The Goat Who Hired a Gardener

How it begins

Barnaby Clover planted the first sign on Monday.

He ate it before lunch.

The sign had said CARROTS, though Barnaby could no longer prove that. He stood beside the empty stick and chewed thoughtfully. Gardening was more delicious than he had expected.

Mabel Moss arrived with a watering can, three packets of seeds and a hat that kept sliding over her small mole eyes.

'Where are the labels?' she asked.

Barnaby looked at the stick.

'Inside.'

'Inside the shed?'

'Inside me.'

Mabel put down the watering can. She had worked in many gardens. None had previously digested the instructions.

'We'll need another system.'

Barnaby brightened. He liked systems, especially ones made of cardboard.

They tried wooden labels. He nibbled a corner while Mabel fetched the spade. They tried paper flags. A breeze made them flutter so invitingly that he forgot they were important.

At last Mabel placed three stones beside the beds. She painted one orange, one green and one purple.

Barnaby sniffed them.

'Not very appetizing.'

'Excellent,' said Mabel.

He looked disappointed. She noticed.

'You are allowed to enjoy eating,' she added. 'Just not the map of dinner before dinner has grown.'

Together they dug a small patch near the gate and planted lettuce especially for Barnaby. He wrote MY LUNCH on a label, considered it carefully and handed it to Mabel.

'Would you keep this one?'

She tucked it into her hatband.

By evening, the garden contained three beds, a muddy watering can and one very proud goat. Barnaby carried a bucket of weeds to the compost heap without tasting the bucket.

Then a rabbit neighbor stopped at the gate.

'What are you growing?'

Barnaby looked at the painted stones. Orange. Green. Purple.

He opened his mouth, closed it and called for Mabel. They had solved the problem of signs being eaten. They had not yet solved the problem of a gardener forgetting which colors meant what.