The Garden Club by James Gerard (bill gates best books .TXT) 📕

Hal looked to the back of the observation post.  “Where’s the key,” he whispered seeing the vacant hook. 

“Javier?” he yelled into the radio.

“Go ahead.”

“Did you take the key to my tool shed?”

“Your tool shed?”

“Yes Javier; my tool shed.”

“How could a bunch of banana stealing thieves like us be entrusted with such valuable equipment?”

Javier’s apparent anger was heard.  Its presence was certainly based on having to stand before the Governor and answering to the charges.   As far as Hal was concerned, the point was mute.  Getting into the shed took priority over the bruised ego.

“Do you have the key or not?”

“Nope.”

“Just wait,” Hal commanded.  “Ron, are you still with me?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you have the key to our shed?”

“I had, but lost it.”

“Sorry Javier, it seems we lost the key.  Can you do me a favor and send one of your men over to the shed and cut the lock off?”

“You’re asking me for a favor after I got chewed out by the Governor?”

“Look Javier,” reasoned Hal, “you guys have done it in the past.  Just take responsibility and suck it up.”

“I swear Hal, I don’t know who did it but I’m telling you none of us did.”

“Then how did the bananas get there?”

“I don’t know.”

“Please just send someone over there to cut the lock off.”

“I don’t have anyone to spare right now; maybe next week.”

“Damn it Javier!  The Governor is coming.  You want to have to explain yourself again?”

Hal did not want to mention the Governor, but in order to overcome Javier’s apparent need for vengeance he felt it necessary to manipulate the circumstances and force the issue.  Their relationship was strained at best.  He had always appreciated Javier and his crew for attending to the problems and potential problems in the domed structure and its infrastructure.  Over the years, as the park fell victim to the many mandates of the Governor and the public’s declining interest as a result of craftily plotted plans fully seeded by corporate propaganda made it a need to closely work together and coordinate efforts.  But that all fell by the wayside once fresh fruit started to turn up missing.

Eventually, as time passed, they had come to an unspoken agreement and just stayed out of each other’s business.  Javier’s crew performed their job without any supervision or prompting from either Ron or himself, and he and Ron did their work without any interference from them.  But they needed access to the forgotten shed. There was no money in the budget to go out and purchase new tools.  Javier, knowing the same, had no choice but to abide and acted accordingly.

Hal sat back down with pleasurable thoughts of opening up the dormant paths.  Now, he thought, the Governor and the corporate wolves would be treated with a spectacular view of the park in all its glory.  They each would witness the precious jewel that it is.  He smiled and whispered, “Maybe, just maybe the park will have a future after all.”

After furiously debating Ron over what path would be subjected to clearing, Hal called it a night just to escape the lunacy of his friend’s devious scheme.

At home, he sat on the couch in the dark contemplating the motivations behind Ron’s selected segments, especially the ones that would lead the corporate heads to areas overrun with snakes and other reptiles.

If he did not know any better, Hal could have sworn Ron had deliberately chosen the paths as a means of vengeance for those that sought the park’s death.  But in truth, as demented as the plan seemed, it was envisioned by his friend not to cause harm but to show off the underbelly of the park and all its glory.  And as far as he was concerned, whatever was to be seen had been finely cultivated by the hands of his friend.  The more Hal thought about the points of the debate, Ron’s ideas started to make perfect sense. 

Ron’s ideas became clearer as Hal could not deny his once fervent passions for the park had diminished over the years.  He realized he had become content in passively passing away the time idly on the days he actually reported for work.  Ron, however, was there around the clock seven days a week.  Although at times he suspected Ron of performing certain illegal activities, the subject was never approached for fear that it would be viewed as a frontal assault by an unsuspected foe on his friend’s unwavering passion.

A finger tapping the lamp’s sensor flooded the partitioned room with light.  Hal reached out and picked the hard copies of the park’s schematics off the desk and eyed the segments of routes Ron had chosen.   Examining the red line penciled in by Ron, Hal saw that most of the linked segments ran around the lake and crisscrossed underneath the elevated pathways.

Within seconds, Hal ceded much of the plan he had devised that offered a view mostly from the top looking down.  He then went on and yielded to just about all of the paths marked out by Ron.  With just one essential correction in mind, Hal took an unmarked schematic and searched for a way to expand a segment of the upper trail in hopes that it would be seen as a compromise Ron could live with. 

Hal knew he had to be careful with his selection.  He was well aware that Ron had devised segments of routes that offered a view from the bottom looking up.  Somewhere in the verbal haggling, Ron had also included a path that ascended to one of the highest vantage points of the park, yet it was a dead end.  If allowed, there would be a forced u-turn.  That would be the only way out.  Now Hal, having to look for a section from the top looking down, wanted to replace the u-turn segment with one that would continue forward.

Eyes once again scanned Ron’s schematic and searched for a connecting point between the dead end and back down to one of his selected lower trails.  The path in mind was seen in a segment representing a maintenance ramp.  Access to the ramp was designed for maintenance and repair vehicles.  Its pathway had been blocked off once the hands-off policy went into effect.  Hal figured it could be just wide and sturdy enough to support the weight of any sort of luxury vehicle the Governor had in mind for the tour.

Hal became lost in time as the revised route was penciled in, highlighted, and every detail transferred to a schematic on the park’s administrative website.  Carefully reviewing each and every line of the map for accuracy, eyes scrutinized any potential trap that could be lying in wait.  He considered the worst of such a threat involved an actual face to face confrontation with any animal, bird, or reptile that was deemed too dangerous and violent by those that simply judged them as contemptible creatures not worthy of any type of life.  At those locations, he aptly tapped in asterisks and accompanying notes as a reminder to himself and as cautions for the Governor and assembly of corporate heads.

Satisfied with the path, all possible dangers accounted for, the route was transferred over to the Governor’s personal website to be reviewed, approved, and hard copies dispatched to those that would be in attendance.

All of a sudden the initial excitement of opening up some of the park’s clogged arteries came rushing back in.  The fatigue that had been crying out for sleep had long been relieved not by producing a final copy of the planned route, but by the growing anticipation in clearing the way for the tour.        

Hal looked down at the digital readout at the bottom of the laptop’s screen.  The time read four in the morning.  It was yet early, but the unbridled energy coursing through the thoughts could not be contained.  He raced to the car and sped away towards the park.

The usual traffic jam caused by an overwhelming presence of cars and buses was nowhere in sight.  The sidewalks that were usually filled with pedestrians bustling and rushing off to work were eerily empty.

Hal could barely perceive the park sitting in near darkness as he sped down the highway.  Its bubbled dome loomed in the distant as seen by its silhouette rising up into the starlit sky.  The exact position was revealed by light from the lamp of an occasional maintenance worker scampering atop the shell examining its integrity and inspecting the sprinkler system.

The car skidded to a stop.  Hal hopped out and marched straight to a maintenance cart that had been parked nearby the day before.  Nothing shrieked in terror as the cart plowed through the large, double doors and immediately raced onto a service ramp.  It came barreling around a corner to the walkway skirting the lake and halted directly at the foot of the steps leading to the observation nest.

The previous week’s excitement over surveying the overgrown walkways that long ago trailed up from the river all the way to the emerging layer of the park dimmed in comparison to the energized hope that now occupied the mind.  The mere thought of just bringing the final plan to fruition led to a sprint up the stairs.

“Ron,” Hal called out on the radio, “are you out and about yet?”

“Yeah,” a somber tone replied.

“Give me a few minutes to send off a communiqué to the Governor about what we are doing then meet me at the tool shed.”

“That’s where I’m at.”

“Good.  Stay right there.”

Hal typed out details of their plans to clear the path.  He was also careful to note that they were about to begin just then promptly sent the message to the Governor just to make sure permission for the clearing had indeed been authorized by him and not his aide.  Hal just did not trust the aide for fear that his allegiance was secretly bought off by any one of the corporate entities.

Hal took the steps by leaps and bounds as adrenalin brought in an energy and agility not experienced since childhood.  The cart sped down the path.

Up ahead, revealed by the light of the stars, Ron leaned against the tool shed.

Hal pulled out a neatly folded piece of paper from a pocket and handed it to his friend.  “Here’s the final plan.”

Ron pulled out a flashlight and looked over the details.

Hal observed him closely to detect the slightest clue of annoyance in rolling eyes or grimacing expressions, but none could be seen.

“Where do you want to start?” asked Ron.

“The routes at the bottom, but we’ll need as many floodlights as we can get a hold of.  I’ll see if any of Javier’s men will bring them over for us.”

Hal reached into the cart for the radio but Ron grabbed his wrist, “We don’t need floodlights.”

“But….”

“Trust me.  We don’t need floodlights.”

Ron stepped in the cart and sat behind the steering wheel.  Hal, feeling mystified, momentarily glared at him wondering what was going on, but then walked around to the passenger seat so to satisfy the curiosity.

The cart slowly rolled over the dirt path with the headlights the only means of light to pierce the darkness ahead.  Hal had no clue as to what Ron had in mind, but as he was led along hidden surprises were made known as the cart turned to the left and stopped.

A barely visible wry smile was seen in