Squash showdown

The silver sedan slowed down just north of the driveway. I was taking a lawn rake back to the garden trailer. The car pulled in.

"Must be turning around," I thought, not recognizing the vehicle.

The car pulled all the way into the driveway. I propped my rake against the fence. A young boy got out of the passenger side and started walking toward me. I figured they must have already gotten started on the school fundraising activities and wondered what the young man had to sell.

A middle-aged man with a beard and baseball cap slowly emerged from the car. He was carrying a plastic bag, and using both hands to hold it up.

"What kind of fundraising product comes in a plastic grocery bag?" I thought, as they cautiously walked toward me.

"You got something to sell?" I asked as we stared each other down, much like the old gunfighters in Matt Dillon's Dodge City.

The man looked down a bit sheepishly, raised his bag as an offering and began to speak.

"Well, we grew a lot of zucchinis this year, and we're trying to get rid of some," he explained while coming nearer with his young friend at the holster side. The kid with curly dark hair and big brown eyes just looked me square in the eye, while the soft-spoken older hombre continued his pitch.

"You can take 'em all and you can give some away if you want, or you can take what you want." He raised the bag some more, hopefully, directing it to my hands.

"Ya know, I haven't been able to get a zucchini to grow here this summer," I blurted while accepting the offering. "I'll take 'em all, but there's a catch. Ya gotta take a few crook-necks off my hands. Ya want some crook-necks!

"Well, sure, if you've got 'em," he said, appearing relieved not to have to stop at one more neighbor's house to free himself of zucchini overload. Turns out the man and his sidekick had driven from the other end of South Center Valley Road.

"We're in the blue home that's trying to turn yellow," he said. That revelation explained the paint spatters on his hands. Must've taken time out with the brush to go pick those zucchinis. And, someone inside the blue house turning yellow had probably told him to go peddle some squash. Well, Mel and his grandson Landon found a willing customer. In addition, they found all the crook-necks a family would ever want to eat beneath the big crook-neck jungle out in our north garden.

Mel also got to know the neighbors, and the neighbors got to know Mel and Landon. Mel and his wife moved here last fall to be with his daughter whose husband travels a lot for work. Mel grew up in Arkansas and lived a long time in Arizona where his wife was reared.

Landon's an 8-year-old home-schooled kid who announced to me that Miss Lily was his favorite horse on South Center Valley Road. Not a bad kid, if you ask me. Where was he Saturday morning at the horse show? He coulda set that judge straight.

Dusk turned to darkness as we compared notes on how we'd landed in the neighborhood. Landon eventually got Kiwi to trust him long enough for a good nose petting. Mel said if we ever needed to go somewhere, he'd be quite happy to help us out, taking care of our animals. He's had horses off and on throughout his life and hopes to get one for Landon, who seems pretty interested in having one of his own.

Mel made a good zucchini run. We got rid of some crook-necks and met a nice neighbor man, who's got lots of time, some gardening knowledge and a strong desire to enjoy the old-fashioned aspects of living in the country.

Now, I've got zucchinis. Rose Marie, would ya take a zucchini in that plastic vegetable bag when you come picking tonight?