"Maybe later we could find ways to grow it somewhere. But we'd start by harvesting the grass out of the Everglades. We'd bring machines into a place just like this – maybe even right here. And they could scoop up all the grass we would ever need."
"What would happen to the Everglades, Mom? Wouldn't the machines hurt it?" I said.
"Huh? Oh, uh – not much, really," Mom replied. "it's a really, really big place, Jason. This kind of harvesting wouldn't do much damage. Well, maybe some damage, I guess. But this could be an important discovery, son. And remember, it could make us very rich!"
"Cool!" I said.
"Yeah, real cool," Mom said, smiling.
"Yeah, weal cooool," Timmy repeated.
But, even if his vacation might make us rich in the end, I still had nothing to do.
This was only our first afternoon in the hot, humid Florida swamp, and I was already bored stiff.
Mom told me to watch Timmy while she waded in rubber wading boots. I saw her sloshing around in the water, pushing an inflated raft with some test tubes and other equipment laid out on it.
"I'm going to make some cuttings of this sawgrass to run the first couple of tests," she yelled. "I just need a few samples to start the experiments."
"Yeah, OK, great, fine," I answered from onshore.
Whatever. All I knew was that I felt incredibly hot, and I wanted to go home.
The water seemed to be flowing around Mom as she stood surrounded by the tall grass, cutting off pieces that she dropped into the glass tubes.
–
YOU ARE READING
Shivers: A Ghastly Shade of Green
HorrorAnother Shivers story I'm copying from my book. Again, the first four chapters can be found on Google Books.