Good afternoon. It is I Gigi the parti poodle here to present you my newest story. As you may know every so often, I pen a short story that runs like a serial in sequential installments. Each week I will put up a new chapter until the story is complete. I thought this one would be good for summer as it is about two farmers who compete against each other in a local competition. I hope it will be a lot of fun. So, without further ado I present to you Corn Maze, a story by Gigi the Parti Poodle. Nasoloditisya!

Corn Maze

by

Gigi the Parti Poodle

Chapter One

Once upon a time there were two farmers who hated each other’s guts. Their farms sat adjacent to each other in the Big Valley where the land is lush and fertile and many crops are grown such as strawberries, raspberries, cucumbers, cauliflower, cabbage, and spinach. But the most coveted crop of all was corn. And every year there was a local competition to fashion the best corn maze to be ready by Halloween.

Now, there were salient differences between the two men. One was outgoing and athletic. The other intellectual and reserved. It’s hard to say where or when the riff between the two farmers began. But many think it’s origin may have occurred right after high school. Before then the two had been the best of friends. They were often in the same classes. Both played trumpet for the band. Both got good grades. Both were university bound. But whatever happened between them put them on different paths. They were the best of friends one moment and the worst of enemies the next.

And so, it happened one day in June, Farley Ellis came driving up in his Ford pickup on his way home from the grocery store. Farley was the outgoing athletic farmer. He carried a bag in each arm and lumbered up the steps to the porch where his Doberman Whiskey lay sleeping.

“Whiskey!” Farley shouted. “You’re in my way, dog!”

Whiskey perked up his ears and raised his nose to gaze upon his owner.

“Move it, boy!” Farley said.  

Whiskey yawned, stood up on his long legs and moved out of the way for the king. Farley tromped into the kitchen where his bedraggled fiancé Valerie was canning cherries for him.

“That darned dog thinks he’s the head of the household. When I say get, that pinhead should get.”

“Dobermans are intelligent,” Valerie said writing the date on the lid of one of the jars.

“What?”

“Dobermans are intelligent.”

“What does that have to do with the price of pizza in Chicago?”

“Whisky’s not a pinhead he’s intelligent.”

“I don’t care. I go out and buy you groceries at the supermarket on a Saturday no less and you’re yammering on about the intelligent quotients of canines.”

“I’m not yammering, Farley. I’m just trying to make a point.”

Farley set the groceries on the counter. “I’m thirsty. Are there still some longnecks in the refrigerator?”

“Didn’t you get any while you were at the store?”

“You mean to tell me it’s a Saturday afternoon and my fridge isn’t stocked with longnecks?”

“I think there might be some microbrews in the pantry…”

“I want an ice-cold Rainier!”

“Why?”

“Because it sounds good!”

“As soon as I’m finished canning, I’ll go to the store and get you some.”

“It’ll take at least an hour to get the suds chilly.”

“I’ll put the microbrews in the fridge right now.”

Farley sighed. “I suppose. Darn things cost a lot more than Rainier.”

“But they’re better quality.”

“I don’t care! Rainier is American.”

“So are those microbrews.”

“You trying to start an argument with me, Valerie?”

“No, Farley.”

“Just hurry up with the canning so you can go get me Rainier,” he said and tromped off to his pantry. 

Valerie sighed. Farley was in a mood. She knew she should have bought him the beer on Thursday and brought it over. But she’d gone to look at bridesmaids’ dresses. At least she’d had the good sense not to move in with him before the wedding.

Farley returned with the microbrews and proceeded to put them in the refrigerator. “Got to get started on my sketch,” he said.

“Have you figured out what you’re going to do?”

“Yeah, I’m going to win.”

“I meant your design.”

“I have a pretty good idea. You haven’t kissed me since I came home by the way.” Valerie slowly dried her hands on a kitchen towel, walked over to Farley and kissed him. He drew her into his arms and said, “I can’t wait till you move in here.”

“There’s still a lot to do.”

“You could still move in and do a lot.”

“We agreed.”

“I didn’t agree.”

“Either way I’m not moving in till after the wedding.”

“That’s not till after the competition which is a long way off.”

“I still haven’t figured out the flowers. We haven’t chosen the cake. I haven’t decided on a dress…”

“Details, details.”

“It’s the details that make the difference.”

Farley rolled his eyes. “Sometimes it’s the bigger picture that makes the difference.”  

“I heard the Hutton’s are moving out.”

Farley stopped putting microbrews in the refrigerator. “You heard what?”

“The Hutton’s are moving out.”

“Who’s moving in?”

“I don’t know?”

“Who’d you hear that from?”

“Patricia.”

“At the diner?”

“Yes.”

“Well, did she say who bought it?’

“No.”

“Well, come Monday I’m going to find out.”

MY BOOKS

You can check out my books Chicane and the five installments in my Musicology book series Musicology: Volume One, Baby!, Musicology: Volume Two, Kid!, Musicology: Volume Three, Twist!, Musicology: Volume Four, Sweetie! and Musicology: The Epiquad on Amazon in Kindle and Paperback editions. You can also check out Musicology’s web site at www.musicologyrocks.com and vote for who you think will win Musicology!!!

STREAM OF THE WEEK: MINARI (2020)-Showtime

This week’s movie is an Oscar winning film from last year. Minari, by the way, is a water parsley that grows in temperate and tropical climates. You can read about it here. This is a lovely well-told story about a young Korean man and his wife who move with their two young children from California to rural Arkansas where the husband Jacob Yi (Steven Yeun of The Walking Dead) has purchased a plot of land where he plans to become a farmer, grow vegetables, and sell them to buyers in Dallas. His wife Monica (Han Ye-ri) is more skeptical. Their son David (Alan Kim) has a heart murmur and there is concern he could die if he exerts himself too much. Their young daughter Anne (Noel Kate Cho) is intelligent and mature for her age and often looks after David.

Jacob is helped on the farm by a kind and peculiar local man named Paul (Will Patton) who served in the Korean war and there are hints that he may be suffering from PTSD. Monica, who works doing chick sexing which she and Paul did back in California needs someone to look after the kids and enlists her mother Soon-ya (Youn Yuh-jung who won the Oscar for best supporting actress) who travels all the way from South Korea to live with the family. Soon-ya is a strong, humorous woman who stays in David’s room. David does not like her much. She has brought expensive herbs to help him with his heart condition and minari seeds which she plants by the creek. She encourages David to enjoy life despite his parents’ concern. Her presence is pivotal in changing the course of the family. Written and directed by Lee Isacc Chung the story is a semi-autobiography about his childhood set during the early 1980’s.