The Secret Garden Of Martha Grim.
By Richard A. Lopez (c) 1992

PAGE 3

She started to say. "There is no secret ingredient in the fertilizer I use, no trickery, no special feed. It's just good gardening skills, that is all."
He could see that she was becoming annoyed, and in truth, Martha was annoyed with all the constant hounding, about so-called secrets and special fertilizers. It was enough to drive a person to distraction.
He was so pre-occupied with the growth of her garden, that she could see it started to show in the lack luster performance in his work on the neighborhood yards. Why they didn't complain was beyond her. His voice brought her out back to the current affair at hand.
"Just want the hell are you trying to say, MS.Grim?", Cole said, over-emphasizing the "Ms." part of her title. "Are you saying that you're a better better gardener than I am?" he spat. "Is that it?"
Before she could answer, he slapped his palm on the roof of her car, and continued, "Or are you just too stuck up to share what you got with us 'poor working class' types? What is it lady. You think you're too damn good for us?"
His quick anger caught her off guard, "Mr.Cole, I never said anything of the sort. All I was saying was..."
"All you said was that you thing your too good for us out here trying to make a decent living, while you sit there in that castle of yours not worrying about a goddamn thing! All I ask is a little favor and I get insults from some snooty tight ass bitch!"
She could tell he was getting angrier by the minute. Clearly this had been planned, and nothing she could say was going to soothe this savage, "Why don't we just terminate this conversation right now, Mr.Cole, so that we can both get on with what we were doing. Or about to do." She said, coolly.
"I'm not done with you, bitch!" Willie said between clenched teeth.
"Flattery, will get you nowhere, Mr.Cole. Now move your truck, or I will start a scene so disturbing, that it just might cost you your entire clientele on this street."
She meet his gaze directly.
Willie could tell she was serious just by the way she was looking at him.
He leaned back off the car, just a bit, then said, "OK lady, you win for now, but this ain't over. Not by a long shot. One or another you're gonna tell me what I want to know. Or I might just decide to find out on my own." His smile grew razor flat.
"You might not like what you find, Mr.Cole." She said, as the window returned to its raised position.
Willie got back in his truck and backed up, leaving just enough room for her to pull that old Lincoln out of the driveway. The huge wrought iron gates, closing after it. He watched as she drove out of sight, then turned to see the gates lock tight, closing off the driveway to the Grim house. "I'll get in there." he said to himself out loud,"and I'll get that secret. Even if it means that something unfortunate has to happen to that bitch, I'll get that secret. No matter what it takes."
Putting his truck in gear, he floored the accelerator, squealing the tires as he sped off down the street and onto the main highway.
He would be back.
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To Be Continued....