I have made worse investments with a great deal more thought.

Chapter 4 — What Sal Knew

I want to tell you about Sal, because he is the reason the garden was what it was, and because I have met powerful men in hospital boardrooms who had a fraction of his authority and none of his grace.

Sal knew things.

He knew that the young couple in Plot Six were trying for a baby and having no luck, and he knew not to mention it, and he knew to quietly leave the sunniest end of the shared herb bed for the wife because she’d said once that basil made her feel hopeful.

He knew which teenager sent to do court-ordered service hours was a lost cause and which one was only lost, and he treated the difference as the most important information in the world.