by S. R. Booth
Through the window he watched the scattered houses and fields pass by in a blur and swallowed nervously. Maybe he should have stayed home with her, he thought anxiously. Maybe he should try to get her out of town.
He hopped out of the truck at their first house and closed his door quietly out of habit, knowing better than to disturb the peace within any of Scinegue’s neighborhoods more than necessary. The very first bag he grabbed had something red and sticky running down the side, and his mind did the instant association from red, to blood, to Sarah, causing his heart to race. He knew realistically that if Scinegue had plans to harm her, they could have easily carried them out long before now. But that did little to put his mind at ease.
He kept his eyes wide open and stayed alert as they went through the normal route. It seemed to him that if Scinegue really was up to no good, someone besides Bob would be trying to stop them. Did all of the people who lived in these houses—and worked for Scinegue—really not suspect anything unusual was going on? Or were they just all okay with it?
He ground his teeth in frustration when the question that had been playing on a loop through his mind hit him again: Was there anything bad going on at all? Weird sure, but bad?
By the time they hit the second neighborhood he had calmed down somewhat, relaxed by the normalcy of his repetitive job, once again confident that red sauce on the floor was not a harbinger of danger. His thoughts shifted from concern for Sarah to the job he’d been offered. Mr. Bryant said he would be given a home if he accepted the job, and he couldn’t help but wonder which house had been set aside for him.
He caught hold of the back of the truck for a quick ride to the next house, and smiled as he pictured himself coming home to any one of these houses from a job that didn’t require him to take an immediate shower after work. He and Sarah were comfortable where they were, but he would be flat out lying if he said he wouldn’t like to have a nicer house than the 1950s box home they lived in now.
He had always had big dreams, big plans to take care of Sarah and the family they hoped to have, if not lavishly, at least very comfortably. The economy was hit hard in their area, and since neither of them wanted to move, just earning a living was an unexpected struggle before he got this job. Who could have guessed his hard earned college degree would be all but worthless by the time he graduated?
A red-brick home caught his eye—and his imagination—and he spent the next few streets picturing what it would be like to live in a place like that. He envisioned Sarah in the yard adding some of the fall flowers she loved so much, himself raking leaves and just enjoying spending time with his wife. He gave a small snort of laughter. They would be the only two in the neighborhood out doing their own yard work from what he’d seen.
By the time they were in the Scinegue subdivision, he looked from house to house critically as he threw trash into the back of the truck. He could not even imagine living in one of the huge homes here. He tried to picture coming home after work to find Sarah in high heels and a skirt, floating around in some fancy kitchen that looked like it was out of a magazine, and just couldn’t see it. That wasn’t them.
Not that it was an option. Even if he was totally wrong about what Scinegue was planning, he wasn’t wrong about the fact that they didn’t believe Sarah belonged there. He clenched his jaw at the thought, not understanding the mindset that someone was too short to live in a certain area.
By the time they got to Bob’s house Billy was done daydreaming and on full alert, hoping for more clues. He carefully put each trash bag in the truck, discreetly turning them all the way around to make sure he didn’t overlook anything but came up empty.
He felt let down, even though he hadn’t really expected anything, he had hoped there would be a message of some sort. This was all just so frustrating, he thought irritably. Everything he believed about Scinegue was based on little bits of information and a whole lot of assumptions.
Maybe the assumptions were way out of whack. It was crazy that Mr. Bryant wanted him to divorce Sarah to work at a higher level in the company, but it’s not like he had come out and said they planned to kill her, or anyone else for that matter. The papers he found could have just been theories. That didn’t mean anyone planned to act on them.
Bob had been scared though, he remembered with a sigh. He was inside the company and knew what was really going on, and it was bad enough to turn him. The big house and all the money that came with it weren’t enough to keep him quiet about the company’s plans.
And the farmer’s market people must have some kind of proof that bad things were about to happen, too. They wouldn’t spend their time spreading stories about a big company for no reason, would they?
Billy’s thoughts kept him occupied until they arrived back at the main building and checked out for the day. He gave Michael a brief wave as he set off in the other direction. He was walking distractedly past the main door towards his truck in the parking lot when he heard his name being called.
“William!” Mr. Bryant himself rushed out the front door with a slight wave, hurrying to catch up with him. Billy turned and waited with a puzzled frown on his face. For some reason it seemed strange to see Mr. Bryant outside of the building in his perfectly tailored suit.
“William, I’m glad I caught you.” Mr. Bryant’s smile was friendly. “I wonder if you would like to join me for dinner again this evening. I thought perhaps you might have some more questions about the job offer.”
“Thank you, but I have plans tonight,” Billy answered simply but truthfully.
That seemed to annoy Mr. Bryant and his smile faded. He probably wasn’t used to being told no by someone he obviously considered far beneath him in every possible way, Billy thought.
“Break them,” he finally said with a nonchalant shrug.
“I,” Billy blinked at Mr. Bryant’s arrogance and thought fast, “I told Sarah how amazing the food was last night, and she said she heard about a lecture tonight on growing organic foods, so we are going to go and see if we can learn anything useful.”
“If you accept the position I’ve offered, you won’t have to grow your own food. It will be properly grown and provided to you. This lecture will be a waste of your time.”
Billy’s eyes narrowed in confusion. “I’m working for you now and have never heard anything about Scinegue providing food to its employees,” he more asked than stated.
Mr. Bryant swatted that away with the back of his hand. “There are levels, you know. You would be among the upper level with the position we are offering.”
“Do you have any more information on what the position is yet?”
“Join me for dinner. We will discuss it.”
Billy hesitated. Maybe he could learn more if he stayed here. Sarah could still go and see what the farmers had to say.
He noticed a calculating gleam in Mr. Bryant’s dark eyes as he saw Billy’s indecision, and Billy realized he was being manipulated. Mr. Bryant hadn’t actually said he had any more information about the new position, he just implied it.
“Thank you, sir,” he said firmly, “but I really need to get home. I would enjoy talking to you about the position another time though.”
Billy watched as Mr. Bryant transformed before his eyes from the picture of calm arrogance, sure he would get his way, to his current expression of surprised disbelief which was rapidly turning to anger. Billy imagined he could see steam coming out of Mr. Bryant’s ears as his face turned a dark red and he started to bluster.
“If you have any desire to move up in this company,” he pointed at Billy, “you need to make it your first priority. You are being given an amazing opportunity that people would kill for. You are willing to put it aside—put me aside—for a lecture about plants?” His voice rose. “Do you see how this might look to me, as if perhaps you aren’t the right candidate for the position?”
Billy had so many things he wanted to say he literally bit his lip until he knew he could control himself and speak c
almly. “I’m sorry if it appears that I’m not interested in the company or in what you have to say to me. I am very interested. I’m just asking if we can discuss it another time.”
Mr. Bryant looked at him in amazement and then turned on his heel and strode back into the building without another word.
Great, Billy thought, and shoved his hands into his pockets as he watched Mr. Bryant walk away. Now I’ve blown it. Maybe I should have just had dinner with him. Sarah would have understood. He walked towards his truck and slid behind the wheel. He knew he couldn’t afford to alienate Mr. Bryant.
But, he thought straightening in his seat and giving the key in the ignition a firm twist, he wouldn’t be led around like a cow either, or whatever docile animal Mr. Bryant used as an analogy in their conversation the night before.
Chapter 10
Pulling up at the address Sarah was given, Billy raised an eyebrow at the stereotypical farm house. A white, two-story with a matching picket fence and the expected porch wrapped around the lower level, with an assortment of randomly placed mismatched chairs. A few cars were parked along the street, and a sign by the front gate announced a free ‘Organic Gardening’ lecture—‘Donations Welcome’.
“So, we’re really doing this?” Billy asked one last time, hoping if anyone was listening to their conversation they would assume he just meant the lecture, but knowing Sarah would understand what he was asking.
He wasn’t surprised exactly to find Sarah alive and well when he arrived home after work, but he was thankful. Thankful there wasn’t any blood like some of his grimmer imaginings earlier in the day, not even a hint of red sauce on the floor. He certainly didn’t want to push their luck by getting into this even deeper than they already were.
Sarah gave him a surprisingly confident smile. “Yes, we are really doing this. Everyone should know how to grow an organic garden!” she added with a wink, and he resigned himself to just being as cautious as he could and keeping a close eye on Sarah.
The front door opened as Billy knocked, and he almost smiled at the typical farmer’s attire of overalls and sturdy work boots worn by the man who answered it. He was almost Billy’s height with a cheery, weathered face, topped by a full head of brown hair that was quickly moving towards gray.
“Hello there!” He exclaimed, heartily pumping Billy’s hand and then Sarah’s as if they were long lost friends. “You must be the Roths,” he said without waiting for confirmation. “Daniel Brown, or Farmer Dan, if you like. Please come in.” He stepped away from the door to let them enter.
From the entryway, Billy could see the interior was very simple and maybe a little old-fashioned, but meticulously clean and tidy. The scent of freshly baked apple pie wafted through the house and made his mouth water.
“If you’ll follow me,” Farmer Dan invited as he walked towards a well-lit living room that was arranged to accommodate several rows of folding chairs, “we’ll begin with a short lecture, then divide into groups for a quick tour.” He stopped and turned to face them.
“If you have questions about anything, please save them until we’ve split into groups. Alrighty?” He’d emphasized the word ‘anything’, so Billy and Sarah were pretty sure he meant anything non-plant related.
Linda left the group she was visiting with when Sarah and Billy arrived and bustled up to them as energetic and outgoing as her husband. She was average height with a short cap of very dark hair—that Billy felt sure had been colored—and almost equally dark eyes that were full of excitement.
“Sarah, I’m so glad you decided to come.” She surprised her with a quick hug. “And you must be Billy.” She reached out and patted his arm. “Oh, we are happy to see you!” She wrinkled her nose when her husband nudged her about her choice of words. “Happy to see that you didn’t have to work late or anything and were able to make it,” she modified as she rolled her eyes with a grin.
Billy raised his brow, wondering why exactly she was so happy to see him, but she continued on without an explanation. “I had the opportunity to admire your garden when I visited Sarah,” she led the conversation to the supposed purpose of their meeting. “I believe this is all going to come easily to you.”
She flashed him a smile and indicated the rapidly filling chairs with a sweep of her hand. “Please have a seat. We’ll start very soon.”
She and her husband walked off together hand in hand like a couple of newlyweds and Sarah burst out laughing. They hadn’t had a chance to say a single word. “They’re nice though, right?” she asked Billy with a nudge. “They’re just so warm and friendly.”
“They do seem nice,” Billy replied, allowing a smile to escape as he led her to a seat in the middle of the room. “I think we need to get to know them a little better before we make that judgment, though.”
Sarah agreed and turned her attention to Farmer Dan as he formally greeted everyone from behind a wooden table at the front of the room, then started his lecture without delay. “We decided to call this an ‘Organics’ lecture because everyone is pretty familiar with what organic produce is, or at least what it is in theory, right?” Heads nodded around the room, and a few replied affirmatively.
Billy looked around at the other participants with interest. It looked like there were mostly younger couples with a few individuals sitting by themselves. Nothing specifically similar about them as far as he could tell.
He wondered if they had all just come for information on gardening, or if any of them had received special invitations like he and Sarah did. Did anyone else have a clue that there was possibly something very sinister happening right here in their own small town? he wondered, before focusing his attention back on Farmer Dan.
“What we would really like to call this,” Farmer Dan was saying, “is ‘Back to Eden’. We don’t want to just teach you how to use ‘organic’ fertilizers and pesticides to grow your produce. We want to help you learn how to enrich your soil naturally and care for your plants in a way that makes fertilizers and pesticides almost unnecessary.”
He grinned at the crowd and put a hand in the pocket of his overalls. “You notice I say almost?” More nodding. “Well, there’s a story behind that,” he drawled. “Some of us, unfortunately, don’t have the patience of Job,” he cast a sidelong look at Linda, “and there are occasions when some pesticide comes in handy.” He turned to his blushing wife, still grinning. “Would you like to share that story, Hon?”
“Oh, I knew he would do this to me,” Linda blustered with a good-natured smile and pushed her short hair from her face, even as her cheeks flamed with embarrassment. “I will be the first to admit I have almost no patience, much less anywhere near what Job displayed.” She laughed as she rose from her seat and took her husband’s place before the gathering.
Everyone joined her laughter, including Billy as he started to relax. He decided her personality was similar to Sarah’s. They were both the type of people that others were drawn to. Sarah could make people feel like long-lost friends just moments after meeting them, and Linda seemed to have the same gift.
“When Dan and I first decided to break away from just organic to Eden, God was quick to dispel my pride. I was sure it would be so simple to just get the soil into optimum condition and then stand back and let nature take its course.” She shook her head and laughed again.
“Dan and I both come from a long line of farming families, and when we told them our plan they weren’t against it exactly, but tried to convince us that there was a reason pesticides were invented. I pooh-poohed that,” she swatted a hand through the air, “and told them that my plants would be so healthy, nothing would be able to attack them. They would be disease resistant and pest free.
“Well, nature took its course all right. That year we must have had a record number of pests. Grasshoppers, leaf miners, squash bugs, ah, the squash bugs, don’t even get me started.” She rolled her eyes and gave a dramatic sigh.
“Those bugs didn’t care in the least that my plants were so h
ealthy they should have been immune to the onslaught. In fact, the bugs seemed to appreciate that we raised such tasty plants just for them to munch on.” Billy felt himself relaxing further as he listened to Linda recounting her troubles, and he chuckled along with Sarah and their fellow listeners, thoroughly enjoying Linda’s storytelling skills.
“The first couple of bugs I saw, I ignored. I just knew they would have one taste of my garden and take off.” Farmer Dan was chuckling in his seat and tried to disguise it with a hand over his mouth, but his eyes sparkled and his chest bounced up and down.
Glancing back at him Linda shook her head and gave the crowd a wink. “He’s earned the right to laugh. I’m just glad he’s not back there saying ‘I tried to tell her so.’” That really got Farmer Dan chuckling, and Linda continued her story.
“The fact is, he did try to ‘tell me so’. He was nice about it, but after a couple of days the damage to our crops was already becoming noticeable, and he suggested we use just a little bit of an organic pesticide to get things under control.
“Oh, no,” she drawled dramatically placing a hand to her chest, “I wasn’t having any of that in my Eden. I started going out to hand pick the bugs off the plants, thinking that wasn’t really resorting to any form of pesticide. I was just giving the plants a little help. A couple of days went by and I hardly saw any bugs and was feeling pretty proud of myself, until all of a sudden the garden was almost instantly overrun with bugs.” The excitement in her voice kept the listeners engrossed in her story.
“We realized later that I had probably just given the bugs enough time to lay lots of eggs all over before I started picking them off. When those eggs hatched, things got crazy! We still had new bugs coming in, and it seemed like dozens of baby bugs hatching daily.