The Gardens of Digby Green: Synonyms
Digby cruised the forklift through the Garden Center parking lot, headed for the pallet of bagged manure. He’d been out on a delivery when another employee positioned the pallet behind the building. As he steered the forklift around the final turn, a customer pulled into his path, and parked exactly in the spot Digby needed open to maneuver his machine. He cursed.
Accelerating, he pulled in behind the old man who’d interfered with his work. As the guy stepped out of his Escalade, Digby gave him the finger he’d wanted to use on his boss. For fun, he raised the fork to shoulder height. That should keep customers out of his way when he circled back to approach the pallet from the opposite direction.
But as he negotiated the final corner, where he’d find room to turn around, his boss and the dude’s teenaged son stood there. A drone hovered between them.
Digby shuddered, and reached for the fork control.
“Take that thing up over the lot,” his boss said, “then send it between the dogwoods. Get close ups of any flowers. We need an ad to beat the one I saw for Grower’s Outlet.”
The teen said, “Sure, Dad,” and pushed the joystick as Digby lowered the fork and took his foot off the brake. Instead of buzzing upward, the drone shot straight toward the forklift, its rotating camera pointed at Digby’s face.
He flung up one bent arm, and yelled several synonyms for manure.
Startled customers stared and leaped out of the way as veering from side-to-side, the forklift rolled at increasing speed. The teen corrected his joystick, and the drone zipped upward.
Backing, Digby’s boss staggered into a stack of bagged bird feed. “I’ll see you in my office, Green!”
Digby slammed on the brake, spun the forklift in a one-eighty, and floored the gas pedal as he escaped to the back lot. He dropped the forklift tines into their lowest position, and rumbled toward the pallet of manure.Hoisting the balanced load, he trundled it to a gap in the row of supplies stacked along a section of fence, where it fit perfectly.
The Gardens of Digby Green is a serialized story that posts on Fridays.
Next week, part thirty-one, Perplexing Letters.
Find a link to purchase Heartland Treasures anthology here.
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