VICTOR AND THE MARIGOLD

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Going downtown with his best buddy Charlie, was Victor. They were headed towards the local ice cream shop near the firefighter station. Their ice cream may not be the best in New York City, but it is the best for the cheap price especially since they had Charlie's favorite Rocky Road flavor. 

Eating their quickly deteriorating ice creams, Charlie mentions to Victor that his marigold was already fully grown and in need of only to bloom, which will probably, hopefully, happen by the end of summer.  

The look of shock on Victor’s face made him realize his friend had forgotten about the biology assignment they were given over the summer break. “You forgot didn’t you?” he asked Big V as he sometimes liked to call him. 

In response, Victor averted his eyes and looked down. “You still got some time left, but you have to start now. Remember what the teacher said?” Charlie added.

At his friends mention, Victor’s mind flashbacked about a month or so. 

The bell rang to signal to Victor and his classmates that their last period just officially started. Ms. Thatcher, their biology teacher was uncharacteristic of her running late. Everyone kept droning on soaking up every moment possible before the lesson would begin. Which didn't last long enough for Ms. Thatcher to arrive about five minutes into the lesson. She was holding in her hands the reason for her late arrival -  darkly orange and yellow colored flowers. “Settle down class, take your seats,” is how she began her lesson today. “What I hold here is your over-the-summer vacation assignment,” said Ms Thatcher, and elicited from her students groans of disapproval. 

“Now, now settle down. What I have here are marigolds. Lovely summer flowers that are one of the easiest flowers to grow. And that will be your assignment. You shall grow a marigold over summer and try to bring it to bloom. Now these flowers don’t need much, but they love the sun. It takes from 4 to 14 days for them to germinate. They tend to bloom after 2 months or so, but it can take longer. And that is why I am bringing you your assignment instructions today. If you start immediately, there is a possibility you will see your flowers bloom by the start of your next school year. So this is going to be graded next year. Here are the seeds, each one of you gets a packet. On your way out today take also a pot and a packet of soil. They are over at the door.”

‘Right, she gave us that assignment in the middle of May. Then summer youth camp happened at the beginning of June. After that, I just messed around with my friends for two weeks and even did that treasure hunt. And here I am at the beginning of July. I need to start today, or it might happen my marigold doesn’t bloom,’ concluded Victor.

“You're right I forgot, I still might have time to catch up though,” Victor told Charlie and then excused himself. It was time he began with his project.  

Returning home Victor dug up all the supplies from his bag and closet where he put them. Flowers usually needed the soil to be prepared. But marigolds were a species on their own. You could plant them straight into the unprepared soil. 

Put the seeds 5 mm deep into the soil and around 30 cm apart. And then water them well. The soil sucking up the water immediately was a good sign that drainage was good. The pot was placed on the outside part of the kitchen window seal where the sun shone brightly for most of the day. Each day for the next couple of days he watered the soil well. 

On day four he came down full of expectation and was disappointed when he saw nothing. It continued so until day 10 when he became frustrated. He needed the seedling to come out as soon as possible or it might not bloom in time for the beginning of school. On day 11 he came down a bit dejectedly expecting to still see nothing but was positively surprised that the seedling started to appear. He was intrigued to see its daily progress. After a couple of days, the marigold was fully grown, now all that was left was for it to bloom. Victor made sure the plant was always well watered but otherwise forgot about the plant.

With Charlie and his buddies, he went to the baseball field to play some catch. There they forgot all about their marigolds and instead talked about the upcoming Little League Baseball World Series. Victor and his buddies of course did not play ball this season, but they all wanted to play next year. They were discussing how they would all try out for next year's teams. While discussing so another group of 5 boys approached them and asked them if they would play ball. Since there were only ten of them they of course could not play the traditional way so instead they all just rotated around the infield, outfield, and batting. There was only one catcher though, and for a bit, it posed a problem until Charlie was convinced to lace them up. 

They had a blast and Charlie found a new passion for playing catcher. That is how the beginning of a new star began. 

That is how they spent the majority of their summer. They met up and played baseball together. It was by far the best summer Victor has ever spent. About ten days before the end of summer break, Victor realized his marigold had not bloomed yet. Time was running out. Realizing he might get a bad grade little Victor decided to search for how he could speed up the process. ‘Surely, it can be done’, Victor thought.

Honey, ended up being the answer. So honey is what Victor used. He added it 9 days before the beginning of school. He added a little bit each day yet saw no results. Four days before the beginning of school he started to panic and decided to add even more honey. And so did he the next day. Two days before the beginning of school he finally started to see the buds were beginning to bloom. He hoped it would be right on time. He kept adding honey for the next days until on the second day of school the flower was in full bloom. He had biology two days later and he managed to finish his assignment.

Victor felt such relief and a sense of accomplishment. He managed to get it done in even less time than suggested. He felt rather proud. And that feeling stayed with him until the morning they were to present their flowers. In the morning he got ready and went to pick up his flower feeling elated when he noticed it looked rather sullen. It wasn’t as vibrant as on the previous days. Victor’s elation left him. Left with no other option he went to school. 

The whole day he looked sullen. And the closer he got to his biology period the more disappointed he looked. ‘Why did they all of a sudden become so sullen?’ Victor wondered. His biology lesson finally began and they all brought up their flowers. A B is what Victor got. Not too bad at the end of the day. Still, the scientist in him wanted to know where he went wrong. He was so sure, he succeeded after all.

After the class, he lagged behind too caught up in his thinking. Ms. Thatcher noticed his saddened expression and approached him. Victor revealed to her what happened and asked if she knew where he had gone wrong. He had added too much honey was her conclusion. "Honey was good but if overused can become toxic to the flowers," she said.  

“You know Vicor, it takes a lot of patience to grow flowers just as it takes to accomplish many things. Trying to cut lines by taking shortcuts can take us somewhere faster. But usually, it is short-lived and the results dwindle quickly. 

Victor pondered on those thoughts all week until Shabbath. On Shabbath he read the Word of God and happened upon James 1: 4 (NIV) that said, “ But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”

Patience God says we need, patience in all we do. All we do. Victor has learned another lesson. And many more will follow.

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1. Image created via canva.com.