Chapter 11 – Little Closet of Horrors

Ben was sitting at the table trying to study but couldn’t stop thinking about Emma and Casey. Emma seemed really happy. She had been seeing Casey for over a month, ever since their New Year’s date. Sadly, he didn’t even remember the name of the girl he went with.

“Morning,” said Nick jarring Ben from his thoughts as he grabbed a cup of coffee and sat down with him, “How’s the science project going?”

“You ask me that every damn day!” said Ben grinning. He actually enjoyed tending the plants. “They may be ready for the next stage of the project. They are already starting to bud. Those little buggers grow so damn fast. Soon we can do our first harvest. We still have to cure it. We need to be careful not to take too much and stress it. It should produce for a few weeks. The tips from Sofia really did work. She suggested that…..”

Nick’s eyes glazed over. “Spare me the gory details please. That’s why you are growing them, not me.”

Ben couldn’t believe how different Sofia and Nick were. She would have entered into a discussion about techniques and he was more interested in business. So when they had to declare their majors at the ending of the last term, it was no surprise when Nick chose Business and Ben decided on Horticulture.

Nick had laughed at him that afternoon and said, “I thought you wanted to buy a fishing boat!”

Ben told him, “I’m kinda having fun growing the plants. Maybe I can open a garden center. Chicks dig that shit too. Working in the yard, planting flowers, landscaping the yards. I can still do a fishing boat on the weekends. Fish make great fertilizer.”

“If our place starts smelling like fish I’m going to kick someone’s ass!” threatened Nick.

“Nope. No worries about fish smells, more like manure,” said Ben with an evil grin.

“Oh god, I have created a monster. No stinky shit Ben!”

“Uh, there is no such kind that I am aware of,” replied Ben, “except maybe my perfect brother’s, but I got news for him, it does stink!” he added, his voice filled with sarcasm.

Nick groaned. “Geez Murdock. Give it a rest. Reese is okay. He has a new baby. Did you even bother to call and congratulate him?”

Coming back to the present and not wanting to think about Reese and his baby and the fact that he indeed hadn’t called, Ben closed his book and jumped up. “Come on, let’s go check out the science project. You know, I hate calling them that. Maybe we should give them names.”

“You mean like Audrey II from that stupid movie?” asked Nick, “Hell no. If you name them, I don’t even want to know. You go check on them. Oh, and are you and Cat – it is Catalina this week right? Are you going with us tonight?” asked Nick.

“Yes, it’s Catalina smartass and she is getting off early so we can all go. I can’t believe Rachael and Emma are actually making us go bowling. That is the most unromantic thing I could imagine,” groaned Ben, “how does bowling get a chick in your arms?”

Nick started ticking off suggestions on his fingers. “First, they do have a bar and two, who says you can’t ‘help’ Cat with her technique?”

Ben grinned at his friend. “Hmmm…You may have a point.”

Satisfied, Ben went to check on the plants. Audrey II & III sounded good because it definitely felt like his Little Closet of Horrors. He laughed to himself and was pleased to see some of the buds were indeed ready to be harvested. “Okay ladies, show me what you got!” he said as he gently began to pluck the buds from the plants.

Go to Chapter 12>>>>>

Go Back to Chapter 10