Flowers, an Honest Friend

One recent afternoon, my neighbor tapped on my window. He wanted to come retrieve the huge pumpkin that had been growing for months on my side of the fence.

We only spent ten minutes together, but he left me with much info. He talked about his family (I’ll never see them, because they never visit), property values in Brooklyn (he bought his building for $300K and it’s now worth two million), and gardening. He noticed that I had taken it up as a hobby when I moved in, because he was looking over my fence nearly every day to check on his honker of a pumpkin.

”I love to garden,” he told me, “because plants are honest — people aren’t.” I see what he means. Plants always tell you what they need, and they only give you as much as they can.

For half this conversation, he was gesticulating with a sharp chef’s knife in his hand. I gave it to him to cut down the pumpkin, which was hanging over his head. Having experienced some unexpected injuries this summer, I imagined every terrible possibility. It was quite the conversation!

He managed to hack it down with no problem and headed back to his house with his prize.

Here’s to plants, our honest friends!