“Hello! Sir, we met on Apex hill over a decade ago. It was by the hidden fountain and you helped me pick some herbs for the snake bite. Do you perhaps remember me?”
“Ahh! No wonder you looked familiar. Look how you have grown into a fine gentleman. And you have gotten yourself a pretty girlfriend too I see.”
“Thank you, sir. I’m still wooing her, though. She has not agreed yet.”
Rosaline was speechless.
“Hahahaha. It’s good to be young.”
“So, what brings you here lad?”
“Actually sir, I was wondering if you could help me again.”
“Sure. Anything we can do, we’ll be sure to help.”
“Basically, there’s a garden the old man of the house had maintained. I don’t recognize most of the trees here and the soil seems to be going bad, everything is getting dried up from one corner on.
So, I was hoping if you could help me look after it. Or if it’s not feasible for you, maybe you could help me find someone who can help.
We don’t live in Apex city and only come back once a year, so we wanted someone we can rely on to take care of the old man’s garden.”
“Lad, there’s only missus and me. We did not study and are not knowledgeable. The things we know were taught by my old man who was taught by his grandfather who knew Chinese medicine. I think you can find someone better. We might not be able to take care of expensive things.”
“Uncle, please don’t be so polite. Studying something and actually knowing about it are two different things.
It was the old man’s own work. He planted every single tree, every plant himself, so I don’t want to leave it to just anyone. I would rather you take care of it since you are so passionate about these things.”
“Lad, why don’t you think about it? We might be more trouble than worth.”
“Uncle, how about you and aunty come there tomorrow and see what it’s like. Maybe you will like it after all.”
“Alright, if you insist.” After fifteen minutes of discussion, they finally agreed.
“Here’s the address Uncle. We’ll leave you alone then.” William said, handing him the piece of paper with the address.
“Wait!” Rosaline chimed in.
“Aunty, can you give me spices used for cooking? I don’t understand them, so can you give a little bit of everything that’s used in cooking. OH and other herbs that are good for cold, and joint pains.”
William and Rosaline went back to their car with a big bag full of different spices and herbs.
The next day, they stayed back in the AR mansion in case the couple decided to show up.
Rosaline called Jack and asked him to come over without telling anyone.
Surprised as he was, he did as he was told and was surprised to find Rosy with Will.
“You two..?” Jack questioned as soon as he came in.
“Shut it.” Rosy cut him off, which made William smile.
Rosaline rolled her eyes and asked them to introduce themselves.
After an awkward introduction, they briefed Jack on the plan and they went over all the furniture in the house. Jack practically jumped up after examining the quality of the wood.
They then marked each one of them and started working on designs for each item based on what can and can’t be done.
As they were finalizing the designs, the gardener couple came in and William took them on a tour of the back garden.
They agreed to work there, and since there were just two of them in the family, they agreed to live in the outhouse and take care of the back garden, lawn, flower garden. As well as security.
Finally, they settled on the wages and responsibility and they decided to come back in 3 days’ time.