Rosa Jardine watched Kenji Nobu, carrying the radio and talking with her son Theo, walk toward the low hills rising from the desert floor in front of them. Arfie, the white Husky with grey and black markings, trotted ahead of the old man and the boy, stopping periodically among the bushes and cactus to look back and wait for them to catch up. Rosa was still leaning against the silver Datsun 280Z parked outside Kenji’s metal sheet shack, her black hair in a pony tail and blowing gently in the desert breeze. The sun shone brightly above them, making her white t-shirt and shorts stand out in contrast to her bronze skin. Rosa had a skeptical look on her face, but she stepped away from the car and started to follow Kenji and Theo, eventually catching up with them. Her expression changed from skepticism to dismay as she came nearer and overheard, over the country music playing on the radio, Kenji talking to Theo about her father, Jesus Jardine.

“– so very charismatic and a great businessman. It was funny that he was one of the cooperative leaders, but he turned our little organization from a bunch of hippies on a farm into an self-sufficient, independent community,” Kenji was explaining to an enrapt Theo. “People came from all over the country to join the cooperative. We had something very special and wonderful.”

Theo saw his mother come up from behind them and called out to her, “Grandpa was such a smart man! Kenji was telling me about the co-op thing. Did you live there, Mom?”

Rosa watched Kenji in his robe and square wooden sandals, his short stature bobbing up and down as he hopped on top of boulders in the sand. His white hair was short and balding at the crown, and his ears stuck out from his skull. She frowned a bit, and her eyes softened as if to re-live a memory. “I was very young when I lived on the cooperative. I don’t remember much from that time; I don’t remember my father much either. I didn’t know him very well. I was told he died in Vietnam,” Rosa said quietly. She walked a few steps behind them, her brow still furrowed as if to recollect a pleasant memory.

“I guess you could say he died in that dreadful war. So many young men died, even the ones who survived,” Kenji commented kindly, looking back at Rosa. His eyes narrowed a bit as he looked at Rosa in the mid-day sun, and he shook his head slightly. “There were so many children, so many young people…” he mumbled.

The three of them continued to hike towards the hills, with Arfie running ahead periodically and barking at them once or twice if they fell too far behind. Theo continued to ask Kenji questions about the cooperative, with the old man answering the young boy’s questions with wistful enthusiasm.

“The cooperative was a flower farm outside of Ojai. We specialized in roses… there were rows and rows of roses in different colours. You wouldn’t believe how beautiful it was to walk between the rows. The fragrance was heavenly!” Kenji said loudly, sniffing through his nose and smiling peacefully. “Jesus managed the whole operation, and grew it from a few hundred dollars a week in revenue to tens of thousands of dollars. He had a real knack for finding efficiencies and inspiring people to work harder. The cooperative prospered and quickly became a town in itself.”

“What did you do?” Theo asked, hopping over a boulder with Kenji.

“I was the chief gardener. I helped choose the species of flowers to grow, select the fertilizers to use and plan out the irrigation systems,” Kenji answered. They had reached the foot of the hills at this point, and he stopped talking looking up the sun-lit hill.

“Why are you here now? Isn’t the cooperative still running today?” Theo asked, petting Arfie who had stopped as well and had come to sit next to him.

“After your grandfather disappeared in Vietnam, the flower farm faltered and people started to leave. It’s a beef ranch now, the rose bushes long gone,” Kenji frowned, closing his eyes. “There was a lot of conflict and disagreement on how to run the business and the cooperative. I thought I could fill in for Jesus, but I didn’t have his charisma.” Kenji looked down sadly and stopped talking.

Rosa stood beside Theo and Arfie and looked up the side of the hill. “So we have to climb up the hill to get to where we’re going? We don’t have hiking gear,” she said pointing at her tennis shoes.
Kenji looked up, subdued, and said, “No, no. We don’t have to climb up the hill. This way.” He walked along the base of the hill several feet and pulled aside a shrub, revealing a small cave entrance. “Come along. Don’t worry, it’s not a long tunnel.” He glanced quickly at Rosa sadly, giving her a look of recognition now, “I’d rather not talk about the past. Follow me, we’re now only a few steps from the hidden garden.”

*** This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. ***