Mr Davies and the Marrow

Mr Davies on plot eighteen had not spoken to Bill in nine years on account of a marrow, a competition marrow, and a judging decision both men had taken to their separate graves of grievance. Eileen knew the whole stupid history of it. She had heard Bill recite it like scripture. So when Mr Davies appeared at the fence between the plots with his cap in his hands she braced herself for something cold. He said, the soil that end goes hard, you'll want to fork it before you water or it just runs off. Then he said, Bill knew that. He'll have told you. And she understood that this was Mr Davies grieving, in the only grammar Mr Davies owned, which was the grammar of soil. She said thank you, Mr Davies. He put his cap back on and went away and she forked the hard end before she watered, and it did not run off, and she cried into the fork.