Vegetable Dreams

I thought I was going to move again so I dug up the strawberry plant from the pea patch, gave it away, and didn’t rent my plot for the summer. A month into the growing season it looked like we were going to stay at least long enough for a tomato plant to put down roots so I rented a pea patch, pulled out the thistles and blackberries that had already grown into the newly plowed earth and plugged in four tomatoes, a garlic, a pepper, and a gift of three zucchini and two more tomato plants. A month went by and I observed that the plants had not grown at all. They bore no resemblance to the lush vegetable jungle I grew last year. They stood there solitary, stunted and thirsty. Their shallow roots were not enough to compensate for the shock of their late move and the lack of just the right amount of warmth and water. They were acting like transplants. Hey, they were just like me.
As a transplant into this small town I have often played a little game with myself where I pretend that the town is the setting for a TV show. It might be called Northern Lack of Exposure or New Friends, or maybe Mayberry NW. Within three years, guest stars have appeared frequently. New friends come and new friends go. My life could be organized by episode titles: The New Job, The Drug Test, The Surgery, The Arson, The Baby, The Job Loss. The main characters have made major changes with their own spin-off shows likely in the future while the show seems to be moving to its season finale. Still the struggle to bear fruit goes on, to create a ripe red juicy tomato.