The Fanatical Gardener and Other Short Stories: Short Stories, #2

By Gail Crane

A collection of short stories in which things aren't always quite what you expect.

The Fanatical Gardener
When Japanese Knotweed takes hold in Arthur's immaculate garden, his attempts to eradicate it have unforeseen consequences.

Rags and Riches
A bag of donated clothing forces a charity shop volunteer to face her past.

A Scooter for Edie
Edie couldn't master riding a bike or driving a car but, surely, even she could manage a mobility scooter?

Meeting Hector
They met via the internet. Now it's time to invite him to her home.

What's it Worth?
Kev and Wayne finally discover crime doesn't pay.

Tomorrow Will be Too Late
A neglected cottage and the discovery of an old family bible spell trouble for a young couple.

Dinner's in the Oven.
A neglected wife gets her revenge. When her football-obsessed husband takes it out on the cat, it's just a step too far.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Aller Books
• Release date: Feb 4, 2021
• ISBN: 9781393850700

Gail Crane

Gail Crane writes romance novels and short stories inspired by the Exmoor countryside where she lives. She is a member of The Alliance of Independent Authors and The Romantic Novelists Association and in 2014, she completed a BA degree with Open University, studying creative writing and children's literature. When not writing or reading, she enjoys walking and gardening, and is addicted to crosswords.

Book preview

The Fanatical Gardener

Arthur loved his garden. Every evening when he came home from work, no matter what the weather, he would go out weeding and clipping, making sure everything was just so. He liked things tidy. Any plant daring to send out a sucker or outgrow its allotted space would be summarily dealt with.

After dark, Arthur would take his torch and bucket and ruthlessly dispose of any slug or snail that had escaped the blue pellets he scattered freely each day.

Jean sometimes stood in the window and watched her husband as he went about his fussing and primping and wonder how she managed to live with him.

They hardly spent any time together these days. If she offered to help in the garden, he would grumble and instruct, telling her she was doing things all wrong, until she gave up in exasperation. And, as he spent all his spare time in the garden, they inevitably grew steadily further apart.

Then came the evening when, having worked in the garden until it was too dark to do more, he joined Jean in the sitting room, opened his gardening magazine and saw the article on Japanese Knotweed.

Of course, he already knew about it. What gardener worth his salt wouldn't? But this was a new development and his pulse raced as he read.

'It’s mutated.' he said excitedly. 'There’s a new strain that’s resistant to all known weed-killers.'

'Is there, dear?' Jean carried on with her knitting.

'We have to report any we see to the authorities.'

'Really, dear?' Clickety click.

'We must be on the lookout. Keep our eyes peeled.'

'Yes, dear.' One purl. One plain.

'It will be almost impossible to get rid of, you know.' Arthur's eyes gleamed. 'It says here, it grows through anything, even concrete. Apparently just a tiny piece can root and form a new plant and it grows up to three feet in one day.' Arthur thought for a moment. 'By golly, imagine that.'

Jean put down her knitting. She needed a cup of tea. 'Shall I put the kettle on, dear?'

Arthur nodded and carried on reading. 'Three metres high and seven metres spread, it says here.' He did some mental calculating. 'Good lord, do you realise it could reach that size in only three days?'

Jean poured boiling water over the teabags and wondered if she should treat herself to a piece of chocolate cake to steady her nerves.

*

As Arthur cycled to work each morning and home again each evening, he kept an eagle eye on the banks and hedgerows, determined no stray shoot of the dreaded mutant weed should escape his notice.

Then a clump was discovered at the far end of the village and, peeved that someone had found it before him, Arthur cycled along to see. Sure enough, there it was. Not a huge clump but big enough. He propped his cycle against the hedge and walked over to have a closer look.

Vicious looking it was. Great purplely-red shoots resembling sharpened bamboo canes pushed through the