The Food Desert

I sighed. "We need a new chart; the old one is getting outdated."

The urban farm program was a major success and there were similar programs in almost every major city. Sofia graduated and traveled the country for our nonprofit giving direction and advice to interested parties. She took Betty with her, and it seemed she finally decided which team to play on because they both sported really nice engagement rings a year later.

I woke up one day tired. My corporation was now the fourth largest food chain in the country. We had stores in every state. We'd had a few failures along the way, forcing us to close five stores. Two were burned down and we never reopened them. The others just didn't work out, not enough community support and a lack of a police presence making them constant targets. You can't win them all, but it still hurt.

I called my advisors together, looking around the room. Dan was gone, a heart attack when he was 73. Grandma V passed quietly at 83. She had become an avid angler and was a frequent visitor at the cabin. You would often find her on the dock under an umbrella, rod in hand. There was always a "grandchild" hovering nearby, watching out for her. The bulk of her estate went to Miguel and Connie. She gave the family sentimental gifts. I got the picture of her holding the very first fish she had ever caught, her smile bright as the sun. About a fourth went to our nonprofit, sharing with Celia her hopes for the future generations. She was interred next to her best friend. I'm sure Grandma Celia welcomed her with open arms.

I think I shocked them when I announced my retirement at 50. I would still be Chairman of the Board, but my day-to-day duties would cease. I named Mickey, President. Miguel and Michael were Vice Presidents, each responsible for half the country. Ashley was also named a Vice President in charge of Marketing. Alice had retired, focusing on raising her family, but Amy was still active in the business, so she got a title as well. Mama Chen was in her sixties and poised to retire. Her husband of forty years had passed of a heart attack. Their adopted children and grandchildren were surprised at his will, leaving them each a small endowment with instructions that he hoped they would invest it in something to better the communities in which they lived. Sofia was especially hard hit because they had welcomed her with open arms and she had spent a lot of time with them.

After the arrangements had been made, the details worked out, I rose, and taking Kara's hand, walked into my future.

*****

I was glad I had a hundred acres. We had retired to the cabin, and I realized I did not want to entertain guests constantly. We built two more houses, a four-bedroom much like ours, and another structure that looked like a lodge that had 11 bedrooms. They were on the other side of the lake, close, but still giving us privacy.

In a twist of fate, The Lodge, as it was called, became a summer camp three weeks out of the year. It came about because our old church did a fundraiser for the children, many of them from disadvantaged homes, to experience nature. They failed to reach their goal and it looked like the camp would not happen when Kara stepped in. "Send them to us for a week. We have a lake and a hundred acres they can roam around on. They can fish, play in the lake, we'll even get some canoes for them to paddle around in. It won't cost you a dime except gas money."

We expected about twenty, but the kids were told they could each invite a friend, so close to fifty showed up. Kara made sure we had enough tents, because everyone wanted to camp out, along with life preservers, sunscreen, bug spray, everything they could think of the kids would need. The church brought some of the senior members along and they stayed in the lodge. It was the first vacation many of them ever had.

We advertised and hired kids experienced as counselors to help wrangle everyone and supervise the activities. One of the surprise highlights was taking them to the farmer's market and letting them each pick something they wanted to eat at a meal. It was corn and tomato season, so they picked those, green beans, cabbage and all the early cantaloupes they had. Blueberries were in season, so there were plenty of those for desserts. The old guy I remembered was there, and soon he was surrounded by a rapt audience as he told them bits of food history. The kids giggled as he told how in the middle 1800's tomatoes were rumored to be poisonous, so a man in San Francisco went to a major intersection with a bushel of tomatoes, eating one in front of everyone who would stop to prove they were safe and delicious. The plan backfired because he got sick from eating so many tomatoes and vomited, thus proving to the superstitious citizens that they were indeed poisonous. I think we bought everything he had, and he and his wife got a lot of hugs and pictures snapped with them and the children. He was dressed in overalls, with a bushy white beard and a straw hat, while his petite wife had on a long flowing dress. They looked like how these kids would picture farmers.

The event was so successful we promised to make it an annual event, then Michael's wife shyly approached us, asking if we would do the same thing for her mosque. We agreed instantly. We had to adjust the menus slightly, but it, too, turned into a roaring success. Momma Chen then gathered up a bunch of Jewish children, and we did the same thing all over again. There was talk of having them all at the same time, a cultural exchange of sorts. It was planned for the next year.

My birthday came up and my loving wife gave me a surprise present. I heard the equipment but we had decided to enlarge the lodge to accommodate more seniors, so I never gave it much thought. She was grinning like the cat that ate the canary, so I knew something was up.

The day before my birthday she took me by the hand and led me to that meadow that was so special to us. It wasn't a meadow anymore. The stream had been dammed, creating a small pond, and the meadow, about four acres, was smoothed over and terraced. There was a shed erected, and inside was a small John Deere tractor with all the attachments, a rear time tiller, and racks of hand tools, hoes, rakes, etc.

"You got one first love back, my husband. Time to reclaim another."

I cried like a baby.

*****

I was 62. Sometimes when I was farming I felt every day, but most times I felt like I was still in my thirties. Kara was as still and slim and lovely as ever, even though her hair was silver.

I had just gotten back from a board meeting. The company was still thriving, still making lots of money. Mickey was looking middle aged now and I urged him to scale back a little. "Your family is going to want you around for a long time. Be there for them."

He and Ashley had three children, two boys and a girl. She had quit her job to be a full time mother. I was thinking how happy she looked when I got out of my truck.

"Daddy's home!"

Two bundles of energy burst through the door and into my arms. I kissed each, telling them how much I'd missed them. Kara came out with a stately glide, and I held her in my arms until the kids started tugging on us.

"Have they behaved?"

"Little monsters the whole time," Kara said, the smile in her eyes belying her words.

"Were not! I was a little angel, Daddy. Bobby was bad though."

I looked at my son and he blushed. "I was not. Sandy's making it all up!"

I figured the truth for both was somewhere in between and smiled. It was good to be home.

So where did the kids come from? They were a parting gift from my ex-wife Maria. Mickey called me in a panic. "Dad! Something's happened. I need you and Mom as soon as you can get here."

After I found out they were both physically fine, we drove straight through, getting there late at night. Ashley was five months pregnant, and our first thought was something was wrong with the baby. They both looked scared to death. Surprisingly, Sofia was with them, looking solemn.

"It's about our Mom. She's dead." They were estranged for many years and Sofia had hated her birth father, but still, it was her mother.

"What happened?"

"She died giving birth. Twins. Our bio-father wouldn't take her to the hospital because he knew they weren't his, and she died on the dirt floor of her kitchen. If the neighbors hadn't heard her scream, the babies would have died along with her. Bio-dad knew he was in a lot of trouble and took off. It's been two weeks and they still haven't found him. He has warrants out for his arrest when they do locate him. The authorities at the hospital traced us through medical records and called Mickey. What are we going to do?"

I thought back. Maria was seven years younger than I was, but that still put her about 44. What the hell was she thinking getting pregnant at her age? I didn't get to answer. Kara did.

"We're going to get them. They would have no chance growing up orphans down there. They're a progressive country, but they're still not where they need to be concerning child care."

"Will they let us have them?"

"You're their only relatives. They wouldn't have reached out to you, otherwise. I don't see a problem. Now pack."

Six hours later we were on a plane for Costa Rica.

The physical beauty of the place was overwhelming once you got out of a big city. We'd hired a driver with a fairly new van, because the small town we were going to had no airport. It was a six hour trip over progressively worsening roads.

The hospital was a single floor structure, barely more than a clinic. The administrator and head nurse met us at the door. Their relief was evident.

We went to look at the babies, astounded at how small they were. Their mother had evidently not taken good care of herself. Kara, Ashley, and Sofia immediately started crying and it wasn't long until they were sitting in rickety looking rockers, passing and cuddling the babies. Kara looked at me and I knew we were taking them. I was more than fine with that.

It took us six weeks to get through the red tape, and the promise of a sizable donation to the hospital, but finally it was done. The kids were technically released to Sofia and Mickey, but everyone knew where they were going.

A week after we arrived, we buried their mother. They had kept her in the morgue, not sure what to do. Foul play was ruled out as far as physical trauma, and they released her remains to Mickey. I went with him to identify the body. She was frozen and I looked down on her, not recognizing her at all. She looked in her sixties, wrinkled and wasted.

We had a closed casket funeral and buried her in a family plot at the local Catholic Church for a small donation. It seemed whatever business we conducted while we there required a small donation.

Though it wasn't necessary, Kara and I still talked it over. "I'm pretty good from ten on up because of Mickey, but this is uncharted territory for me," I said. "Add in the age factor, let's face it we're in grandparent territory, and it could get rough. I still want them; I just want you aware of all the factors. We'll be in our seventies when they graduate from college."

She smiled. "Well, I for one intend to be around to see that happen. This is my dream, honey, my second chance. If we get overwhelmed we can always hire a nanny to help us and give us some hands on training. I'm willing to dedicate my life to them, give them every opportunity in life. Please say you're with me."

I hugged her to calm her fears. "Of course I'm with you. You know, we still need to name them. Think on it. In the meantime, we have a lot to do."

I had a long talk with Mickey, Sofia and her sister Theresa, who had shown up out of the blue. It was the first time in four years Sofia had seen her, and six years for Mickey. She was newly single, with a boy ten and a girl of seven. Life had not been exactly kind to her and it didn't take a lot of convincing to get her to go home with us. Of all of them, she was closest to her mother and she sobbed with a broken heart at the funeral. She wiped her eyes, tossed a red rose down on her crypt and walked away.

They were all okay with us taking the children, even though technically they were under Mickey's guardianship. "I'd love to take them, but with our first on the way it would just be too much on Ashley. Sofia is nowhere near ready for motherhood and Theresa has her two to handle. This is a perfect solution and I happen to know you make a pretty good father."

When the red tape was cleared and all the papers were signed, Kara leased a helicopter to bring them to the airport. No way were her babies going to endure that rough six hour ride.

*****

Our entire family, every single one of them, met us at the airport. I was holding our daughter and Kara had our son when we got off the plane, and we were immediately mobbed. There was a lot of excited babbling and the children were passed back and forth between new uncles, aunts, cousins and grandmothers. Momma Chen locked down on the boy, only letting go when she got the girl. She grinned at me.

"You know once they get a little older you have a built in babysitter when you want time alone. I only wish I lived closer."

Kara grinned, and two weeks later there was new construction going on. A fairly modest three bedroom home rose, the materials matching the rest of the buildings perfectly. Kara got Momma out, showing her the new house. "It's lovely, dear. Who's it for?"

"It's for you, Mom. This way you can see the babies every day."

She eventually stopped crying, and three weeks later she moved in. It was wasted space in my opinion, because she was always at our house, taking one of the bedrooms as her own. I joked to Kara we had wasted our money and she smiled. "No we didn't. Our Mom is a vibrant woman with a lot of years left in her. I don't expect she'll be alone forever. When that time comes, she'll need her space."

Her prophecy came true a year later. The man turned out to be the old farmer I'd admired at the farmer's market. His wife had died eighteen months earlier, and he was now starting to live again. They had been together forty years. Veronica got to know him through the market, and after a few months he stumbled through an invitation to join him at the VFW for a dinner dance. She accepted, and when she answered the door she almost didn't recognize him. Gone were the overalls and straw hat, replaced by a three piece suit and a fedora. Seems he was an excellent dancer, and they stayed until the place closed. I was awake with the kids when he brought her back at two in the morning. They stayed in his car for forty minutes before she got out and went inside.

He was fascinated by her Oriental beauty and loving disposition, she was attracted to him by his sheer size and gentle ways. They dated for six months before I looked out the window and saw his car still parked in her drive the next morning. I showed Kara and she rushed over, waking them up and inviting them to breakfast. Veronica wouldn't look us in our eyes at first, but as we and Bert got acquainted, she lost her shyness. She and Kara were in the kitchen when Kara suddenly burst out laughing while Veronica flamed red. Kara just hugged her and they brought out the platters, stopping in amazement to see Bert and I feeding the kids.

"What?" he laughed. "Sara and I raised five fine children. You don't think she did all the work, do you?" The look Veronica gave him was smoking hot. In another six months they decided to live together and three months after that, he gave her a ring. They were married by the lake, under bowers of wildflowers. The kids were really fond of their grandparents.

Bert was no pauper, owning a six hundred acre farm. He leased the farm and the house, and just to keep busy, helped me with my little patch. We pushed off another six acres to keep up with demand and we alternated selling at the market. Our wives always went with us and when Kara brought the kids, we always drew a crowd.

I asked Kara later what she had laughed about in the kitchen. "Mom said that Bert was six-four and weighed two-fifty, and he was proportionate all over. Think about it."

Well then, good for Bert.

The kids grew like weeds. When it was time for kindergarten, either Kara or Veronica drove them. As they made friends they would sometimes have other riders. Kara and Mom decided a good use of their time would be volunteering at their school. They were both appalled at the quality of the school lunches and started a campaign to improve them. Instead of fighting, them the cafeteria staff welcomed them with open arms. "I've been trying to get them to improve for years and they always told me they bought the best they could afford. We don't cook anymore, we open cans. I've lost good people on account of it," the cafeteria manager lamented.

The changes were subtle at first: a few fresh vegetables, donated by local farmers. There was a large lot for sale next to the school and we bought it, using it as a personal field for the school. The older kids were allowed to help out once a week under the guidance of a few retired farmers. Soon enough, the cafeteria was serving freshly prepared foods from local sources, purchased at the same rate as the institutional fare. There was a big grease-board outside the cafeteria, listing the meals for the coming weeks. Soon there was a noticeable jump in the amount of parents who ate with their kids once in a while.

We contracted with a poultry farmer for free-range eggs. It was a small school, only 300 from kindergarten to fifth grade, including teachers and staff, so he was able to supply all the eggs they would need on a weekly basis. Soon breakfast was being served. Plain simple fare mostly: eggs, grits, home-fries, bacon or sausage and toast. Occasionally, there would be pancakes and waffles. The cafeteria would be overrun on those days.

Attendance began to improve, as well as test scores. It seemed well-fed happy kids were more productive and attentive. The middle school tried to hire the cafeteria manager away but she refused to leave, afraid the food wouldn't follow her.

Sofia got our nonprofit involved, and soon all five schools in the county were participating in the "Slow Food For Fast Learners" program. People began moving into the county three years later, attracted by the excellent schools. There was a death on the School Board, and both parties approached Veronica and Kara, wanting one of them to serve out the remainder of the term. Kara bowed to Veronica because of the children, and she was approved by unanimous decision. When her year of service was up she was begged to run, so she did, as an Independent. She got more votes than the next two candidates combined.

*****

I figured it up one day out of just plain curiosity. My personal wealth, on any given day, was just over 300 million and growing. That was after I had given up all claims to my business, reformed my corporation and gave all my "children" a stake. Mickey still retained 30% and the rest was split evenly.

Aside from my home and property, Kara and I lived the comfortable middle-class existence we would probably have had if we had stayed together all those years before. We could afford our lifestyle on a 200-grand-a-year income. It was enough.

Oh, if either of us wanted something above the norm we would get it, after a bit of discussion. Kara still had all her own money from the sale of her business. It was invested in a conservative portfolio and held a value of around four million. Even if we lost all my money, we would never be broke.

I thought about it as Kara fixed my tie for me. My hands shook a bit now that I had hit my seventies, so she made sure I looked presentable. We were going to an awards ceremony: Sofia was getting an award for the National Slow Food For Fast Learners project.