Green Thumb

The fake fireplace was lit and the guys were already settled into their places next to each other on the floor of the loft facing the darting flames.

“How come you’re so scared of Debbie when you’re not scared of me at all, Taylor?” Brian wanted to know. “Hard as I try too. I guess I’m a failure. Couldn’t scare a flea any more.”

“Gee whiz, Kinney,” Justin showed some surprise, “I’m not at all scared of Debbie and you frighten me out of my wits – and you know it too - so why would you ever say something like that?”

“Because of that green thing over there, Baby,” Brian laughed, pointing in the direction of the loft’s latest addition. “A damn potted plant. That’s Debbie’s doing all right. You are not a ‘plant’ person, JT. And we never had a potted plant around here before – and I didn’t even know we needed one ….”

“Well it’ll make the loft a healthier place, Brian,” Justin pointed out with botanical expertise. “Plants absorb carbon dioxide from the air and like – replace it with oxygen so we can breathe better.”

“You know, Kiddo,” Brian pointed out back, “I’ve been breathing in this loft for a good while now – and with not all that much difficulty either - but I will admit that I have noticed the high levels of carbon dioxide in here lately – so this little piece of forestry will be a wonderful addition to our quality of life …”

“Gee whiz, BK,” Justin protested, “You know nobody can ‘notice’ carbon dioxide. I don’t see why you’re making such a big thing about this anyhow. Deb did not make me bring this little bit of beauty into our home. It was all my idea. She just gave me this cutting from her garden a while back and I’ve been cultivating it over there and now it’s a regular plant on it’s own – and it sometimes has these pretty red flowers on it too – so I decided we should have it here. I should have known better but I thought you’d be glad we have it – or at least not make such a fuss about it. I hope you don’t go and insult it and get it mad so it won’t bloom ….”

“Nope, Baby,” Brian was still laughing, “No chance of that. With your green thumb there is nothing I could do to stifle the growth and development of yonder flower. If it doesn’t flourish and bloom and all that stuff, you will surely nag and nag and then nag some more – until it does what you want it to do. It has no options. I should know. Bet you could even make it have yellow flowers if you wanted – instead of red. What we do need to worry about is that, with your agricultural skills, the damn plant doesn’t grow and grow till there’s no room in here for us – or worse maybe - that it might be a man-eating plant like the one in that musical we saw at Heinz Hall last year….”

“You know what, Brian Kinney,” Justin replied with intentionally exaggerated patience in his voice, “I think you’re just jealous because I’m like – good with flowers. I bet there’s no green thumb on Brian Kinney.”

“Probably not - but maybe I can learn from your floral proficiency, Baby,” Brian told him. “What kind of plant is this new addition to our environment anyhow? Both the English and the Latin names please. I don’t want to look dumb when Emmett or Melanie or somebody like that asks me. I want to seem to be as smart as you.”

“Well I don’t think I’m gonna give you that information, Bri – since you’re giving me such a hard time,” Justin decided. “If you want to know all those details, you could ask Debbie or Vic – they know.”

“And you don’t, Mr. Know-It-All,” Brian presumed with a grin, “Or you’d only be too glad to respond to – and point out by that response - my total ignorance in these matters.”

“Yeah – just like I always do, Kinney,” it was Justin’s turn to laugh. “Well it’s my plant and I’m gonna take care of it all by myself – you don’t need to help - but I’ll share the oxygen supply with you anyhow - even if you don’t deserve it ….”

“Well I hope the care and feeding of that old plant doesn’t take so much of your time that you won’t have any time for me,” Brian wondered.

“Like that would ever happen, Kinney,” Justin cuddled himself closer to the guy next to him – instigating a pause in the horticultural exchange and possibly giving Brian ample assurance that the newly acquired potted plant was not a real rival for the twink’s affections.

“You know what, Baby,” Brian finally broke the long-standing silence. “Maybe I should help you with the care and feeding of our new leafy addition after all. Since I’m gonna be breathing the extra oxygen and getting the benefits ….”

“I don’t think so, Bri,” Justin told him. “All I have to do, Vic told me, is to water it like – twice a week - and sprinkle some plant food on it every once in a while. And that’s been working.”

“And you’re afraid I’d foul even that simple formula up, eh Kiddo,” Brian surmised. “Not having a green thumb like you do?”

“Well Debbie and Vic showed me how to do it - and it’s pretty easy and it doesn’t take much time either – so I guess I should do it myself,” Justin replied, “And you know what else, Bri, the truth is that I don’t really have all that much of a green thumb. My dad used to try to get me to do some gardening at home and I wanted to – I really did - but like - everything I ever planted died. Once we each planted four tomato plants in the back yard and his did real well and we didn’t get any tomatoes at all off mine. This plant here is like – my first real success with greenery – at least so far it’s been a success.”

“Geez, Baby – something you’re not good at! I didn’t know there was such a thing. Well then I guess I should tell you that my dad had a garden too,” Brian confided, “And he wouldn’t let me near it. He always said I was the main reason they invented artificial plants.”

“That’s OK, Sweetheart,” Justin assured him. “You are real good at the things you’re good at – and there’s a lot of them - and they’re more important than like – raising plants.”

“But the things I’m good at don’t produce oxygen or anything ….” Brian pointed out.

“Cut it out, Kinney,” Justin ordered. “You’ve got all the sympathy you’re gonna get. And you know what else. You remember how scared I got when we saw ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ with that awful man-eating plant. I like – couldn’t sleep for a couple of weeks – and there wasn’t even a plant here in the loft then either.”

“Yeah, I remember that, Baby,” Brian did remember. “And I also remember that when you don’t sleep, nobody sleeps – and now you bring a living plant right here ….”

“Well I forgot all about the ‘Little Shop’ and then you had to remind me so it’s your fault if I’m scared and can’t sleep.” Justin adjusted the blame. “You didn’t have to remind me.”

“No I guess I didn’t,” Brian admitted. “And I’m sorry I did. So if you want to take the plant back over to Debbie’s you can do that and we can live without the extra oxygen – or we can get a tank of oxygen to boost our supply if we need to ….”

“Gee whiz, Brian,” Justin seemed torn, “I really want to keep the plant here. It’s a nice plant and it would feel rejected if it got thrown out of here. I’ll just have to try to sleep – even with that plant growing right over there - and if I can’t sleep, I’ll still try to let you sleep. OK?”

“Gimme a while to think about that offer, Honey,” Brian grinned at him while tightening his hold on the kid. “Maybe I should stay awake too. I need to think about that for a while – if you don’t mind.”

“OK,” Justin agreed, plopping his head onto Brian’s shoulder. “Go ahead and think as long as you want to.”

Actually Brian did not need to think about it at all – not for a minute – he knew exactly what he would want to do in that circumstance - but he thought it might be good to have Justin think that he did need to think about it – not that Justin was fooled at all by the ploy.

And Justin was not as frightened as he pretended to be either – as Brian well knew.
 

Return to Fireside Chats