Watermelon Summer by Anna Hess Read Free Book Online Page A

almost hear the ominous tune overlaying
his words.  (No matter what had happened in the past, it was clear
the movie business had worked out for him.)
     
    "Sometimes, when there's a sudden drought after a lot
of rain," Arvil continued, "your potatoes will look perfect on the
outside, but when you cut into them, they're starting to rot out
inside.  That's how Greensun was, although I only caught little
hints of the problems in between my movie trips.  By then, I'd
built this house at the far corner of Greensun to give myself a little
space from the puppy pile...."
     
    "Wait a minute," I interrupted, despite myself.  "You're saying we're on Greensun land now?"
     
    "Not quite, but it once was," Arvil answered. 
"Here, have a cookie to follow that soup."  Which seemed to be his
polite way of saying "Shut up and listen."  So I did.
     
    "By that time, Glen's first wife had left him, and
the rest of Greensun's inhabitants had drifted away.  Glen and I
were the only ones here, which made a sort of sense since we were also the
only ones who'd put any real money into Greensun's infrastructure. 
Your father wanted to start over, to pull in a new set of idealists to
keep him company, but I thought maybe we should go back to basics and
remember what it was that had made Greensun tick in the early
years.  I was starting to wonder if a Greensun-style puppy pile was
even possible, or if we'd all just been swept up in Glen's enthusiasm, like
the way you suspend your disbelief when watching a particularly good movie.
     
    "To cut a long story short, Glen's and my visions
didn't match up.  I ended up buying this one corner of Greensun from your father,
and Glen tried again with a new set of people, and a new wife. 
This time, the rotten core of Greensun erupted much sooner, and I was
glad I'd left when I did.  Because even though it had hurt his
feeling when I bowed out, the little bit of distance between here and
the main house was enough to keep my friendship with Glen alive. 
After a while, I even realized that a friend like your father, who spans
decades of my life, was really what I was looking for when I fell in
love with Greensun in the first place."
     
    We sat in silence for a minute until I was sure the
story was over.  Then I ventured, "So, when you said I'm looking
for Greensun, you meant I'm looking for friendship?"
     
    "Not really," Arvil answered.  "I meant you're looking for something that doesn't exist."
     
     
     

    Both of us needed a little space after that admission
(which might have been more than Arvil originally meant to say), so he
disappeared into his garden and I settled into the guest room.  My
neighbor had warned that Greensun's creek usually takes a day or so to
go down from flood levels, and due to my fainting episode, he really
preferred I not walk back across the log anytime soon.  Arvil had
been given the Mom seal of approval, and he was genuinely excited to
have a house guest, so I told him I'd stay the night and walk back home in
the morning.
     
    I thought I'd take a nap to finish resting up from my
bout of illness, but I couldn't seem to get to sleep, so I ended up
wandering through Arvil's house.  (He'd told me to make myself at
home and seemed to mean it.)  The structure was clearly hand-built
with love, framed with whole trees (the bark removed), and full of
polished wooden shelves lined with contraptions that I suspected had some
sort of ingenious use.  I was riveted by an eight-foot-in-diameter
lemon bush in one sunny window, a few ripe fruits gleaming amid the dark
leaves and hundreds of fragrant flowers heralding fruit to come. 
In the kitchen, honey dripped into a five-gallon bucket from a
stainless-steel vat full of wax in wooden frames.  I snuck a
fingertip full of honey into my mouth and had to close my eyes for a
minute to relish the flavor.
     
    With my tour