Me: of course.
Jack: he ordered and paid for thirty pizzas. Could I pick them up?
Me: sure.
Andy: he’d be at the garage party, but he’d bring pizzas since he couldn’t do much in the way of building.
Me: we had the food covered but would appreciate if he’d pick up the thirty pizzas Jack had already ordered and paid for.
Aunt Ruby: try not to let Shelley get out of control “helping” the construction with her magic, since there had been a few ISSUES
Me: understood.
Uncle Mike: the freezer I’d ordered for Jack’s Christmas present would be delivered tonight, as scheduled.
Me: awesome
Jack: neither he nor any of the guys had any idea where Henrietta had gone. Maybe she wasn’t in town anymore? No luck finding Ish, either.
Me: that’s too bad.
Jack: Ish is a stupid name.
(I didn’t answer that one.)
Shelley: could she bring Pickles?
Me: only if she kept the puppy on her leash so she didn’t get hurt in the general construction chaos.
In between what felt like thousands of texts, I ran my business. Bought, sold, and took items in pawn; cleaned and polished shelves and counters; and even got started on the taxes. When I looked at the clock after ringing up a large sale, it was already almost four o’clock. I’d had a note on the door for a couple of weeks that we’d be closing early today, so I had no guilt about closing the shop and going home. Especially after the productive day I’d had.
Just as I was about to walk out the door, I remembered I’d wanted to ask Jack to help me drag the now significantly smaller plant out the door. It was still too heavy for me to lift or drag by myself, even after we’d pruned it and harvested all those zucchinis, though.
I pointed at it. “You behave! If you take over my shop, I’ll fire up one of the chainsaws in the lawn equipment section, and you’ll be sorry.”
Fancifully, I half expected the leaves to tremble, but nothing happened. It was just a plant. A ridiculously fast-growing plant, but still a plant. That reminded me that Ollie had never called me back. I’d try him again on my way home.
After all, it was just a plant.
* * *
The garage-raising party was a tremendous success. Twenty-four of our friends and family members showed up to build a garage for me. I felt like crying more than once from pure gratitude. And, for a delightful change, nothing went horribly wrong.
The electrician knew what she was doing. The concrete guys had shown up at three, Jack said, but it was fine. Concrete usually took at least twenty-four and up to forty-eight hours to dry properly, but the concrete guys had an earth witch in the family. The witch put a special spell on the concrete—patent pending, they’d told Jack more than once—so the stuff was fully dry and set within sixty minutes. When I got home at four-thirty, Jack was already hauling construction materials onto the concrete slab, which was fully hardened.
The freezer arrived on time, and Jack loved it. He was already making a list of all the meat he wanted to buy to fill it up. We tipped the delivery guys and invited them to stay for pizza, which they did.
I thanked everybody about a million times and sent each helper home with a jar of homemade strawberry jam and a half-dozen zucchinis.
“When did you start making homemade jam?” Uncle Mike asked. He stuck a finger in the jar and tasted it. “This is delicious.”
“Oh, I’m glad you like it. Frazzle. Remember the pixie from the Great Thanksgiving Disaster? She was disappointed when I didn’t have homemade jam for her, so I learned how to make it. It’s easy.”
“Well, it’s great. Don’t tell your aunt, but I’m taking two jars. She has me on a new low-sugar, low-carb diet, and I thought I’d faint from hunger before the pizza arrived. A man can only survive for so long on grilled chicken and broccoli. I only get real food when company comes over.” He gave me a desperate look. “You need to come over alot.”
He’d eaten half an extra-large pizza all by himself, so I wasn’t too worried about him fainting from hunger. Maybe from indigestion, but that was another story.
I hugged him. “Thank you, Uncle Mike. For everything. For giving me such a wonderful life.”
