Homegrown and free – The twin gardens tale.
It isn’t fair. It never is and there’s only one reason why. Fate. There’s no way to avoid it. In fact, one of the darkest movies ever made was about fate. It went by a different name, but it came to the same. A group of people inadvertently discovers fate. Furthermore, the harder they try to avoid fate, the more devastating the result. Fate wins every time. Usually with a spin. Or the twist of a knife.
Homegrown
“That does not belong to you. Drop it and step out of the Royal Garden.” The old man drops the squash and the ears of corn he holds in his hands. His clothes are tattered and worn. He looks furtively at the counselor with the castle guard at his side. And the old peasant carefully steps back to the edge of the woods. High Counselor Prolesus watches the homegrown peasant move to the cover of the woods. No doubt there are others of his kind hidden in the depths of the forest. As if to prove the point two small children and an older woman join the old man at the edge of the woods.
Prolesus feels his ire raise. If there’s one thing he can’t tolerate it’s peasants. He decides to set the tone while there are witnesses. “Guard! Put a company of men on the perimeter of this Royal Garden. If anyone so much as looks at one of Princess Anna’s plants, arrest them and put them in the dungeon. No Exceptions!” The guard snaps to, and begins to summon more guards. Then from the other side of the Royal Garden a stern voice changes everything.
“Belay that order, and suffer the family back in through the gate.” Princess Anna makes her way to where the High Counselor and the guard are standing. “Furthermore, I am quite concerned as to why this guard is not moving as though his life depends on it because I assure you both, it does. Likewise your future with this court Prolesus. How is it that a soft and finely attired counselor concerns himself with the matters of the Princess’s Royal garden?”
Free
“Guard, make haste and help the family gather two bushels from the homegrown harvest. Then see them to the gate through the castle.” Princess Anna turns back to Prolesus, “Well counselor? Are there no matters of the court, nor issues of the Treasury to be reckoned with?” Her cold stare suggests she will not be trifled with and trying to cajole her will bring no gain. Instead, Prolesus offers his most sincere, fake apology.
“Yes Milady, of course. There are many things for a counselor to tend to in the Royal Hall. With your permission I will take my leave.” And with a slight bow Prolesus leaves the garden, and the company of Princess Anna. There is almost a palpable change in the air as the sinister counselor disappears into the depths of the castle. Princess Anna is glad to see him go. Besides, she has much more pressing matters on her mind. And in her heart. The butterflies. Last night there was a swarm. It isn’t unusual, but this time there were so many. Bad news. She shakes off the thought. It could be something else.
Except, there were all the deer too. It would have been quite mesmerizing if it hadn’t felt so ominous. Something is wrong. She tries harder at shaking off the homegrown feeling of dread. Her first act was to summon the Royal astronomer with the all-seeing eye scope. From that she was able to confirm the butterflies in Prince Stephen’s Royal Garden. Now as she watches the peasant and his family gather corn she feels both relieved and dismayed to see the banner of Prince Stephen enter the courtyard.
The Twin Gardens
“Guard!” Princess Anna gestures toward the band of messengers coming up the courtyard path beside the castle. “Go, and take them to my Throne Room. I will hold counsel with them privately.” The guards move to intercept the company of messengers. Princess Anna lingers in the Garden for a short while longer. The small family of peasants have two overloaded bushels of fresh homegrown vegetables and are making their way back to the commons. The once slow to move guard helps carry one of the bushels, thereby redeeming a fraction of his honor.
Princess Anna stops him briefly once more, “See to it this family has two bushels of their choice from the homegrown harvest, everyday, henceforth.” She smiles and winks at one of the little ones.
“Yes Milady!” The guard snaps to once again and accompanies the small family into the castle. No doubt they will have quite the tale for their friends later this evening Princess Anna thinks, as she turns back toward the castle, and steels her resolve. The only thing she knows for certain is that Prince Stephen is not among the band of messengers. Therefore, with a heavy feeling in her spirit she enters the castle with her Royal guard.
Homegrown and Free
Wesley parks his truck in the parking garage of the hospital. Mary and Miss Garret are already on their way to the emergency ICU. Wesley will be joining them after he helps the Detectives. They hadn’t made it half way to the hospital when Wesley’s phone started ringing. By the time they arrived at the hospital he had three messages from the police department asking for his assistance. In fact, he is uniquely positioned to help, because he is Mr. Connor’s closest neighbor. Furthermore, Wesley has a doorbell camera.
With this in mind, he already sent his video footage to the police department. There is something to be said for the great idea of cloud storage. That’s technology these days. It’s fast, homegrown, and convenient. He hasn’t even had time to look at the video himself. In fact, he hadn’t even thought about it until the call came in from the detectives. Now as he sits in his truck he decides to see if he actually caught anything on his doorbell camera. He waits for the video to load then to buffer.
Butterflies
The view is of his front sidewalk and his front yard. However, the right half of the video also includes a clear view of the sidewalk leading to Mr. Conner’s front door. Wesley watches in horror as Miss Anderson, the town spokesperson, pulls out a gun and fires it point blank at Mr. Conner. He blinks and his eyes feel numb. With shaking hands he opens his door and steps out of his truck and straight into a grinning Miss Anderson. In the flesh. She is holding a gun, and it’s pointed directly at Wesley. Shivers go up Wesley’s spine as the evil that is Miss Anderson threatens through clenched teeth…
“Well, well. If it isn’t the meddling, no good, neighbor” then she raises the gun to Wesley’s face.
Thank you for reading! Like, follow and share The Frog Journal on X @1finja1 – and on The Frog Journal Facebook page click here. Subscribe to the free newsletter to stay up to date on new content and updates.
All original stories. Download in seconds, new titles weekly. The Frog Journal e-book shorts.
