The Final Chapter by Darrell Maloney

Author:Darrell Maloney [Maloney, Darrell]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-06-26T22:00:00+00:00

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“The people who got into the program early got plots on the riverbank. They typically water their plants the old fashioned way, by dipping buckets in the river and watering each plant individually.”

“That’s a lot of work, isn’t it?”

“Probably, but most don’t seem to mind. At least they don’t have to drag hoses every other day.”

“Drag hoses?”

“The Army brought in water pumps to pump river water to the plots, but each twelve plots have to share one pump.

“The way it works is that each plot owner gets to use the pump for an hour each per day, from six a.m. until six p.m.

“After six p.m. it’s first come, first serve.

“They’re very protective of their hoses because they’re harder to come by than the pumps.

“So everybody has their own hoses and they write their names all over them, decorate them with paint or duct tape, or however else they can make them distinctive.

“If some miscreant comes in the night and steals their hose they can go looking for it and easily identify it when they find it.

“The hoses are very valuable to those who don’t have one, so the plot owners are careful to roll them up every time they’re finished with them and to lock them up inside their plot, usually buried under a tarp or pile of mulch or something.

“That means every day when it’s almost time for them to use the pump they have to get their hoses and roll them out and get them ready to attach to the water pump when their neighbor takes theirs off.

“They spend their hour watering their crops, and then when their hour is done they disconnect their hoses, roll them back up and secure them again.”

John was skeptical.

“That doesn’t sound like a lot of work, in the grand scheme of things.”

“Well, maybe it wouldn’t if the plot is only a hundred feet away from the pump.

“But some of the plots are a thousand feet away. That means hooking together twenty fifty-foot hoses and then taking them apart and rolling them back up again.”

“Ah… now I get the picture.”

“The bright spot is, necessity really is the mother of invention. They’re starting to find ways around it.”

“Like what?”

“Like the people with adjacent plots, for example, are teaming up and forming partnerships.

“Two plots which are side by side a thousand feet away are just as easy to water with the same hose, and they get back-to-back times on the pump because their numbers run in sequence.

“Say, the owner of Plot 201 runs her hose, and waters her crops for her allotted hour.

“Then she uses her hose to water her neighbor’s plants for another hour. The owner of Plot 202 gets to take the day off because he knows his neighbor is going to cover for him.

“So the next day she gets to take her day off. The owner of Plot 202 will repay her gesture by watering her plants.

“More and more of the plot owners are making such arrangements and only coming to work their gardens every other day.

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