The Story of Fred

The Story of Fred
by
Brad Fregger

This is the story of Frederick Thompson Bartholomew Adair, Fred for short.

Fred lived in a small cottage in a small town somewhere around here. He loved his cottage, and he loved the land that surrounded it. It was really a very ordinary cottage, and, no matter how hard Fred worked, the land never produced a garden that Fred was really proud of.

Fred purchased many books on gardening and gardens. He knew what he needed to do, but it just didn't work out the way that it did in the books. At night, after a hard day weeding and watering, Fred would sit down in front of the fire and read about beautiful gardens from all over the world. These books contained the most wonderful pictures; pictures of small and large gardens, gardens with fountains and gardens without them, private gardens and gardens that were grown so people from all over could enjoy them. And as he read the books and looked at the pictures he would dream of a time when he would have a garden beautiful enough to be included in a book too.

One night, while Fred was dreaming about his garden, a strange man came dancing down the road. If you could see him, he surely would have turned your head. He stood about 5ft tall, with slick, black hair that shown like obsidian in the moonlight. His ears seemed to be slightly pointed, and his eyes glowed and sparkled with what appeared to be the light of fireflies. He wore a jacket of soft green carpet moss, trousers from the lily-pad, and shoes that had been fashioned from redwood bark. His name was Pete, and he was a garden elf.

As Pete danced by Fred's house he looked and saw a garden that lacked the spirit to support more than just the smallest amount of growth. He was struck by how pathetic the garden looked. It had obviously had a lot of work. The tools were neatly placed in the shed and bags of fertilizer could be seen stacked outside.

Pete had been looking for a garden for the longest time, but he didn't want just any ol' garden, he wanted a garden that would be loved and cared for, one that would be appreciated, and--most important--one that needed him. And, as he looked more and more at this garden he realized, this was a garden that really needed him.

He walked into the garden and felt it call for his help, call for him to become a part of it. But Pete wasn't sure yet, so he went into the house to see Fred, he wanted to get to know the garden's owner before he made his final decision.

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