Gardeners Like Water as Much as Flowers

Day 242

It’s another steamer at a hundred degrees.  As hard as I try, I can’t convince the boys to leave the basement and join me on a trip to the nursery to pick out flowers. 

“Too hot,” they whine.  “Too hot.” 

Apparently, others agree.  Only a handful of customers pick through the drooping inventory at Reading Feed and Garden.  

I push my cart towards checkout.  Behind the clerk stands a large, glass front cooler filled with ice water and diet cokes. 

“Anything else?” she asks. 

“A water,” I say.  The clerk hands me the bottle.  I twist the cap and drink half of it in one gulp. 

I slide 50-cents across the counter, “And one for the next customer, too.”