The Seeds of an Idea
"Boys, it's spring, and I got me an idea," Hannibal Heyes said to the Devil's Hole gang as everyone sat around the table in the bunkhouse drinking their morning coffee and trying to come to terms with the prospect of another dreary, boring day in the compound.
"What's your idea?" Kid Curry asked when no one else showed the least bit of interest or curiosity.
"Does it include blowing up a safe?" Kyle Murtry asked with a smile and just the hint of a sparkle of interest in his eyes.
"Sorry Kyle, it's not that kind of an idea. It's more like... a hobby. Yeah that's it, a group hobby," Heyes explained.
A collective groan moved down the line of men at the table.
"What kind of hobby, Heyes?" Kid asked, now beginning to think the boys may in fact have some valid reason for their blatant lack of interest.
"A garden!" Heyes said with great enthusiasm.
"A garden?" Wheat mumbled under his breath.
"You mean like...farming?" Kid asked.
"Not so grand a project as farming, Kid. A much smaller scale than farming."
"Like a rock garden?" Kyle asked.
"No, Kyle,. A real garden. Grow our own fruits and vegetables!
"Why?" everyone at the table asked in unison.
"Well, give me a show of hands. Who actually likes canned tomatoes?" Heyes asked.
Again a grumble reverberated through the room and not one hand was raised.
"The way I see it, with all of us working together, we could plow up a plot of land and get all the seeds planted in a day!"
"What would we plant?" Kid asked skeptically.
"Well... summer is short this high into the mountains, so it would have to be things that had a short harvest time," Heyes explained.
"Like what?" Preacher asked.
"Well... maybe green beans, and tomatoes of course, carrots, radishes..."
"Cantaloupe?" Lobo asked eagerly. "I love cantaloupe, Heyes."
"I think that takes a longer growing period and too much space for the vines to spread out."
"Then maybe watermelon?" Lobo suggested.
Heyes frowned and shook his head. "I think that's got the same problem as cantaloupe."
"The same's probably true with pumpkins, too then, uh Heyes?" Lobo asked.
"Afraid so. But we could grow... zucchini."
Even Kid had to protest at the prospect of zucchini. "Heyes, no one in the world actually likes zucchini."
"Alright then... cucumbers. We can make pickles outta cucumbers, and cucumbers grow on a shorter vine," Heyes suggested.
"How?" Wheat asked.
"How what?" Heyes asked.
"How we gonna make pickles, Heyes?"
Heyes frowned again. He had no idea how to make pickles. "I suppose you cut em up and drop em in a vat of brine and salt, or brine and sugar if you want sweet pickles."
"I don't think anyone wants to be eating any pickles you're gonna be making, Heyes," Wheat grumbled. "Brine and salt pickles. Now there's a delicacy. " he mumbled.
"Well... how about potatoes?" Heyes asked.
"Now that's an idea," Kid said with some forced enthusiasm. "Everybody likes potatoes."
"Cooked in brine and salt, I suppose," Wheat said in a disgruntled voice as he sat slowly shaking his head.
"Where do you get potato seeds, Heyes?" Kyle asked.
Heyes didn't know. He'd never seen anything but actual potatoes in the stores, but he wasn't about to let the boys know there was a subject he knew nothing about.
"Maybe the Sears and Roebuck catalog, Kyle. That would be a good place to start," Heyes said with a proud smile.
"How much is all the equipment gonna cost?" Wheat asked, being the one to enjoy throwing an iron into the fire..
"Well, we got a manure shovel in the barn," Heyes reminded them. "So that won't cost us nothing."
"Heyes," Kid said as gently as he could. "You remember farming in Kansas, and both our ma's had gardens? There's a lot of things you need, such things as rakes, shovels, trowels, weeders, a watering can. A garden big enough to feed all of us would likely require a plow. After you get the land plowed and the seeds planted, you got to tend the garden, water it, weed it, stake a trellis for those things that grow upward, like beans... A garden is a lot of work and know-how Heyes, and..."
"And what, Kid?" Heyes asked daring his partner utter even one more discouraging word.
"Potatoes don't come from seeds, Heyes," Kid said, growing a bit irritated with the look his partner was giving him.
"That right? Then just how do you plant potatoes Mr. Know It All?"
Kid wasn't about to back down from a challenge, especially from a subject he did know something about.
"Them roots that sprout outta potatoes... you slice a potato about a third of the way down from that root and you plant that slice, root and all," Kid replied with a bit of condensation in his own voice.
Heyes looked at Kid, amazed by his knowledge of potatoes.
"And just how do you know all about planting potatoes, Kid?"
Kid looked nervously about the room. "I'll tell you later, in private, Heyes."
No, you tell me right here and now, how do you know so much about planting potatoes?"
Kid sighed. "Your Ma use to grow potatoes in her garden."
A loud and amused snicker escaped Wheat's lips and both Heyes and Kid glowered at him.
"Yeah, well your mother was a..."
"Heyes," Kid cautioned him.
They both knew what Heyes was about to say, but the look in Kid's eyes told Heyes he'd be very sorry if he completed his sentence.
"Alright, have it your way boys, no garden. But don't come crawling to me next winter when you all get a hankering for vegetable soup and we ain't got the ingredients," Heyes retorted before storming out of the cabin.
"Don't envy you, Kid. He's mad as a hornet now," Wheat said, not even trying to hide his amusement.
"What was he gonna say about you mother, Kid?" Kyle asked.
"He was about to say my mother was a woman with a green thumb, Kyle."
"Kid, you think it would appease Heyes some if we was to all go out and plow up a piece of land for this here garden he wants?" Kyle asked.
Kid smiled. "Yeah Kyle, I think that would more than appease Heyes."And since I know for a fact that none of you is got any urgent business today, we can go right now and plow up a piece of land for Heyes. Then he can try his hand at any kind of planting he wants."
A gentle murmur of agreement filled the room.
"That's right nice of you boys," Kid said. "It'll show Heyes your hearts are in the right place. I'll go ride in to town and see if I can't find a book on gardening and maybe a few little packets of seeds."
"Get him a rake and a trowel and a watering can too, Kid. Get all them things you spoke of earlier," Kyle said.
I surely will, boys. This gardening idea might be just the thing Heyes needs to keep him occupied this spring."
"And outta our hair," Wheat muttered
"Wheat," Kid warned, although he was in full agreement with Wheat's thought.
Late that afternoon, Kid and the boys all stood outside the leader's cabin. Each had a well practiced solemn and worried look on his face.
"Heyes!" Kid called to his partner.
Heyes appeared on the other side of the screen door. A look of concern formed on his own face as he looked at the grim faces before him.
"What's the matter? What's wrong?" Heyes asked with genuine concern.
"Well, something's come up, Heyes... Something that's got us all worried," Kid said.
"What is it?' Heyes asked, his concern growing stronger. He was after all, responsible for these men.
"Something we better show you, Heyes, rather than tell you," Wheat replied.
Heyes pushed open the screen door and stepped outside.
"Alright, show me," Heyes said.
The men all started walking around to the back of the cabin.
"What's so worrisome back..."
Heyes stopped mid sentence when he saw the freshly plowed half acre of land, the gardening tools each with a red ribbon tied into a bow, and what had to be the most lame looking scarecrow he had ever seen tied to a stake shoved into the middle of the freshly tilled garden.
"Now we ain't all going to dig in and help with this all summer, Heyes. This is strictly your project," Kid explained as he handed Heyes the gardening book and a dozen little packets of seeds he had purchased.
Heyes smiled. "Thanks, Kid," he said.
"Ain't just me, Heyes. Every last one of the boys pitched in. All this is from all of us to you. Just our way of reminding you that we all know it's our job to take care of you, too."
"Ah, thanks, fellas. I don't know what to say."
"Just one other thing Heyes, and this is what we're all worried about," Wheat said.
"What's that, Wheat?"
"It'll be your job to cook that vegetable soup next winter, too. And if your cooking is anything like your coffee..."
Heyes smiled. "It's a deal, Wheat."