The Look Of Hope

Chapter 44: Life

A lot can happen in four years. Following the summer dinner, of the new decade year (1990), the Merry Berry Farm continued to be successful. The summer day camp grew and thrived too, seeing growing each year. Now the summer camp is two weeks long with tons of children signed up. The country store, which Mary and Ms. Katie aptly named Farmacista, became a prosperous hit.

Farmacista sold many items, some unique to only the farm. Ms. Katie's baking became an overnight sensation, it rivals the ladies at Sugar Hi. Her blueberry scones, muffins, jams, jelly-filled donuts, cookies, and pies are the top sellers. Not to be outdone, the extra-large Sicilian lemons were a huge boom too. 

With all of the success happening in their store, one early July morning, Ms. Katie suggested "Mary are you willing to think outside the box with me?" 

Mary knew her mother-in-law's mind is cooking something up. "What do you have in mind, Mama Kate?" 

With an exciting look on her pleasant face, Mama Kate spoke. "Well I've been thinking, we're surrounded by blueberries, but what's the one thing we don't have in our store?" 

That's a good question. What do they not have in their store? Turning all around her, staring from wall to wall, she thought about it and responded with "Well, we don't have any beauty products." It's like a lightbulb went off inside her heart. What can blueberries are good for your health, but what can they do for skincare?

Laughing, her wise mother-in-law stated "See this is why we're a good team. You think one direction, and I think another. I see the wheels in your brain turning. We'll add blueberry skincare to our idea list. But I was actually reflecting on the merits of blueberry juice."

Mary's eyes lit up. "Blueberry juice! I could smack myself on the head. Of course! That would be a huge hit too. How do we go about trying that?"

"Well let's go pick some berries and try out some recipes." She grabbed a basket and her daughter-in-law's hand. Out they trotted to the fields ready to berry pick. Once they had enough, into Mary's extra-large kitchen they went. 

All morning and afternoon they squeezed and juiced. The first juice batch was... a bit unusual. Mary's girls, who are now six and three and a half respectively, were the test tasters. They knew the juice was not quite right when Grace's face puckered up and Lydia said "Mommy, this is not good like the survival juice." Survival juice is what she calls Daddy's coffee. 

They tried different recipes again, and again, and again. Finally, one of them turned out just right. They knew this because Grace said "More peas". Since her birthday is coming up, her Grammy asked "Gracie girl, what do you want for your birthday?" 

Grace's face lit up. She didn't even have to think. "I want a kitty kats, Grinch nuts, a baby, and a dead owl." She jumped down from the stool and ran off to play with her sister. 

Ms. Katie turned to Mary for an explanation. Mary saw her mother-in-law's expression and laughed. "What Grace really means is... She wants Kit-Kat bars, pistachios, a stuffed owl, and a baby brother or sister." 

After having a good laugh, Ms. Katie remarked "What an extraordinary list she came up with. Even more fascinating that she asked for a new sibling." Her son and daughter-in-law make the prettiest babies. She and Raymond want another grandchild to spoil rotten, so she pressed the issue. "Have you and Bobby thought about it?"

Knowing what her mother-in-law is getting up to, Mary replied with "We have and we've discussed it a lot."

"Have you discussed it or have you been doing something about it?" She knows she's prying but another one would be so great.