Payment in Full

Mother had been angry when she found out I’d traded our cow to that travelling salesman, instead of taking it to market like she’d asked. Now that the payment he’d promised had arrived in the mail, I was reluctant to reopen the argument. I found the plain brown envelope, addressed to me, when I checked the mailbox. Inside a packet with seven seeds in it, marked ‘Plant Immediately’ on one side and ‘Presto’s Magic Beans’ on the other.

I walked up the driveway, toward the house, going around back and entering through the kitchen door. Mother was there, chopping up the last turnip we had to boil for the evening meal. I was thoroughly sick of turnips.

“Was there anything in the mail, Jack?” she asked. “I heard the whistle.”

“Oh, just the usual,” I replied. I should have known I’d never get anything past her.

“What’s that in your hand, then?” she asked. She stepped toward me, and tore the envelope from my hand. “Beans? Magic beans? Honestly Jack, I don’t know what to do with you.” She tossed the seeds out the window in her anger.

Instantly, the plot of a new story took root in my mind.