jennifer loved her garden more than anything in the world.
it was her whole life, especially after her father, general morrison, died, and jennifer did not have much else to do except work in the garden.
jennifer was the general’s only child, and he had no other close relatives. jennifer had been the general’s devoted slave all her life, and she inherited all his money, and he had a lot of money.
people in town wondered if jennifer, old as she was, would marry someone but she showed no interest in anything but her garden, although she did make an occasional showing at the mayor’s ball and the fireman’s ball and other such events.
there were two big houses on the hill. jennifer lived in one of them with her dog and three servants. the higginsons had lived in the other big house on the hill since the town had been founded.
but when old judge higginson died, his daughter, who had been living in the big city for years, packed old mrs higginson off to a nursing home, and sold the big house.
the house was sold to a young couple of outsiders who had made their money god knows how in the crazy modern world that good christian folk do not even want to know about.
their name was davidson - aaron and fleur davidson - and they had a little boy named jonah, and he was the nastiest little boy in the world.
one day, about a week after the davidsons moved into the old higginson place, little jonah walked across the road separating the two estates.
it was a nice early summer day, and jennifer was busy in her garden as usual.
jonah walked right up to the garden and stared in his nasty way at jennifer as she knelt in the dirt.
“good morning, little fellow,” jennifer addressed jonah cheerily.
“what are doing?” jonah asked.
“why, i am turning the dirt over and getting ready to plant some flowers. i thought i would plant some
marigolds, or maybe some periwinkles. which do you like better, marigolds or periwinkles?”
“i don’t like any stupid flowers. flowers are stupid.”
“oh my, that is not a very positive attitude for a little boy. look at those crocuses over there, that i planted in the winter. aren’t they pretty? didn’t they come out nicely?”
“no, they are stupid. and you are stupid, you old bag. why are you taking up space on the planet, you old hag?”
jennifer chose not to hear that. “why do you think my crocuses came out so nicely. hmmm?”
“i know why your stupid flowers came up so nicely. do you want me to tell you why your flowers came up so nicely?”
“yes, indeed, i would be curious to know your views on the subject.”
“it’s because you have some bodies buried under there! ha, ha, ha!” and with that joshua ran off, leaving jennifer with her upturned dirt and her marigold seeds.
that night joshua told his mother about his suspicions of the old lady across the road.
when his mother laughed at him, joshua grew angry and demanded that she notify the police of his suspicions. if she did not, he announced, he would go to the police station and report his suspicions himself - and maybe tell the police that she, his mother, might also be involved in the burial of the bodies.
“all right, jonah,” his mother sighed. “i will call the sheriff and report your suspicions.”
and she did.
sheriff pete brady was not inclined to take the information too seriously, but with his deputy, lester landry, it was another story.
the first words out of lester’s mouth, when the sheriff smilingly relayed the phone call, were “betty brown!”
betty brown had been the prettiest girl in town, and had disappeared many years ago. everybody in town, except lester landry, assumed she had run off to hollywood or broadway or joined the circus, but lester was convinced she had met with foul play.
lester badgered sheriff pete on the subject, and just to shut him up, the sheriff agreed to get an order to dig up jennifer’s garden.
jennifer fought back. she hired frank cartwright, the town’s preeminent lawyer, to fight the order obtained by the sheriff.
the case entered the courts and dragged on for decades.
jennifer grew too old to tend to her garden herself, and could only sit in a wicker chair and supervise the hired man as he worked in it under her supervision.
jonah went to law school, and when he came home he was elected to the town council and then became the youngest mayor in the town’s history. he and lester landry continued to fight to have jennifer’s garden dug up, and frank cartwright continued to battle back.
the case was featured in a national television show about mysterious and unsolved crimes, and began attracting curious visitors to the town.
finally the state supreme court ruled in jonah and lester’s favor. when the united states supreme oourt declined to hear frank cartwright’s final appeal, a date was set to dig up the garden.
a lot of reporters and a few television stations turned up for the event, on a cold drizzly morning.
the garden was dug up. betty brown’s body was not found, nor were any other bodies.
but something else was found. a hidden passageway to the headquarters of the grunks, an underground race who had been secretly ruling the earth for tens of thousands of years.
with the discovery of the grunks, nothing was ever the same again. humans now understood that everything they had ever believed was untrue.
the grunks declared all the governments of earth null and void, and now ruled openly, through an appointed human satrap.
jonah davidson was appointed satrap, and became the day to day ruler of all the humans on earth. the town became the center of all human activity, and grew into a huge metropolis of over a hundred million people.
jennifer was heartbroken over the loss of her garden, and did not care much for the great new city that had sprung up all around her old family home.
she passed away peacefully soon afterwards, and jonah had a marker placed on her grave.
it read: here lies old lady morrision, an old hag who took up too much space on the planet.
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