You must be this old to enter the Dungeon

31) The Garden center of good and evil

I explained to Johanson my need for a side trip to Reddsmart.

He seemed a little surprised.

“Did you need to pick up more food Sir?”

I shook my head from the back seat. “No, no. I’m good for a while. But… My land is getting overgrown by absorbing the magic coming out of the dungeon rather than letting it twist things up. It’s making the plants grow like crazy. So I figure I should make that work for me.”

My driver’s partner reached over to nudge Johanson’s shoulder. “Sensu beans man, he’s going to grow some sensu beans.”

...I never heard of those. Sounds like some overseas variety.

...do they even sell beans, like baked beans type of beans, not green beans, that you can grow on your own? I don't think I've ever seen them in the stores…

Johanson made eye contact with me in the rearview mirror. "Are you planning on growing beans and other stuff Sir? Will they be… "Special' if they grow on your land?"

I opened my mouth to start to ask him what kind of dumb question that was, but… would they be?

"I wasn't even thinking about that, so, maybe? I mainly just thought I should take advantage of the fast growing thing that's going on, but… well. The one guy is putting some kind of magic Essence in the food he makes that does something. If whatever coming out of my land to make stuff grow is Life Essence. Anything that grows out of it might very well be ‘Special.’”

He slowly nodded as he pulled into the Redsmart lot. “Take Mr. Bright in, I’m going to call the Captain.”

The first issue was the barking and whining from the big jeep as I tried to leave the fur brigade behind. What was probably visions of ripped up upholstery and coyote poop made the driver give me a pleading look.

“Fine” I opened the door to unleash the beasts.

"You're going to have to get them past the door. Should be easy, you got a gun."

He also got a cart from the corral and caught up with me. “There’s another entrance right into the garden area Sir. I doubt anyone who works here is paid enough to care if we come in that way with what we should both agree in advance are emotional support animals.”

I snorted at him. A few years back a greeter had bent my ear off about how great it was working here while I was inside the store taking shelter from some rain that had come out of nowhere while I waited for my bus. People here started at whatever minimum wage from back when it started was worth now in modern dollars.

Which now was probably something like eighteen bucks an hour. Hell, I could live on that. Better than I was now.

But he was right, no one stopped us as we rolled the cart past the open metal fence gate into the garden area.

The entire one side of the store was fenced off with some overhead roofing over about a quarter of the area. While a lot of the place was big planters and wood tubs for ornamental plants, there were also racks of plastic trays with dozens of sprouts per tray, as well as a few cardboard display racks of seed packets and baggies with bulbs.

Looking around, eyeballing the plants… knowing what they were without ever even having heard of them before, knowing what each thing was good for… It got a little overwhelming.

A whole lot of the stuff all around me was edible, not easily, there was a whole lot of fiber in everything, but most of it, to my surprise, could be eaten.

By me, somehow I also knew the coyotes would get even less out of it them I would.

A few things around the entrance balled as ornamental landscaping plants there sort of called out to me...

Sunchokes with edible roots, Rose Hips that grew berries, Swiss card that could be eaten like spinach, Nasturtium flowers whose leaves and petals could be used as food, and dozens more.

All I wanted was some carrots and things like that. Some old potatoes I could cut up into chunks maybe. Not all this… weird stuff.

The soldier reached out to me in concern as I groaned and rubbed at my forehead, a few furry heads bumped into my legs as well.

“Are you all right Sir? Is the sun getting to you? Stan told me to watch out for that.”

I shook my head. “All of this… the plants. Their all known to me. What I can eat, how it could affect my health. What would kill the coyotes or make them sick. Where would be the best place to plant them. I need to get out of here for a few…”

Leaving the cart behind, the soldier took both of my shoulders in my hands and let me out of the garden center while calling at someone for some water, then took me over to a cement car stopper thing and helped me sit down.

A young girl in a red apron with the name Sally embroidered on it in a light green that matched her eyes opened up a bottle of overpriced water and pressed it into my hands. “Is he going to be alright, should we call an ambulance?”

Chubby pushed past her to sniff at my bottle, I poured a little of it out into my hand for him. The other two were probably thirsty as well.

“I think he is going to be okay. It’s just that he has a class that lets him magically know stuff about plants, and I think it’s the first time he used it on a whole mess of different ones all at the same time. It knocked him for a loop.”

The girl gave me an amazed look, then glanced at the coyotes. “Is… is he a Druid?”

The soldier laughed. "Naw. He's a Kami, a land god. We're here so he can grow magic produce on his land. Hey Stan, what did the captain say."

Johanson’s green cargo pants covered legs appeared in my line of sight as he began to speak to his friend in a stern voice. “Does the term Operational Security mean anything to you?"

The girl stood up and began to back off as Johanson turned to her, “Miss? Could you please keep this to yourself, we don’t need anyone showing up at Mr Remick’s house looking to dig up his yard to steal something.”

She began to reassure him that she wouldn’t as I began to stand up. “Let them come, the attack petunias will take care of them.”

The girl's eyes went wide before Johanson's friend snorted, then she went red in the face and looked a little pissed off.

I stared at her. "What it like for you. Someone seeing all this on TV, or the internet. Not directly involved, but knowing it could end up… coming at you.”

Her face went blank, then she straightened up. “My grandfather is talking about going in, some friends of his already had, and he feels guilty that he isn’t stepping up. For his son, his other children, me, my brother, my cousins.”

She teared up a little. “He’s going to do it. He’ll just take off one day without a word so we can’t talk him out of it, and he’ll die. He’s too old.”

I wanted to tell her it would be his choice, his risk, and a better death than waiting until his body gave up…

But that isn’t what she needed to hear right now, was it.

“...There is a plan. Me and some others. We will take care of the places around here before they get worse. We will keep ahead of it, so people like your grandfather won’t have to go. Others… others have to be doing the same everywhere else.”

I lifted my hand, not quite reaching out to her. "Every day, other people. People younger than me, are turning seventy five, and getting a class. Tens of thousands of them all over the world. As long as some people like me keep up with this, we will get more people able to help. Younger, healthier people. Tell your grandfather that. That it’s not all his burden.”

The hug surprised me, then she ran off.

The two soldiers stood to either side of me for a moment, I could feel their looks until the friend spoke up. "God dam man. Where did that come from?”

Johanson nodded. “You sure about all that?”

I sighed. “I sure as hell hope so. Because I’m going to try to do it anyways.”

“I got a granddaughter too."