SHERLOCK SKILLS

Our neighbors had gone away on vacation and had asked if we could water their garden while they were away.

“Okay, we just have to keep these plants alive for two weeks.” I said to my son Alex as I opened their garden gate. “We’ve got this.” I picked up the hose and turned it on.

“Do they know about your gardening skills?” Alex said with a laugh. “How about your plant ‘hair-cutting’ skills?”

I was slowly misting the bottom of the plants. “Well, luckily I’m not going to be trimming any of their plants. I just have to keep them watered.”

When we were finished we were walking through their back yard where their four young children’s toys were. “I think they could use another garage for all the riding toys these guys have.” I laughed as I pointed to the dozen of battery powered cars lined up against the garage.

Alex was looking at the bases they’d set up as a small baseball field in the middle of the yard. “Home plate is facing backwards.” He said as he bent down and spun the plate around.

“Sandboxes, swing sets, and jungle gyms! It’s a kids paradise back here!” We rounded the corner of their house and were headed back home. I stopped at their mailbox to take a peek inside. The mailbox was empty. “Okay, she did stop the mail.” I looked over at Alex. “That’s one less thing we have to worry about.”

The next day: “Alex do you want to come help me water their garden?” I called.

“Sure, just let me get my shoes on.”

A few seconds later we were headed across the street.

As we arrived at the back of their house Alex pointed to some plastic bags with papers in them next to their patio set. “This wasn’t here yesterday, was it?”

“No.” I was concerned as I noticed some flattened cardboard boxes a few feet away. “These weren’t here yesterday either.” I walked over to the boxes as Alex bent over to pick up the plastic bags.

“The boxes don’t have anything written on them.” I called over to him.

Alex pulled the papers from the bag. “It’s directions for putting a trampoline together.”

I was confused. “Why would that be here?”

Alex looked up from the directions and pointed to the center of the yard. “Maybe for that?” He said as he began to laugh.

I looked over and there was a HUGE trampoline in the middle of what had been their baseball field. “How did we miss that when we first came back here?” I laughed.

Alex shook his head. “I didn’t see it either.” He was still laughing.

“Well, it seems neither of us have very good Sherlock Holmes skills!”

“Hey, we found the directions and cardboard.” Alex said as we both walked over to get a closer look. “We figured it out from there.”

I pointed to the eight foot tall trampoline that was surrounded in black mesh. “Yet, we missed this!” I laughed.

Alex shrugged his shoulders as he headed for the garden. “The plants are still alive.” He called over his shoulder.

“That’s good to hear!” I followed him to the garden and picked up the hose. Turning it on I began misting the bottom of the plants. “At least we’re crushing it with our watering skills!”

Alex bent over to pull out a weed. “Don’t jinx it. We still have a week and a half to go.”