The Yard

Flash Fiction

The Yard

“Look at that place!” Jeremy said, looking at a house on Elm Street they were passing.

“Pretty big,” Frank said.

“More than that, look at the size of the yard and all the extra stuff.”

“Extra stuff?”

“The gardens, table and chairs, the benches. Look even statues in the gardens. It’s like they live outside instead of in the house. Who lives here?”

“I don’t know…”

“It’s on your street, how can you not know who lives here?”

“I’m only nine. If they had a kid in school, then I’d know.”

“Huh, I know everybody on my whole street.”

“Why?”

“They’re our neighbors. We have parties at their houses, and have them at our house. We give each other Christmas presents. Neighbors.”

“Huh, I know the people next door to us. Jake and Andrea. Sometimes Andrea babysits me. We never had a party with them…”

“Well, I guess your street is different. Maybe you could get to know your neighbors, well, if you wanted…”

“I’d love to meet these people; their yard is so cool!”

“Well, your yard is big, why don’t you make your own yard cool?”

“Ooh I like that idea! Will you help me?”

“Sure…”

Over the next two years the boys, and eventually Jeremy’s parents worked on the yard. It came out so well that it upped the value of the property. They sold it and moved to another house, one on Elm Street, actually the same one Jeremy loved when he saw it the first time.

Jeremy spent eons working on the yard and gardens, and in his twenties, he started his own garden business. Being so young, he was quickly pulled into a TV show about gardens. He started his own Garden Show four years later.

Frank got a job driving a trash truck.