Fruit of the Poisoned Tree

but it’s a hard life for a woman alone. Ask Sofia. She had an aunt who tried to live alone. Three years she was without a man. The first salesman who stopped at her door married her. She was desperate. Now she’s happy.”

Before she was married off to Sofia’s brother or his son, Peggy got to the point. “What did Sam do this time?”

“He got dirt on the stones in the courtyard when he was working with the big flower pots. He came back after a while, when he felt like it, and cleaned up, but three customers noticed the mess. Then he sent people to that new bakery up the street. It’s not bad enough I have to compete with Dilworth Coffee House, now I have to worry about my pastry being better than theirs.”

“I’m sure he had a good reason, Emil. I’ve known Sam for years and so have you. He’s a hard worker, and I trust him. I’ll have a talk with him and let you know what happened.”

“Oh! You’ll have a talk with him.” Emil shrugged and shook his head. “I’m sure that will take care of the problem. Especially since what he really needs is a boot in his rear. If you had a husband, like Sofia’s brother, Angelo, he’d know what I’m talking about.” He continued ranting in Sicilian as he walked back toward his shop.

Peggy thanked him, not sure what else to say, then hurried into the Potting Shed to get away from his tirade. With her back against the door, she looked up to find Sam and her shop assistant, Selena Rogers, who’d come in for the afternoon, staring at her.

“What happened?” Selena asked. “You look like someone chased you in here.”

Peggy took off her heavy purple jacket, unwound the red scarf from her neck. “Mr. Balducci wants me to hire his nephew to run the shop.”

“Does he want you to marry his brother-in-law again?” Sam laughed, his even, white teeth gleaming against his darkly tanned face.

“Of course. I’m sure one day I’ll have to meet him.” Peggy picked up the mail and looked through it, tossing away some ads for life insurance. “How are you, Selena? How did it go while I was gone? Any strange requests?”

Selena shrugged her thin shoulders, her blond hair sliding against her neck. “It was about like February. It’s cold outside. It’s hard for most people to think about planting yet. But there was this one guy. He wanted to plant a whole yard full of stuff right now.”

“Oh yeah.” Sam zipped up his jacket. “I forgot to tell you about him. Mr. Crawford. He offered me a thousand dollar bonus if I could get enough plants in his yard to make his wife think they were there already when the house was built. I think it’s one of those treeless wonders from over in Pineville.”

Peggy stopped opening her garden catalogues. “What did you say to him?”

“It was hard, but we both said no.” Selena looked at Sam. “First of all, none of those plants would survive right now. How happy would he be after his wife pulled up into a yard filled with dead plants? It was a crazy, desperate idea.”

Sam shook his head. “I offered to plant anything that might live, but none of it would have tons of flowers and green leaves. Apparently Mr. Crawford told his wife, who was still out of state, that everything blooms here all the time and their yard was filled with flowers and trees.”

“If there had been any way at all,” Selena finished, “we would’ve shared that money. It would’ve made the Potting Shed’s bottom line skyrocket for the month, too.”

“It’s just as well you didn’t do it.” Peggy put down the mail and picked up the phone. “It would’ve ended in disaster. And we all know he would’ve blamed us. So I guess we’ll have to do something the old-fashioned way to remind our normal customers spring is closer than they think. Pull up the customer list on the computer, Selena. Let’s come up with a sales flyer to send to everyone. By the way, I love your hair.”

The younger woman smiled and fingered her new, shorter cut. “I was mostly trying to get that awful blue color out I put in over the summer when I went to that pool party. I’m thinking about going darker. Dark hair is really popular right now. What do you think?”

“I already told you what I think,” Sam responded as he picked up a hundred pound bag of bulbs from the floor like it was a child’s toy. “You don’t have the coloring to go dark. Unless you’re going to dye your lashes and brows. You’d just look spooky.”

“Okay, Thor. Thanks.” Selena turned to Peggy. “I meant what do you think?”

“I agree with Thor, I mean, Sam,” Peggy replied with a laugh. “Sorry, honey. Let me make this phone call, and we’ll talk.” She dialed the number of one of their local distributors and ordered two fifty pound bags of Jerusalem artichokes.

Selena and Sam were still bickering about Selena’s hair color when Peggy got off the phone. She ignored it. The two were good-natured, even when they disagreed. “Thanks for taking over for me, Selena. I feel like I haven’t been home in a month. And I promised Steve I’d get Shakespeare from him before dinnertime.”

“Not a problem, Peggy,” Selena added. “But what do you really think about me going dark? I think I’d look good.”

Peggy glanced at her. “There’s only one way to find out. Do it. You can always change it back. It’s only hair, after all.”

“Thanks, Peggy.” Selena smiled at Sam smugly. “At least someone has a brain around here!”

“Sam, can you drive me home?” Peggy asked him after they’d gone through a moment of glaring at each other.

“Sure.” He shook his head. “Are you still working on changing the engine in your Rolls so it burns hydrogen? If not, maybe you should just get a hybrid car. It’s not doing much good for the environment if you ride your bike to work then use our old truck to drive all over the city after you get here.”

“I know that.” Peggy shot him an irritated glance. “I’m working on it. Selena, please get that list together for me. This place is like a tomb. We have to get some of our shoppers interested in warm spring days and beautiful green plants. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

They went through the back door to the loading area behind the shop, and Sam asked, “And what are we going to do with all the Jerusalem artichokes? I already got four fifty pound bags in yesterday, and now you ordered more. Any ideas? Are we planting them in Founder’s Hall?”

“They’re very nice plants and a good way for patio growers to have sunflowers. They’re also good to eat and good for you. And they aren’t really Jerusalem artichokes, you know. They’re calling them sunchokes right now. That’s much nicer, isn’t it?”

Sam started the truck. “I suppose. But that’s still a lot of them. Do you have some plan you aren’t sharing? Are you giving them away when a customer buys a real plant?”

“Don’t be prejudiced,” she scolded, buckling her seat belt. “The sunchokes will do very well. You’ll see. People are always looking for something different. As long as we give it to them, they won’t have to look anywhere else.”

“You’re the boss.” He backed the truck out of the parking lot. “I just don’t want to be eating them for the next year. I remember the first year the Potting Shed was open, and you ordered too many tulips. I got tulips for bonuses, my birthday, and Christmas.”

“You worry too much.” She smiled at him and patted his arm. “This is different.”

They drove through thick evening traffic from the Potting Shed to Peggy’s home on Queens Road in the heart of the city. As usual, there was never a break in conversation between them as they discussed Sam’s notes about the shop.

Peggy noticed a problem with her Great Dane, Shakespeare, as soon as she got out of the truck. He had a crazed look in his eyes as he waited in the drive and almost knocked her down when he saw her. “What did you do to him?” she asked Steve as she absorbed the impact of the dog’s body slamming into hers.

“He’s the same unruly mutt you left behind.” Steve kissed her and nuzzled her neck as he handed her the leash. “You smell great! I missed you. But as your veterinarian, I’d recommend obedience classes. Just because he’s friendly and lovable doesn’t mean he won’t pull you down the street while you’re holding his leash.”

A thin layer of ice from that morning still varnished the sidewalk in her yard where the trees kept the sun from reaching the concrete. Peggy wasn’t paying attention as she took the dog toward the house. Shakespeare saw a squirrel and pulled hard to the right as he investigated. Fully recovered from his abuse at the hands of his previous