The Water Garden Tour

The door bell rang summoning Ellen from a deep sleep. The illuminated dial on her night stand showed 6:12 A.M. Wrapped in her robe, she opened the front door. Two excited gray haired ladies stood on her porch.

“Good morning! Are you on the Master Gardeners’ Water Garden Tour?”

Ellen said, “Yes, I am.”

“Oh, good. We want to get an early start. It gets so hot in the afternoons.”

“Ah, okay. Come on through. The pond is out back.”

Pulling clothes on, she was brushing her hair when the doorbell chimed. This time it was a mother with a fussy toddler.

“Is this where the garage sale is?”

“No, I’m sorry,” Ellen replied.

The little boy whined, “cookie.”

“I shouldn’t ask,” said the mother, “but can you make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for my son? He wouldn’t eat his breakfast this morning.”

Providing a sandwich and giving the mom directions, Ellen hurried to her bathroom to brush her teeth. She squeezed toothpaste onto her brush when the doorbell jingled.

A scruffy panhandler asked her. “Is this the Water Garden Tour?”

“Yes, but I haven’t put out the snacks yet. If you can wait on the back patio, I’ll bring them out to you.”

“That’s okay ma’am. I’m here to see the flowers,” the poor man insisted.

“Please, go on through,” Ellen said.

She’d work late into the night baking cookies and cutting up a vegetable tray. In minutes she had them arranged on the patio table along with dip, chips, and iced tea. The poor man had been walking along the flower beds, but as she reentered the house, she saw him sauntering toward the patio. Ellen smiled. Some people said she was a push-over, but she liked helping where she could.

The doorbell jangled. Several garden tourists smiled and thanked her as they passed through the house to the backyard. The last one stayed on the porch.

“Here’s my card,” he said. “I’ve got a load of asphalt that I can give you an excellent deal on.”

“Not today,” she said.

Her husband came into the living room. “I’ve going to McDonald’s. You want me to bring you back an Egg Mc Muffin?”

“That would be wonderful,” she said as the doorbell bonged.

A little girl in a uniform held out an order form. “I'm selling Girl Scout cookies?”

As Ellen bought 4 boxes, a clown with balloons kept reaching around the scout and pushed the doorbell.

"You can stop now," Ellen said.

“Are you the birthday girl?” he sang.

After sending the clown off to the correct address, a group arrived. Two of them stood off to the side until the others had gone through to the garden. “Have you ever read the Watch Tower?”

“It’s not a good time,” Ellen said.

Later in the day, a couple commented on how beautiful her water garden was for the baptism.

Mystified, Ellen looked out her patio door, then bolted across the lawn to put a stop to it.

As she ushered them out the front, she said, “Please keep the towels.”

Coming up the street was a pack of dogs being walked by her son. She slammed the door.

"Don't let them in."