They bought pots, compost and a watering can. He put up a fence, she searched for heirloom seeds online. Then they went over the border and bought two barrels of oil to keep the seedlings warm. Daily, she checked for signs of life. Several times she called him to rejoice over the sproutings.

She put them into three inch pots, then nine inch pots. For a few, glorious weeks, the plants prospered. Peas and beans snaked up fences, then flowered white and purple. Carrot tops waved in the breeze.

She watered in the garden, he wrote in the study. The days grew shorter and the squashes swelled. He never visited the squashes, she never visited the books. Sometimes, they crossed in the kitchen, pursuing individual cups of tea.

After she left, he did not visit the garden. Even the Tyrone rain cannot save a squash ignored.