238 - The troll cave

Today one of my co-workers came to my office and told me, 'they're giving away tomato plants downstairs.' My ears perk up. I like tomatoes -- nay -- I love tomatoes. I must have them! Who cares if I already have 5 tomato plants -- give me more -- I can handle it.

So I hopped up and scurried dashed downstairs, looking for the room number I was given. As I walked, I grew ever closer to the office I want to avoid more than any place on earth... the office where my ex, the troll (you may remember my 'fuck you' letter from last year) resides. Sighing a breath of relief, I note that the office next door is the one I'm seeking.

What's this?

There are no tomato plants here. They must all be gone. Damn.

But there's a person. And he asks if he can help me find something. I say tomato plants (this is starting to sound vaguely reminescent of my experience at the nursery isn't it?). He points next door. Damn. "Never mind," I tell him. He say, "No, no, come on, they're just over here," as he leads me over to the troll cave. "There are tomato plants and pepper plants, take what you want. However many you want."

The joy of the moment is gone.

I grab two tomato plants and a pepper plant and practically sprint out the door, all the while thinking, 'please don't let the troll turn around, please don't let the troll turn around...' It's like a fight or flight response where adrenaline starts pumping and my heart beats faster. Instead of pounding his face in, I just want to run away from him. It almost feels like fear, and I hate it, I am not a coward -- I killed a frickin' snake dammit! Killed it dead! Chopped it into pieces! And found out it might have been a copperhead! (slight twinge of guilt is now gone)

When I got back to my desk I noticed that I had grabbed a cherry tomato and a Roma tomato and a cayenne pepper plant. In my rush, I hadn't noticed there were different varieties. Damn.

So... I told Greg about them, and my predicament. He wanted to get some plants for his son, so I asked if he would look through them to see if there was something I missed. Greg is so nice... he faced the troll to bring me a banana pepper plant. Thank you Greg!  =)

Started reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy last night. Didn't know if I would like it. Realized he also wrote All the Pretty Horses, which I tried to slog through but couldn't, so my expectation were low. And he writes in a different style than I'm used to. Sentence fragments. Lots of sentence fragments. No apostrophes when theres a contract. No quote marks around a quote. No identifiers to tell you who spoke. And yet... At page 89 I made myself get out of the tub. It's good. Bleak. Scary. Good. Mostly mood, very little dialogue. I may finish this one in 3 days.