya,” he wheezed.

Doug quickly invited him in and began telling him about Sandi. “She has the prettiest brown hair and it just turns up a little at the ends. She sews most of her clothes, believe it or not. She has this way of looking at me with her chin tipped a little to the side with a tiny smile at the sides of her mouth. I just don’t know what to think. She loves the Lord and is a great cook. Her grandma kinda likes me too I think.

Mr. Neighbor grinned and said, “You’re fortunate young man to have a lady friend like that. She sounds a lot like my Matilda.” His eyes took on a faraway look. “Now my Matilda, she could cook. Why you’d be so full you could hardly move and you still wanted more. It tasted so good. And you know what? She had brown hair too and would tilt her head like what you said about Sarah.” They talked on and on, each sharing loving thoughts about Sandi and Matilda and each realizing they were so lonely living by themselves. Old neighbor Ned had a suspicion which way the wind was blowing and determined to pray for this young couple, asking God to direct and bless their lives.

It was fall and the leaves were turning to brilliant shades of yellow, orange and red, and some were even drifting to the ground when Mr. Neighbor told Doug he should cut down the corn stalks and pull up the remaining vegetable plants as the frost had scorched them and they would no longer be of any use. He told him the best place to put them was on his burgeoning compost pile.

Last of all Doug grabbed his pitchfork and began to dig the potatoes to store them in the fruit cellar. He was amazed at the number of potatoes he found. It was like digging for gold. He found tiny potatoes about the size of a nickel and didn’t have the heart to throw them out. So he sorted them out and took them in the house and filled the washer with cold water. He set the dial on a slow speed and watched while the washer did the job of removing the dirt. He noticed that even some of the skins were being removed because they were so tender. When the cycle was done, he drained the water and picked the tiny treasures from the tub. He ran the washer through the rinse cycle to clean it and took the potatoes to the kitchen. Even though it wasn’t time to eat, he filled a pan with water and a little salt and dumped the tiny potatoes in to cook. When they were done, he put them in a bowl with butter, garlic and cracked pepper. My, what a feast he had

Pages 11 & 12
One day, Mr. Next Door Neighbor was watching as Doug was scattering straw over the strawberry plants to protect them from the cold. As they chatted, NDN happened to mention a young lady he used to know who attended the same church he did way back then, on the other side of the state. He said that her parents had hired him to help clean up the garden in the fall as her mother had been called away for a few weeks to help an ill relative. He said that Nellie had been the nicest girl but he never saw her again as it was about then that his parents moved to this side of the state. Doug looked up and said, “HMMMM, Nellie. That’s a coincidence. Sandi’s grandmother’s name is Nellie. You don’t hear that name much any more.”

A few weeks later, Doug had invited Sandi and her grandmother to come for dinner. Since he had lived alone for so long, he had become a pretty good cook. Besides, his cupboards and freezer were loaded with the fruits of his labor and he still had a few salad items in the garden. He was thinking about what to prepare for the dinner and decided to ask Mr. NDN for ideas of good old home cooking dishes. “Well, let’s see, you could bake a chicken, but it might get overcooked during the time it takes for Sunday School and then church. What about a ham? Oh, and scalloped potatoes would be good. Oh, and you put up applesauce, didn’t you? Matilda always served either baked apples or applesauce with ham. Let’s see, you’ve got plenty of green beans. All you’d need would be some sort of bread, like rolls, and you can pick that up at the grocery store. Did you put up any cherries or peaches from the fruit stand? Why not make a cherry pie and use store bought crusts? Most everybody loves cherry pie. Well at least, I do.” He grinned.

Doug agreed the menu suggestions sounded perfect and not all that hard to do either. It did sound like a lot of food though, for three people. Then a light went off in his brain!!! Next said he liked cherry pie. Why not invite Mr. NDN for dinner too? That way he would have more time with Sandi if Nellie got along with his neighbor.
“
“Why sure,” Mr. N said, “I’d love to come. My church lets out about 12:15. When do you get home?”

The day of the special dinner was approaching and Doug was nervous as all get out. He had read the recipes over and over until he had practically memorized them. He prepared as much as he could ahead of time in case anything went wrong. He put the dishes on the table that had belonged to his grandmother and tried to remember how to place the silverware to look like it had in the fancy restaurant. He finally gave up and turned to the computer and searched until he found a description of table settings. He had even purchased some cloth napkins and a tablecloth. He worried because the cloth had creases and he knew his mother had always ironed them, but he didn’t have an iron and wasn’t about to spend money for something to iron a tablecloth one time, he rationalized. Then he remembered that sometimes his mother would spray a light coat of warm water on wrinkles and then when it dried, the wrinkles weren’t as noticeable. He pushed the dishes aside and began to spray. That did the trick and the tablecloth looked, well it looked almost ironed if you didn’t look at it too closely.

He was almost late to church that Sunday because he kept changing this and that and didn’t notice how time was passing. He and Sandi taught their Sunday School class of wiggly kids, and he didn’t have time to think much of the meal that was cooking at home. But it was a different story in church, as he was sitting between Grandma Nellie and Sandi. He had to sit still and not fidget and be careful not to let his knee touch Sandi’s or Grandma Nellie’s. That can be a problem when your legs are as long as Doug’s were. He kept trying to concentrate on the message and just didn’t have any luck at all. If he wasn’t worrying about the meal, he was pulling his leg into place or noticing the wonderful floral scent that Sandi wore.

Finally they stood for the dismissal prayer and Doug let out a sigh of relief. He anxiously herded Sandi and Grandma Nellie to his car and hoped Grandma would sit in the back seat so people would see Sandi beside him. She looked particularly pretty today in that white dress with the tiny blue flowers, he thought. Fortunately Sandi and Grandma Nellie kept up a steady stream of chatter on the way home, and just as they turned into the driveway Doug realized he hadn’t told them of his other guest. They both were gracious and said it would be just fine, not to worry.

Both ladies were super impressed with the look of the dining room table and even more impressed with the wonderful smells emanating from the kitchen. Each of them tucked a towel in the waist of her skirt because Doug didn’t have an apron for them, and Sandi put the food in the serving bowls while Grandma cut the pie and Doug sliced the ham. Just then there came a knock on the door and Doug hurried to welcome Mr. Neighbor. He helped put his coat and hat in the hall closet, and they turned to see both ladies standing there. Nellie was staring more than was normal when meeting someone new. Doug remembered he should say the lady’s name before the man, but when there were two ladies, the older one should be introduced first. He had practiced because he didn’t want Sandi to think he didn’t know his manners. “Grandma Nellie Johnson, and Sandi Johnson, this is Mr. Next Door Neighbor.” Sandi smiled sweetly and when Grandma Nellie offered her hand it looked so tiny in Ned’s rough old hand. Doug thought Ned held it a little longer than necessary, but Grandma didn’t seem to mind.

Grandma peered into Ned’s face and seemed surprised.. “I think we’ve met before, many years ago. I seem to remember a young man working at our farm when Mother went to take care of Aunt Mary during her illness. Did you ever work for a Herman Farmer when you were about 16, over the other side of the state?”

Next Door looked puzzled and was thinking hard. “Why yes, I sure did,” he said. He began to smile. “Don’t tell me that Grandma Nellie is the Nellie Farmer I remember from back then.” They all began to laugh and Ned and Nellie began to talk and reminisce about their lives in the past 50 years.

“I have another surprise for you. Did you know that your Matilda was a distant cousin of mine?” Nellie said. “We shared a grandmother.” Ned haw hawed when he realized why Sandi and Matilda had the same features and way of tipping their heads just so. Come to think of it, didn’t Nellie look just a tiny bit like Matilda?

Pages 13 & 14
There was hardly a moment of silence all through the wonderful meal and Nellie and NDN got along like a house afire. That was so nice because it allowed Doug and Sandi more time to talk privately.

The leftover food was all put away and dishes done in a twinkling. They talked up a storm and hardly noticed the passing of time. As Nellie and the neighbor talked about the past, Sandi and Doug talked about the future.

Next Door invited Nellie to come over to his house to see his family pictures, and they each talked openly and lovingly about their dearly departed spouses. As they were walking down the sidewalk, Sandi turned to Doug and said, “Can you believe that?? They liked each other way back then! Wouldn’t it be neat if,”------she blushed.

He said, “Well I for one think that would be great if-----.” They both laughed when they realized both were hoping the same thing.

Time went by and Sandi and Doug’s relationship drew closer, and soon they were talking about marriage. One night he asked Grandma Nellie if he could talk privately with her and told her of his love and intentions for him and Sandi. He assured Grandma that he had been praying about this decision for a long while now and was convinced Sandi loved him and would say, “Yes.” He was so relieved when she burst into tears and gave them her blessings.

She got up from the chair and said, “Just a minute, I might have something you could use.” She came back holding a small black velvet bag with a drawstring at the top. She opened the bag and tipped it over, and out fell a beautiful antique ring. “This was my grandma’s, so would be Sandi’s Great Great Grandmother’s. It’s all I have that was hers. I think she’d be proud to know that it is still in our family.”

“Are you sure?” Doug asked. He felt a little strange, being given a ring for Sandi instead of purchasing one. But Nellie continued to assure him it was fine and she didn’t wear it anyway.

One Sunday morning, a year from the first day he and Sandi had talked about his garden, he slipped the tiny black velvet bag into his pocket. At the end of the Sunday School lesson, he proposed to Sandi in front of the children they had grown to love. Sandi, of course said, “Yes,” immediately and was so pleased with the antique ring. Wouldn’t you know, the ring fit perfectly. The kids were amazed and never forgot the looks of wonder on the faces of Doug and Sandi as they agreed to marry.

Little Suzie, typical girl, gushed, “A wedding, I love weddings. May we come?” Sandi said, “Of course you may come. In fact we have a special place in our wedding for the 7 of you.” The children were even more amazed to think they were going to be included in a real live wedding.

They decided to wed on Sandi’s 21st birthday which just happened to be February 14, Valentine’s day. “What a romantic day to be married,” Doug thought. Sandi thought it was pretty convenient too because the appropriate colors and theme of the wedding and reception were all planned out already for them. They just had to figure out how to use the Sunday School class students in the plans. Finally they decided that Chris could light the two side unity candles, the smallest boy could carry the ring pillow, two of the girls could sprinkle flower petals from Doug’s garden down the center aisle, little Polly could stand by the guest book, and the two tallest boys would be ushers to seat the guests.

In the meantime, Mr. Next Door Neighbor, whose real name was Ned Neybor, began attending the same church that Sandi, Doug and Grandma Nellie attended. It was just convenient that they all sit together seeing they were friends, you know.

Sunday dinners together began to be a tradition for the four of them. Sometimes they ate at Ned’s house. Sometimes they ate at Doug’s. But the best times were when they were treated to the meal at Grandma Nellie’s. Boy, could she cook, and Sandi was almost as good. Ned secretly thought Nellie could cook almost as well as he remembered Matilda’s cooking to be.

Of course Ned needed to give fatherly advice to Doug, seeing he was an only child whose mother and daddy had been killed in a terrible accident several years before. Ned told him of the wonderful times he and Matilda had shared during their life together. He told him too of the difficult times and advised Doug to put his wife first before himself and listen to his wife because she would likely teach him many things. He reminded Doug to be faithful to his bride and keep God central in their life together.

Sandi and Grandma Nellie were up to their chins in wedding plans because Sandi’s mom wasn’t feeling well, across state, so Grandma was excited to step up to the plate and help.

One day Sandi said to Doug, “I have what might be a strange suggestion. Since I’ve moved to the city, and met you, I’ve not made any close girlfriends. My best friend back home went to Europe with her husband, who is in the army so she can’t be my matron of honor like I was hoping. What if I asked Grandma Nellie to be my matron of honor? She’s my best friend you know. Would that seem odd?”

Doug remembered Ned’s advice and grinned and said, “Whatever you want dear. I still don’t know who to ask to be my best man either. I don’t have any brothers but have so many male friends and cousins I wouldn’t know how to choose.”

Sandi’s eyes began to twinkle, “What if you asked Ned?”

“Hey,” he said, “What a great idea! He is really my very best friend. He’s just a little older than the other guys. Besides, he is Grandma Nellie’s friend too so it should work well.”

When they told Grandma and Ned about their plans, both of them were hesitant. “Are you sure you want us old folks in your wedding? Usually women who are maids or matrons of honor are young friends and the same goes with the best man.” The young couple assured them that they had made their choice and it was the only choice for them, so what could they do but happily agree.

pages 15 & 16

Sandi and Doug were so busy with their plans, they didn’t notice that often Grandma and Ned were sitting closer than normal, and at times Grandma seemed to be all aflutter when Ned came in the door. Sandi and Doug noticed though, that they seemed to be spending a lot of time together but just thought it was because of the wedding plans. Ned had begun picking Nellie up for church and Sandi would ride with Doug.

Two weeks before the wedding, Ned invited Nellie to a fancy restaurant for dinner. She thought it was odd because he didn’t seem be the fancy restaurant type. But she took special pains that night to dress in keeping with the types of people who frequent those places. They had a sumptuous meal and Nellie was impressed that Ned seemed very comfortable there. Ned was totally smitten by how beautifully she smiled at him in the dim candle light.

She noticed a dark haired gentleman moving around the room playing wonderful music on a violin during the meal and thought she’d never forget this night. They had chosen a lovely raspberry chocolate concoction for dessert and were just sitting there enjoying each other’s company when she realized the music was getting closer. Then she realized the musician was approaching their table. He smiled at them and continued playing, and she recognized the lovely melody he so smoothly performed. Oddly enough, it was the same song she had chosen to be played at her first wedding, “I Love You Truly.” She was rather puzzled and looked at Ned just as he reached in his pocket and removed a small white satin box. “Nellie Johnson, I love you with all my heart. I knew you were special way back when we were teenagers and I still do. God chose different ways for us back then, but I believe he brought us together in our older years so we can spend our final years together as husband and wife. Would you do me the honor?” He opened the little box and there lay a lovely engagement ring.

Her hand flew to her mouth and she whispered, “OH MY! I would be pleased to be your wife.” He slipped the ring on her finger and it fit perfectly. Neither of them noticed the violin music fading into the distance.

He helped her with her coat and asked, “What would you like to do now? Any place special you’d like to drive?”

She turned to him and said, “You don’t suppose Sandi and Doug are at his house, do you? Let’s give them a call and see.” Ned dialed Doug’s number and sure enough they both were there. When Doug hung up the phone, Sandi said, “Well if that isn’t the oddest thing. Why on earth would they need to see us at this time of night?” I hope everything is all right.”

Nellie and Ned came in the door and Ned took Nellie’s coat and put it in the closet. Nellie was unusually quiet. Sandi and Doug just stood their waiting, not knowing what to think. Ned turned to Nellie and gently took her little hand in his. He covered it with his work swollen paw and lifted her hand. Without saying a word, he removed his hand and exposed a shiny flash of light coming from her left ring finger. “Grandma!” Sandi almost shouted. “Is that? Is that?” She stumbled over the words in her excitement.

Ned said, “It sure is, girlie girl. We’re going to jump the broom together sometime soon. Why wait? At our age we don’t have much time.” Everybody began hugging and laughing and making a regular hullabaloo. Nellie just kinda stood there in a daze.

Sandi said, “Oh I’m so happy for you two. I won’t feel so bad now when we are married because I worried about you being alone. Have you made any plans? When will it be?”

Nellie said, “Hey don’t rush us. We just got engaged. Besides at our age, we don’t need any big ceremony or fuss. Maybe after church some morning we could have pastor tie the knot.” Nellie noticed that Sarah was jumping up and down and shaking her hands about and sputtering. “What’s the matter girl?” she asked.

“What if, what if-------------WHAT IF YOU GOT MARRIED WITH US??” Sandi cried. “We could have a double wedding. Really! Doug wouldn’t mind, would you Doug? Everything would be there. Most all of our friends are from church anyway. You wouldn’t have to make all those preparations. We’ll just share. How would that be?”

Ned stood there shaking his head, “It was a little much for us to be in your wedding but now to steal the limelight from you! I don’t know. What do you think Nellie? It’s pretty quick, just two weeks away.”

Sandi could hardly speak she was so excited. “You already have your special clothes for that day. Would you want to wear white, Grandma? I don’t think it would be appropriate for a second marriage, do you? That shell pink dress would be a beautiful bridal gown. We’ll get you a little cloque hat with a veil and a bigger bouquet than we’d planned and Ned needs a white boutonnière and you’ll be all set. What do you think?” She was almost bursting she was so happy. “Please say yes, you two. We would love to have you share our day in this special way.”

“Nellie looked shyly at Ned and slowly said, “Well, I don’t see why not if you all really think it is OK.”

Many years later on a hot summer’s day, Sandi and Doug were in the garden. She had just squashed a tomato worm with her dainty foot. Dougy junior said, “Momma, why’d you do that?”

Doug listened to his son’s question and said, “Son I have a long story to tell you about your Grandpa Ned and this garden. First I have to tell you what a wonderful Godly man he is. Do you remember how we talked in church a while back about how God’s people are given gifts of different types? Not presents, but abilities we can use for good and God. Grandpa Ned has the gift of encouragement. He is the reason this garden is here. He’s the reason I became acquainted with and married your momma and he’s the reason you have a Grandma Nellie.”


The End (maybe)

That was really great Esther. God has truly given you a talent for writing. There is a member of our writers forum named Nancy. She is in her 70's I believe and is editing her first book. She is a direct descendant of the pirate Morgan. Her relatives were also Indian fighters, a fascinating woman.

I encourage you to visit the forum and to keep writing. God gave you this gift for a reason, to share it with others and let them learn from you. Here's a link..

http://accentuatewriters.com/today.php