The Bag That Smelled of Mint

Chapter 1Six Little Packets

Mendy carried the garden bag to the courtyard table. It smelled of mint.

Inside were six small seed packets, a pencil, and Grandpa's cloth gardening gloves.

Each packet had a number. None had a plant name.

"We are planting the long box today," Mendy told his cousin, Dudy. "Grandpa said the names are in his notebook."

Dudy set three empty pots on the table.

"Then where is the notebook?"

Mendy searched the bag again. Gloves. Pencil. Packets. No notebook.

The sun shone across the planting box. Mendy had been waiting all morning to get started.

Chapter 2A Very Certain Smell

He held the closed bag near his nose.

"These must be mint seeds."

Dudy pointed at all six packets. "Every one?"

"Maybe the big packet is for the big mint."

Dudy sat down. "That would be a very minty garden."

Mendy reached for packet one, then stopped. Grandpa had asked them to keep the packets closed until he checked the plan. There were different places for different plants.

Mendy put it down without opening it.

The smell was clear. What it meant was not.

Chapter 3The Green Pocket

They searched for the notebook on the bench and beneath the table. They found a clothespin, a dry leaf, and Dudy's missing pencil from last week.

"The garden gives presents," Dudy said.

Mendy lifted the gloves. Behind them was an open side pocket in the bag.

Several fresh mint leaves lay inside.

He remembered Grandpa cutting a sprig that morning and putting it there before carrying the bag home.

"That is where the smell came from."

Dudy looked at the packets. "So the numbers are still numbers."

Mendy felt glad he had not planted anything. He also felt rather silly about the big mint.

Chapter 4Work That Could Wait

Grandpa was finishing a job indoors. Mendy went to the doorway and told him about the missing notebook and the leaves.

"Don't choose from the smell," Grandpa said. "I will bring the plan when I come out."

"Can we do anything now?"

Grandpa asked them to wipe the pot rims and put the blank plant markers beside the box. The tools would wait for him.

Dudy wiped one pot and inspected it like a precious bowl.

"Excellent. This one is ready to grow a number."

Mendy brought the packets to the dry middle of the table, away from the damp cloth.

Chapter 5The Folded Page

Grandpa came out carrying his notebook. A folded garden plan had hidden it beneath a newspaper.

The page listed every packet number beside a plant name and the place meant for it.

Mendy pointed at packet one. "I thought that was mint."

"It is calendula."

Dudy looked at Mendy. Mendy began to laugh first.

Together they matched all six packets to the written plan. Grandpa checked the matches before any packet was opened.

There was no mint packet at all. The mint already grew in a separate pot by the steps.

Chapter 6Before the First Seed

Mendy wrote the plant names on the markers while Dudy read the numbers from the plan. Grandpa checked the spelling and placed each marker where its seeds would go.

They worked through one packet at a time with him, following its planting directions.

At packet four, Mendy reached for marker five.

Dudy tapped the plan instead of grabbing it away.

"This line."

Mendy read it again and put the correct marker beside Grandpa.

The written names had helped with the first guess. They still needed checking while the work was happening.

Chapter 7A Minty Number

When the planting was done, Grandpa put the spare seeds and notebook together on a shelf indoors.

Mendy removed the fresh leaves from the bag. Grandpa took them to the kitchen, and the boys washed their hands.

Dudy read the new markers from the courtyard doorway.

"No big mint. No little mint."

"No number plants either," Mendy said.

The long box had six tidy markers. The empty bag still smelled of mint. This time, Mendy knew why.