"Time to go back to work. girls. Take your dirty dishes to the sink. Mindy. vou and Gia remain behind and wash them today. Tonight. Robin. Teal. and Phoebe will do the dinner dishes and silverware. Make sure the table is clean before vou return to your farm chores.
"You three will return to the garden now and work until Natani says it's time to go to clean out the pigpen."
Mindy smiled at Teal, who glared back at her. "Get up now!" M'Lady Two commanded.
We did so and Gia and Mindy began to clear the table.
"It's proper to thank each other for the food." M'Lady Two declared. "Do so."
Everyone mumbled a thank-you to everyone else.
And don't forget to add. 'God bless Dr. Foreman,"' we were told.
We did so. Then we were marched out to put on our shoes and return to the garden.
Natani wheeled over the tomato plants, handling them as if they were babies.
Teal mumbled just that and he stopped and looked at her. "They are babies." he said. "Everything is born, begins, matures, and grows old in the world. I'm sure you have heard, 'As ye sow, so shall ye reap.' have you not?"
"I have." Robin said. "My grandparents practically told that to my mother every day, and my grandfather told my grandmother the same thing every time my mother did something he didn't like, which was about always."
"Well. I haven't," Teal said. "I haven't heard anything that has to do with plants."
"Oh, it has more to do with people," Natani said. Teal smirked at him.
"I know you are not happy," he said. "But you must remember that life's sorrows often bring great joys."
"Here?" I said "What joys could we possibly find here?"
Natani looked out toward the sprawling desert. "Many years ago the Great Spirit made the sky and the earth and he put the animals on the earth. One day he decided to move the vulture bird to the desert to live. The vulture took one look about and said. 'What a forsaken, miserable place is this. It is hot and dry and full of poisonous creatures. What joy could I possibly find here? Why did the Great Spirit move me here?' And then he saw a dead desert rat and swooped down to gobble it up. After that he saw a coyote that had died when it had disturbed a rattlesnake, and he feasted on that. Then, he smiled as well as vultures could smile. He was full of joy because what better place is there for a vulture than the desert?"
"I'll remember that next time I came upon a dead desert rat," Teal muttered.
"Yes," Natani said. "I'm sure you will."
He began to show us how to plant the tomato plants and we worked at it until all were in the ground.
"When you eat your first tomato from the plant you have put in the ground, you will understand what joy is here," Natani declared. "Now we go to clean the pigpen."
"What difference does it make to a pig if his pen is clean or not?" Teal asked,
"Maybe nothing to the pig, but much to us." he said. "First, we will use what they drop as fertilizer. Second, we will keep them clean so they don't get diseases and smell bad."
"I can't believe I'm doing this," Teal moaned. "We had maids. I never cleaned my room. I never ironed or washed clothes in my life, and now I'm cleaning a pigpen." She looked around. "How far is the nearest city?"
"A lifetime." Natani replied.
"What's that mean?"
"It probably means if you ran off in any direction, you'd die," I said. "Is that what it means, Natani?"
He smiled. "One must learn to live within a small circle before he or she tries to cross the world."
"I just want to get home." Teal moaned. "Not cross the world."
"To go home is to cross the world," Natani told her.
We paused at the pen. Natani opened the gate and shooed the pigs away. Then he stood back.