Garden
Gray.
Chester hated the color.
Gray.
It seemed to be the only thing he saw nowadays. Gray skies. Gray walls. Gray concrete streets.
He missed the green. The green he'd seen whenever he looked out his old window. In his old room. In his old house. It felt like years but really it had only been a week since they moved to the inner city.
He missed his garden. His onions. His tomatoes. His chili peppers. He'd planted some flowers too but for the most part, his garden had been for the vegetables.
His garden had really been one of the few joys Chester had in his life. At school he had good grades but no friends. At home he had no dad. He still had a mom but she wasn't much of a parent. She was more like a reluctant hostess that graciously let him stay in her house as long as he didn't bother her.
Planting those crops and help them grow wasn't just a hobby to him. It was the only thing that made him feel needed. Without him none of those plants would be there. It wasn't big but at least he made an impact on something but of course even that was taken away from him.
He came home from school and saw moving trucks stationed outside their house. He hurried inside and immediately happened upon his mother packing some trinkets into a cardboard box. "Mom, what's going on?"
His mother, Angela, gave him a puzzled look like she'd just remembered that she had a son. "Oh, I managed to sell the house. We're moving."
"Moving!" Chester gasped. "To where?"
"Just to the inner city. It's cheaper." His mother replied nonchalantly as she resumed packing.
Chester still remembered how surprised he was. "Why wasn't I told about this earlier?"
"Told?!" His mother snapped at him before turning around to glare at him with contempt. "You're lucky I'm even taking you with me! I'm the one paying for this house and as long as you live under my roof you'll do as I tell you. Now march up to your room and pack your shit!"
He gazed up at the sky, eyeing those gray clouds with a sense of concern. He'd heard it would be a heavy downpour. A heavy long lasting downpour. He feared for some of the vegetables in his old garden. He knew some rain was good for the crops but too much could cause water damage and some of his vegetables were particularly sensitive. He knew neither the house nor the garden belonged to his mother anymore but he couldn't help this nagging feeling that he should do something. He could do something. He still had some of his gardening tools in his closet.
He was sick of being cooped up in here. Sick of wandering about town for no other reason than simple not being in here.
"Fuck it! I'm going!" He stuffed his backpack with some of the items he might need and then he was gone.
It wasn't long until he arrived at his old house. The rain hadn't fell yet. The old villa looked the same. Just another typical suburban house. For a second Chester thought that maybe the new owners hadn't moved in yet. There was no car parked at the drive-in. But then he noticed the new furniture and decorations thru the window so clearly someone had moved in. It was pretty dark thou so maybe no one was home. In hindsight he should've knocked on the door to see if someone was home but he was so used to do as he wanted with the garden and so anxious to get started that he simple walked around the house till he reached the plot in the backyard.
He was pleasantly surprised. There were some new plants there now. Flowers mostly. Daphlias, tulips, brahmis, snapdragons and so on but the crops he'd planted were still there. He suspected the new owners would have simple uprooted them and plant their own.
'Okay, enough gawking. Time to get started. Or should I say staking.' Chester thought as he brought some three-foot long stakes out of his backpack and planted them in the soil right next to the tomatoes. He then used seal bands to strap the tomato stem to the stake. This way the plant wouldn't bend or get uprooted by the downpour. He would have staked his tomato plants eventually anyway once they bore fruit but he never got around to it. Looking around the place he realized that the daphlias could also use staking but they weren't his so he wondered if he had any right to.
'It was awfully kind of the new owners to leave my vegetables were I left them. I might as well do something nice for them too.' He thought with a smile before doing the same thing to the red and black flowers as he did to the tomatoes.
Next, Chester marched over to the old shed. The lock had been broken for years and luckily for him the new owners hadn't done anything to fix it. Once inside, he immediately found what he was looking for. A plastic bag of mulch. After putting on a pair of gloves, he took a handful of the brown mixture of dirt and wood and brought it outside. He started spreading it over the garden, hopping it would help absorb some of the water so it wouldn't erode the soil.
Taking off his gloves, Chester put his hands to his hips as he looked over his work. He felt pleased. These precautions should be enough to prevent any rain damage.
He was about to leave when his eyes were drawn to a shovel leaning against the wall of the house. He looked back at the garden and then back at the shovel. 'I could dig a couple of ditches between the crops. That would help drain the excess water away from the roots.' He thought to himself. He grabbed the shovel and went to the patch of dirt between his onions and the newcomers' tulips. He pressed the edge of the shovel into the soil before stomping on the blade, driving in it into the soil. He took a firm grip of the shaft and was about to dig when suddenly…
"What are you doing?" A feminine voice called out. Chester froze. He suddenly realized he was doing something wrong. He looked up at the owner of the voice and was stunned.
There. Standing in the doorframe was one of the most beautiful girls Chester had ever seen. She was his age. His height. She had an hourglass figure atop a pair of long slender legs and a cute youthful face. Her most striking feature thou was definitely her hair. Not only was it a gorgeous shade of red and braided into an elegant ponytail but it was long enough to reach her heels.
"Um…" Chester didn't know what to say.
"I said, what are you doing here?" There was no malice in her voice. Just curiosity and confusion.
Shame washed over Chester when he realized just how creepy he was being. This wasn't his house nor his garden anymore. He may have planted some of these crops but that didn't make them his. What kind of a weirdo was he, trespassing on somebody else's property and digging around in their backyard?
"I-I know what this must look like but I-I didn't mean to do anything."
The girl tilted her head, giving him a puzzled look.
"I used to live here you see and I-I used to work in-in this garden." He pointed to the crops with a shaky hand. "I planted those vegetables and I was told there was going to be a heavy downpour today so I-I came down here to make sure they wouldn't get damaged."
"Huh". The girl nodded.
Chester sighed. "I'm sorry. I know I'm trespassing and I should have asked first but I just wasn't thinking straight."
"You were just concerned for your plant babies." The girl concluded.
Chester blinked. "What?"
The girl rolled her eyes. "Sorry. That's what my mom calls her flowers sometimes."
At that moment Chester felt something wet hitting the top of his head. Then something wet hit his cheek. Then his nose. Within seconds the rain was pouring down on him. His surroundings became blurry in the downpour. Only the girl in front of him remained clear.
"Again, I'm sorry for trespassing. Do you want me to leave or wait while you call the cops on me?"
It took a while before the girl said anything. "Do you want to come inside?"
Chester blinked. "Huh?"
"I mean, you must be getting pretty cold out there in the rain. I just wondered if you wanted to come inside for a while." She head gestured towards the inside of her house.
Chester could hardly believe what he was hearing. "Are you-are you sure?" He took a hesitant step forward.
"Yeah but there is one problem. My mom told to never let strangers inside the house."
"Oh." Chester lowered his head in shame. Of course she was only pulling his leg. He deserved it.
At that moment, a gracile feminine hand reached into his field of view. He raised his gaze and saw the girl. Leaning forward, her long hair glistened as the rain dripped off it. Her smile was broader and more welcoming than any he'd remembered seeing.
'What a beautiful smile.' He thought, mesmerized.
"My name is Abigail Archer but you can call me Abby for short." The girl introduced herself.
Chester very carefully took her hand in his. "I'm Chester. Chester Ferris."
"Nice meeting you Chester." Abby shook his hand before letting go. "Now when you're not a stranger I can let you in." She stepped back inside and held the door open for him to show that he was welcomed in.
Chester hesitated for a moment before stepping inside. It was weird. This was the same house he'd grown up in but it didn't feel that way anymore. It was too clean and too well decorated.
"If you want to change into something dryer I'm sure my brother wouldn't mind lending you some of his clothes." Abby suggested.
"Nah, its fine." Chester said and took off his polyester jacket, revealing a black tank top underneath which was still dry.
Abby's eyes lingered on his suntanned arms for a moment but she quickly gathered herself. "I was making tea when I saw you out the window. It should be done about now. You want some?" She asked as she eagerly skipped towards a steaming kettle atop the kitchen counter.
Chester blinked. No one had been this nice to him in years. He was a bit overwhelmed. "I wouldn't want to inconvenience you."
Abby glanced over her shoulder, giving him a playful smile. "Then I suggest you accept my offer. It isn't every day I get the chance to play hostess to such a diligent gentleman." She mused before gesturing to a chair by the dinner table. "You can sit down there."
Chester smiled before graciously taking the seat offered to him. This would only be the first of many warm receptions in the house he at last felt welcomed in.