Dabble 18: Peaceful Chat

“Oh wow, you're up early Mr. Zeno,” Nimoh said, joining one of his employer's brothers in the greenhouse.

“Yes,” the brown phox smiled “I was told you had some new seeds for the garden, I was hoping to catch you here.”

“It's great to hear that one of you loves gardening as much as I do,” said the Newfoundland dog, his tail swaying back and forth.

Nimoh stood in front of the table next to the muscular, 4-tailed phox. Zeno leaned one arm against the table as he looked down, watching Nimoh put his bag on the table and began to take out Zip Lock Bags full of seeds he collected. Each bag was labeled with the name of the plant they'd grow to be: ranging from Night Shade, Marigold, Waterlilies, and roses.

“What are these?” Zeno asked, pointing to the bag titled Fire Drops.

“Oh, you noticed?” Nimoh picked up the bag. “Unfortunately, I didn't have a camera with me so I can't show you what it'll look like. If I remember correctly, it'll grow to be a tall flower. It'll be shaped similarly to a rose and have thorns but blossom like a cherry flower. In addition, it'll leak red droplets along the thorns, and each thorn has a seed that grows from the sapling of the main blossom. So eventually, it'll be like one large bouquet of the same flower, ultimately tied to one main root. It got the name Fire Drop because when the main bud blooms, it lets out red sapling from inside and is not to be touched.”

Zeno listened with rapt attention, his tails swaying slowly the more he heard about this flower. “I've never heard of this type of flower before,” Zeno said, wide-eyed with curiosity and admiration. “Where did you get it from?”

“I brought it from a man in Tibet who said it came from the high lands of Singapore. He said it was rare but ultimately, he doesn't know how to regrow it. This flower has special properties but requires a lot of work when just starting to sustain it. He told me someone touched it and it burned their finger for at least 2 hrs. Milk didn't help either and it settled down over time.”

“Wow, so why did you buy it?” He asked

“Because it'll look beautiful, and I enjoy discovering the properties of different flowers I come across. I made sure to get plenty of the seeds he was selling so I'll know how to sustain it before going through the entire bag.”

“Are you going to work on that now?”

“No, not yet,” Nimoh said, clearing the table. “Time for my routine check. I need to make sure all my other babies are taken care of,” he said proudly.

Zeno let out a hearty laugh at Nimoh's choice of words and pat him on the back. “Babies?”

“Well yeah,” Nimoh said, putting on his gloves and hat. “Every plant and flower here that I nurtured is my baby. Now I gotta feed them.”

“Well, I don't know about calling them your baby, but may I join you this morning?”

“A-are you sure?” Nimoh asked. “Zen is paying me to do what I love; I wouldn't feel right to burden you with this.”

“Nonsense,” Zeno said, finding some other gloves to put on. “Tell me where to start.”

Zeno found some and got to his feet again. Nimoh tried to warn him, but Zeno had already slammed his head into a flowerpot above him. Dirt poured across his face and the pink Lilly flower rested on his head. Zeno flicked his ears agitatedly and sneezed the dirt off his nose.

“Wanna start with that?” Nimoh asked with a snicker.