Dreamland

Clearing Brush / Art Lessons

I have a job as a gardener for a woman who lives in a mansion on “The Hill”. She’s very stingy with her money, though. She has hired me for a very low rate of pay, with the condition that she will pay for art lessons that my son will take with her daughter at her home. Nick really wants to take the lessons, so I agree.

Today is a bad day; I have to trim these enormous half-dead rosebushes that are overtaking the embankment behind the house. My assistant is not here to help me today. He’s in jail; he got into a minor traffic accident and was arrested for drunk driving. The woman I work for is making mean comments about him, “I always knew he was a shiftless worthless bum!”

I ask her for something to drink, she grudgingly brings me an iced tea: “Drink it and give me the glass back. I don’t want you dropping it and breaking it.”

I finish my work for the day, and go to get Nick. He is with the girl and the teacher in the gazebo. They are just finishing their painting lesson. I recognize the teacher, it’s Dave, someone I knew in High School; I haven’t seen him in years. I stop to talk to him for a while, he’s the same as ever, someone with a real “zen” outlook on life.

The woman looks at her daughter’s watercolor painting. She starts complaining to Dave, she’s not happy with the way he’s teaching. She say’s his lesson’s aren’t “structured” enough, her daughter isn’t learning proper “form” and “technique”. I look over at Dave from behind the woman’s back, roll my eyes and shake my head, letting him know that I don’t agree with her pretentious attitude. He gives me a nod to let me know he got the message.

The woman continues to berate Dave. I bid them both a hasty goodbye as Nick and I leave. At least I got most of the rosebushes done today.