Growing Season by Melanie Lageschulte

Author:Melanie Lageschulte [Lageschulte, Melanie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780998863801
Publisher: Fremont Creek Press
Published: 2017-05-28T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 12

It took a few more days, but Melinda began to settle into her new routine. She still needed an alarm each morning, of course, but one was finally enough. She was up early, seeing every sunrise for the first time in years. Morning chores were followed by dragging the hoses up and down the garden rows, watering the plants on a rotation she designed with Jerry’s guidance. Then off to Prosper Hardware, then back to Horace’s for a second round of chores and dinner.

But while the garden thrived, so did the weeds. They seemed to sprout up everywhere the moment she turned her back. On many evenings, she donned a battered straw hat she found in the porch closet, pulled on her new floral gardening gloves and went out to battle the invaders. A folded towel helped spare her knees along with her jeans, and an application of bug spray kept at least a few of the pests away. Pushing a dented metal bucket ahead of her, she crawled up and down the rows while Hobo sniffed the tracks he found in the garden dirt or lounged next to the hydrant. Her back ached and her pretty gloves quickly became dingy, but Melinda didn’t care. For the first time since she walked out of WP&S, hugging her cardboard box, she felt a sense of satisfaction about how she spent her days.

Working at Prosper Hardware was more fulfilling than she expected. She had loved her old job and the creativity and camaraderie it offered, but there had been too many hours spent in endless meetings about customer demographics and media trends. But now, she made people’s day-to-day lives easier, and she could immediately see the effect her efforts had on customers. Bill and Esther proved to be good friends as well as supportive co-workers, and Melinda found herself looking forward to the gossip around the coffee pot before the store opened.

Hobo was always waiting by the garage to greet her when she came home, but the cats remained aloof. The orange one was fluffier than the gray-and-white one. She was lucky to catch a glimpse of them peering down at her from the rafters at chore time. She bought them a set of sturdy food and water bowls, hoping to win them over. But neither cat would come down to eat until she left the grain room, then the sound of their munching echoed from behind the door while she fed the sheep.

She stuffed the cats’ open bag of food in a large trash bag and took it inside the back porch, placing it next to Hobo’s kibble. She had yet to meet any rats or raccoons in the barn, and the tracks Hobo traced in the garden were thankfully small, but she didn’t want to tempt any unwanted visitors by leaving food unsecured.

The sheep were beginning to trust her, helped along by the coos and tentative forehead scratches she offered along with fresh water and grain. They now answered with an enthusiastic chorus of “baaaas” when she called them to come into the barn.

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