He grows the biggest gourds in the county. Pity what he feeds them.

Terry Calliope has a gift for growing vegetables, and this year’s gourd proves it.

He’s out at the patch before dawn, working the soil, talking to the vines as if they understand him—feeding them whatever they require. Whatever it might turn out to be. Xavier, his gourd, grows enormous; the blue ribbon is almost within his grasp. Terry doesn’t notice the changes—in the garden or in himself—until noticing is no longer the point.

By the time he grasps what his prize plant needs from him, he’s not looking for a way out. He’s looking for a way to give it more.