The Kids Grow Up by Trish Hanan (novel24 .TXT) 📖

that’s boring work?” Violet sneered to Gloria who rolled her eyes.
“What do kids know, they’re foolish,” she agreed. She was staring at Emma who was riding the tractor with her brother, the one they called her twin who was taller and blacker than she was and looked nothing like her. How dare they call that boy her precious baby girl’s twin! Harry and Jake should be shot for not giving her back her daughter. She glared at the two men, but she had to admit Emma looked really happy.
After the weeding everyone began picking and with so many workers it only took them the morning to get all the beans that were ready. Then after lunch, the kids marched off to look at the monkeys and get some oranges while everyone else rested.
“Oh, man, look at the baby, isn’t it so cute, Dad, can I have a monkey?” Emma asked and Jake laughed.
“Emma, those things have very sharp claws and very deadly teeth, you can’t have a monkey,” he told her and she frowned.
“Really?” she asked and he nodded.
“Trust me, baby girl, you don’t want to make one of those creatures mad at you,” he said firmly. She nodded, of course she trusted her dad; he would never lie to her.
Harry lifted the oranges back to the ship and they loaded up and flew home, it had been a lovely day. The next day he flew back to Edenville and roasted the beans and divided them into fifty pound drums and gave everyone their coffee and everyone was happy. Then the next day he took the kids back to Savannah for tea and they had the best time because after they picked the tea, he took them to the oasis for nuts and they all loved that. Afterwards he flew to the Mill and they got to help roast and divide them and make peanut butter which they thought was the neatest thing.
“Oh, man, Emma, your dad is so cool, he knows how to do everything,” ten year-old Gail Evans gushed and Emma beamed.
“Okay, Team Harry, as a special reward for all of your hard work, I’m now going to take you shopping to the store of your choice,” Harry announced and all the kids cheered.
“Toys R Us,” screamed half the children.
“Tower Music,” screamed several older kids.
“The Disney Store,” screamed a couple.
“Oh, Macys,” screamed Hillary and Ashley. Harry laughed. He dropped off Jake with half the children at the toy store and the older kids at the music store where he told them they could get five things, whatever they wanted, and they all got excited by that and he dropped off DJ with some other kids at another store and he ended up at Macys with the two girls who wanted summer dresses and earrings so that’s what they got.
“Oh, thank you Harry, you’re very generous,” Ashley gushed as they left the store. He smiled at the pretty girls.
“You did the work, ladies, I always reward hard work,” he told them and they beamed. He picked up all the happy kids and flew everyone back to Hawaii with the tea and nuts and they handed them out. All the adults who had decided they didn’t want to pick tea were disappointed that they had missed out on a free shopping trip, especially Violet and Gloria.
“Hey, you didn’t say you were taking people shopping,” Violet snapped when she saw the Macy’s bag. Harry shrugged.
“The kids worked hard and you two should know, I always reward hard work,” he stated and all the parents nodded. Carl put his arm around his shoulder.
“That’s right ladies, Harry is a firm believer in the value of rewarding hard work,” he gushed and they rolled their eyes. All the kids hugged him as they walked away with their goodies.
“You have the best dad,” Becky Tyler said to Jackson who grinned and nodded. He had gone shopping at Tower Records and had some cool stuff including a music video player and music videos; it was going to be a great vacation thanks to his generous dad. Jake kissed Harry.
“You are the best, babe; that was a great idea, it made all the kids happy and we got enough peanut butter for the year,” he said with satisfaction. Harry grinned.
“The kids worked hard, picking nuts is hard work and hard work deserves a reward. I don’t know why people make a fuss over that,” he said shaking his head. Jake grinned.
“They’re idiots, don’t pay any attention to them, babe,” he said and they went home.
That night they sat around and played a board game with their friends and everyone had a great time sipping drinks and laughing.
“That was nice today, Harry, letting the kids go shopping,” Steve remarked and Harry nodded.
“Those kids worked hard today picking nuts for six hours,” he told them. Kathleen made a face.
“Better them than me, ugh, I hate picking nuts,” she declared. Everyone laughed.
“Yes, but you love peanut butter,” Steve reminded her. She giggled.
“I know, especially on bread late at night, it’s my favorite snack,” she confessed. Joon nodded.
“And she always complains about it being purple and says peanut butter should be brown,” she told everyone and they laughed again. Harry shrugged.
“I’ve gotten used to purple peanut butter, I would think the brown is weird after all these years,” he said. Jake nodded.
“Remember when we used to find it in the bins and we’d gush over it,” he reminisced and they all sighed. DJ frowned.
“We haven’t done the bins in a long time, how come?” he asked. Harry shrugged.
“I’ve been so busy with school and everything, besides I’ve been thinking that we’d better save some of that stuff for later in case we get more failures like the wheat thing and we need the food in an emergency,” he told them and they all nodded.
“Yeah, that sounds good, we just might need that food if all of our crops fail one time,” Charlie remarked and they all shuddered.
Later when they went to bed Jake turned to his love.
“Do you think that would ever happen, all of our crops failing at the same time?” he asked. Harry shrugged.
“It could happen, you never know. Those bugs could fly back and get in all the fields at the same time. That’s why I’m working on the force field, so that that doesn’t happen,” he told him. Jake nodded and hugged him.
“You’re one smart little fortune cookie,” he teased and Harry grinned and reached down for his favorite toy.
“I’m one little horny fortune cookie, can I play with this for a little while?” he asked with a sly grin and Jake groaned as those magic hands did their job.
“Oh, babe, what you do to me with just one touch,” he moaned. Harry slid down in the bed and gave it his full attention. Jake closed his eyes and grinned.
That winter Harry perfected his force field and planted a little crop of flowers to see if it worked and it worked beautifully so he and Jake flew home and got crystals and made dozens of force fields for all of the farms. DJ, Steve, Carl and Brian helped put them together and the men worked all winter on them.
In the spring after planting Harry took the force fields to Farm One and demonstrated how they worked, how to turn them off and on for weeding. Everyone was very impressed.
“You mean that if those little flying bugs come back these force fields will keep them from getting to the crops,” Dr. George asked and Harry nodded.
“No flying bugs or crawling bugs are going to be able to get through this beam but the sunlight will still get in, it doesn’t affect the ultraviolet rays at all,” he told them. They all nodded.
“Why that’s brilliant, Harry,” Dr. Dennis remarked and Bernie nodded again. Max snorted.
“I hope you’re right because if these crops don’t grow, it’ll be all your fault,” he sneered. Dr. George sighed. Harry nodded.
“I tested them in Hawaii, Max and the flowers I tested the beam on grew just fine so I know that the sunlight will get through the beam. We tossed all kinds of bugs and debris at it and nothing went through, it all bounced off,” he explained. Dr. George grinned.
“If you say it works, Harry, that’s enough for me,” he stated and everyone but Max and Charles agreed. So they set up the force fields and all the fields got protected and everyone watched the fields carefully and they were all relieved when the crops all began to grow normally and even better than before because no birds could get in to eat the seeds and no bugs could get in to eat the plants.
“These force fields are great, our crops never looked so great,” Carl gushed at the town meeting and everyone was smiling. Brian stood up.
“Our wheat is already knee high and it’s never been knee high this early, Harry you’re a genius,” he declared and everyone laughed. Kate beamed and Max sighed.
A week later they didn’t like Harry quite as much.
Linda Tyler walked into the house and slammed the door. Her husband sighed and tried to read his book, but of course she stormed into the living room and demanded his attention. He looked up and smiled.
“Did you have a pleasant time at lunch, dear?” he inquired politely. Her face got red.
“Does it sound like I had a pleasant lunch? I swear, Max, sometimes you can be so dense,” she snapped and headed for the vodka bottle. He sighed and laid down the book.
“I thought this little mother-daughter outing was Maribeth’s idea,” he said with a frown. She glared at him.
“Oh, it was, she wanted to inform me, not ask me, but to inform me that she and Donna are moving into their house on this so-called kid’s farm that they’re starting and she wanted my blessing,” Linda’s voice rose almost hysterically. Max sighed.
“Well, dear, she is sixteen and you know, Steve moved out at sixteen,” he tried to reason. She stomped her feet.
“I don’t care what Stephen did, this is my daughter. If that little bastard Harry wouldn’t give them a house then she couldn’t move out. But when I called him he said he couldn’t do that, he said she had the right to her own life and I had no right to interfere with it,” she laughed and poured another belt. Max lifted an eyebrow.
“Well, you should have known the little fagola would say that. He’s been nothing but a pain in the ass since we got here and he’s never going to change. I can’t wait for the day when his kids turn sixteen and want out, then I’m going to laugh,” Max sneered. Linda flopped on the couch.
“There’s nothing we can do to stop them. Harry gives them a car at fifteen and then he gives them a house at sixteen. He’s like the King in his own little kingdom and there’s nothing we can do to prevent it,” she said and began to cry.
“Calm down, Mother; no, I didn’t give them a house, they asked for one,” Harry told his mother Kate as calmly as he could. He rolled his eyes at Jake