Jasmine Dragon Boba

Cabbage Man

Zuko sat across from an old, burnt-out man in a forest green beanie worn down by time and use. The man's beige, long-sleeved collared shirt and green sweater vest were wrinkled and slightly unkempt. He must have really had a bad morning. He noted the empty cup in front of him, so he poured him another round of piping hot chamomile, trying to stay present in the man's drawling about his life as a cabbage farmer. The man could use some calming essence in his life.

"I really get no respect around here! All of these kids just keep running around when I'm trying to deliver my goods, and they trample all over my precious cabbages!" The man scowled. "No respect I tell ya!"

It took everything Zuko had to not spit out some kind of half-assed condolence, so he occupied himself with the man's gray chin puff and nodded silently instead. His beard was not as full and boastful as his uncle's, but it was there.

"It's like they don't care about vegetables at all! The nerve of these kids!"

The scarred boy swore he could've seen some spit fly. Just keep calm, Zuko.

"Honestly, they have this huge bison–I don't even know how they got a bison–that this one lanky, bald kid rides on then these other three kids come running after him, and every single time they crush my diligently grown cabbages to shreds!" The elderly farmer seemed close to tears.

Lanky, bald kid? It sounded a lot like the annoying, Avatar kid in his biology class last year. Zuko doubted it'd actually be him since the bald know-it-all was such a goody-two-shoes. He hadn't heard of him since.

He slammed his hands against the table. "No respect with this generation. At. All." A huff of hot air left his mouth.

The young adult scratched the back of his head, not knowing what to say. "Uh... I'm, well, sorry to hear about those cabbages, sir." He stretched his lips into a smile. Kind of. "I'm sure that there's a bright side to all of this, though." What was that saying Uncle had told him? "Sometimes clouds have two sides, a dark and light, and a silver lining in between. It's like a silver sandwich! So when life seems hard, just take a bite out of the silver sandwich, and things should turn out alright?"

Bewilderment spread like wildfire over the cabbage farmer's face. He blinked a couple of times. A few seconds passed with the man boring into the boy's amber eyes, scrutinizing him. Why did he vow to interact with customers again?

Neither of them said a thing before the old man let out a hearty laugh. "You're a good kid, Zuko! Not like the other kids. I'm sure old Iroh and your pop are proud of you!" Well, at least there was one of them.

Zuko smiled. "Just watch, sir. One day, you'll be running the largest cabbage corporation in all of Ba Sing Se."

"I sure hope that's the case! Maybe it'll come thanks to that silver sandwich of yours!"

He felt his eye twitch despite attempting to keep his polite smile. Oh, god, no.

"It's time I got back to the farm, but thank you for the tea and the chat, young man. Give my regards to Iroh." He pulled out a five-dollar bill and handed it to Zuko with a friendly grin. "For your troubles. I'll come by again."

"Thank you, sir!" He bowed then waved as the farmer left the shop.

He stood by, watching as the old man got into his dented grayish-greenish Ford F150 from the window before hastily pulling out a chair and collapsing into it with an exasperated groan. He pocketed the five in his apron, letting the last rays of sun hit him before he was fully saturated in the shop's artificial light.

He was slowly starting to be okay with this kind of life. Not needing to redeem himself by outdoing the Avatar kid. It has definitely been a while since he uttered the name of that company besides when mentioning his irritating classmate.