The Gardens of Digby Green: Footage
Keziah Tibbins huffed as her husband and his buddy tromped into her kitchen. “Don’ know what grown men see in those fool whirly-gig machines….” She banged her wooden spoon on the rim of the pot of gumbo. Spicy liquid spattered, and she sighed before reaching for a paper towel to wipe the stove top.
“They’re drones. I done told you five times, woman.” Bubba gave her a squeeze and a smooch. “Gumbo smells good.”
“Don’t try to talk me out of a bowl-full if you want there to be enough on Saturday.”
“C’mon, Bubba. Let’s get a look at our footage on a bigger screen.”
“Footage?” Keziah asked.
“Yeah, Joe. Turn the heat on that burner down, Sweet, and come look,” Bubba invited her, with a gesture.
“Oh, all right.” She followed him into the living room, where her husband’s friend had hooked up a camera to the big screen television that was Bubba’s latest purchase.
“Joe, you take your feet off of my coffee table.” She flicked at him with her dish towel then scowled at the pictures on the screen. “Why take photos of that mess?”
“That vacant lot hasn’t got power lines to run into,” Joe said. “Look. When I zoomed in, and flew low, you’d almost think it was another planet.” As the camera lens recorded erosion on the bulldozed earth, the closeups did resemble canyon walls.
“Huh,” she said. “I s’pose it does.”
The drone flew a twisting path between gravel mounds, paused over ponded water with a rainbow sheen, then shot straight up and to the right before leveling off in a hover while the camera lens zoomed in.
“Whoa, see that?” Bubba said.
“Yeah, weird.” Joe re-wound the video, and paused it. “Who’d put that there?”
“Turn it off. It gives me the creeps.” Keziah shuddered, waved the dish towel at the screen, and retreated to the kitchen.
“Should we tell the cops?”
“They gonna ask if we planted it. Won’t believe we didn’t.”
Forty-five miniature rose bushes formed a multi-colored cross on the waste ground.
The Gardens of Digby Green is a serialized story that posts on Fridays.
Next week, part twenty-eight, Further Notice.
Find a link to purchase Heartland Treasures anthology here.
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