Errant Thoughts Story, Part 9

"Oooooh! I may never move again." Dave groaned.

"What's wrong with you?" Danny prodded his friend's prone body with his foot.

"New program at work. Helping all the church members plant gardens and digging up the church yard too. They rented a tiller and I'm the one who gets to run it for everyone who asked." He held his hands up. "It feels like my hands are still vibrating and I have to do it again tomorrow."

"But that's brilliant. After paying the rent, food is our biggest expense. Imagine if we had space to grow some for ourselves." Danny threw himself into the beanbag chair. "I never thought I would say this, but I am so sick of pizza."

"Could you bring some home instead of eating there? I'd kill for leftover pizza."

"I could try. It might work out on the nights I close and I'm the last to go."

"Which is about every night lately."

"Yeah, I knew the boss's in-laws would be flakes. They only show up half the time and usually have an excuse to leave early. So, are you ever going to tell me about your big idea?"

"Only if it works out; it's a long shot. You want to hear about the next project they've thought up at the church?"

"Sure. It's cool that they do real stuff instead of just throw money at problems."

"As soon as the gardens are started, Hank and I will be building little chicken coops. Every house can have six hens so they ordered hundreds of chicks. People will just pay for the materials used and Hank will order feed in bulk so it's cheaper for everyone.

"Hank says in the old days it was the churches that ran the charities and took care of the poor, not welfare and food stamps. Oh, they gave me a chance to pick something out of the clothes drive. I thought we could share these." He pulled a bag out of his backpack and threw it over.

"Socks! This is great, but you should have got something for yourself. You're the one working hard."

"Tell me about it!" He rolled over with a grin, "I'm getting a raise. 25 cents more an hour. Hank even called me 'good value'."

There was a knock on the door and Susan stuck her head in, "If you guys are ready to celebrate?"

They followed her out to the kitchen. "No-bake cookies! We haven't had these in ages."

"Well, they use a lot of sugar, but this way we can celebrate without heating up the apartment with the oven."

Dave grinned as he reached for a cookie, "I'm not complaining. I need the calories today. Actually, I asked if I could have food instead of the extra money and they told me not to worry, they'd make sure I got produce from the gardens since I'll be helping the elderly with their growing this summer. One little old lady offered to plant zucchini just for me; I don't know why that was so funny."

Susan chuckled, "Because zucchini is the gift that keeps giving and giving. I'll look up recipes to use it in next time I go to the library so I'm prepared."

Danny noticed a pensive look cross his mom's face, "What is it? What are you thinking about?"

"Oh, I was just remembering the zucchini bread your grandma made and wondered how they were doing. They don't bother with email much and now that we don't phone...it just feels like my focus has gotten very narrow and I only see what's happening to us directly." She shook her head briskly, "Never mind that. Here's to Dave and his raise! Hooray! Have another cookie."

Part 10