Twice a year Linda takes a few days off to attend a quilting retreat with some of her friends. The retreat starts on a Thursday and ends on the following Sunday, a four-day intensive immersion in everything even remotely related to quilts and quilting.
Last week, the day before she left, I had some work to do in the garden in order to get the raised beds in shape for the winter. I thought it would be fun to have my grandson Landon come over to help me so I called my daughter-in-law, Jessica, to see if it would suit him. She asked Landon if he wanted to come over and he readily agreed.
I was pulling pea vines when their van pulled up and Landon was let out. He came over to the garden and asked me what I was doing.
"I'm pulling up these vines," I said, "Do you want to help me?"
"Yes," he said.
"Well, I'm just about finished with these pea vines," I told him. "Then we'll trim the tomato vines and you can drag the trimmings over to this pile, okay?"
I threw the last pea vine on the compost pile, picked up my big clippers and headed over to the tomato bed. The tomato vines were a mass of limbs all tangled together. There were plenty of young tomato fruits growing on the plants, but they had been neglected as the summer months passed on into fall. A number of them were wormy, which wasn't surprising since I had not worked with the plants for quite a while.
I began pruning vigorously and soon had a large pile of trimmings which Landon began to drag over to the compost pile. He struggled for a bit with the discarded limbs and finally got an armful separated from the pile.
"I can't carry all of them in one load," he said.
"Oh, you don't have to carry them all at one time. You might have to make several trips to get them all."
We worked away for a while. Pretty soon Landon said he had to use the bathroom.
"Go in through the garage," I told him. "You know where the bathroom is. And tell Linda to send out my sippy cup with some tea."
This struck Landon as funny. "Papaw, are you a baby with your sippy cup?"
"I sure am and I'm not ashamed to admit it."
Landon laughed at the thought of me being a baby as he ran into the house. Pretty soon he was back outside, but with no tea.
"Where's my tea, Partner?"
"It's still inside, I forgot to bring it with me."
"Can you go get it? Papaw is really thirsty. It's pretty humid out here."
"Ok, I'll get it for you."
Landon ran inside and retrieved my Yeti thermos which I take nearly everywhere with me. It was a Christmas gift from my nephew and I literally get separation anxiety if it isn't within easy reach. Landon and I both use it freely when we are at the shop. He likes it as well as I do and is hoping to get one of his own for his upcoming birthday.
After I finished with the tomato plants, I headed over to one of the other beds to do some weeding and to rake it smooth for planting garlic bulbs. As I was working, I saw a couple of rocks in the bed. I told Landon to throw those rocks out of the bed.
"You're not my daddy, so I don't have to do what you say," he told me.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you wanted to come over and help me. I guess I can take you back home. Besides, I thought we were partners."
"I don't want to go home," Landon said, as he picked up one of the rocks and threw it into the woods.
A little later I hit a rock with my rake.
"Pick up that rock, Papaw, and throw it out of the bed," Landon said in a very commanding voice.
"Hey, big guy, you're sounding a little bossy there," I responded.
"Naw, Papaw, we're partners. You tell me what to do, and I tell you what to do."
Maybe I had that one coming, but leave it to my grandson to reveal my own self to me.
"Maybe it would sound better if you said, "Papaw, would you pick up that rock and throw it out of the bed, please?"
"OK, Papaw, would you pick up that rock and throw it out of the bed, please?"
"Sure thing, Partner!"
We both smiled at each other as I threw the rock.
"I guess you know Miss Linda is going to be gone for four days, starting tomorrow," I said.
"Yes, she's going to be quilting. I'm going to take care of you, Papaw, while she is gone."
"I see," I said. "What does that mean?"
"I'm going to take you out to lunch tomorrow."
"Are you going to drive me to lunch?" I asked him.
"No, you'll have to drive," he said. "I'm too young to drive."
"Are you planning to pay for my lunch?"
"Nah, I only have five dollars."
"Well, if you ask me, it sounds like I'll be taking you out to lunch."
"Yeah, you can take me out to lunch," Landon said.
We headed to my truck to break for lunch.
"Papaw, I killed a possum with that bow you made for me," Landon said matter-of-factly.
"Did you really?" I asked him.
"Not really," he said, "I think it was a coon."
"You killed a coon? I'm going to ask your mother about that," I said.
"Don't do that," Landon said. "She'll be sad because she doesn't want me to kill the coons. She likes them."
"I imagine she doesn't like it when you make up stories. You want to make sure you always tell the truth, okay? Will you promise Papaw that you will always do that?"
"Yes, Papaw, I promise."
"All right then, I'll take you home since it is lunch time and you can be thinking about where you want to eat tomorrow, okay? Thanks for all your help!"
"Good bye, Papaw!" Landon said as he got out of the pickup. "I'll see you tomorrow!"
My little partner ran down the sidewalk to his house.
Sam Byrnes is a Gentry-area resident and weekly contributor to the Eagle Observer. He may be contacted by email at [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author.
Editorial on 10/19/2016