Jes paused for a moment to look at Mr. Davis as he watered his lawn.
"Mr. Davis," Jes asked, "why do you water this lawn everyday?"
"Well honey," Mr. Davis replied, "I guess the reason that I water this
here lawn everyday, is 'cause when you have somethin' or even someone
that you love, you must give it the care that you would want yourself and
if you don't, well honey, you end up losing it."
"So that's why you water this lawn everyday, so that you don't lose
it?"
"No honey," Mr. Davis chuckled, "I water this here lawn everyday
because without water, this here lawn would die. Also because my wife
and I been livin' in this here house for over forty years and this lawn is
apart of us. And as I told you before, you have to give what you expect in
return. For this lawn I expect it to grow, so I give it water, and water
gives it life. Take my wife for example, for me, she is my water and
without her I know I would die. Maybe people are a lot like this here
lawn, we both need to have love to survive. It would be easy for this here
lawn to love itself. It's also easy for people to love themselves, but we
both need the touch of someone else to feed us. For the lawn it needs me
to water it. For me I need my wife to water me. Now ask yourself what
you need."
Jes stood there listening to a man that she had never before thought
much of, tell her that she needed to be loved.
"Thank you for your advice Mr. Davis," Jes said as she walked toward
her home.
"Hey Ms. Lewis," Mr. Davis called to Jes, "are you troubled by
something?"
"No Mr. Davis," Jes said as she turned to respond, "no I'm not
troubled by a thing."
Jes reached her porch, looked back at Mr. Davis as he continued with
his chore, and waved a thankful good-bye as she entered her home.
After Jes got herself settled in, she called Tanya to see if she was still
able to accompany her to the gathering. Jes listened over the
speakerphone as the phone rang several times. Just as she was about to
disconnect the call, she heard a voice.
"Hello," the voice said hurriedly, "hello."
"Yes," Jes spoke, "may I speak to Tanya please?"
"This is she."
Jes gathered her thoughts and spoke.
"Hello Tanya, this is Jes."
"Hey girl, I was just getting ready to leave for my gathering."
"That's what I was calling about."
"Did you want to go?"
"Yes, if it's OK," Jes spoke.
"That would be wonderful. Hey Jes, after the gathering some of my
girlfriends and I are going to get together for drinks and you are more
than welcomed to join us. There's just one thing, if you want to join us, I
can pick you up. If you don't, I'll give you directions to the gathering and
you can meet me there."