Ken came back from his parents home a few days later, carrying in a ton of books, plants, dishes, and pots and pans for the commune. His mom helped him bring in boxes and boxes of stuff and took time to sample some of Nancy's Apple Zucchini Bread while she was around. She praised the commune (especially the food) and said how good living there was for Ken. Then she gave him a hug and waved goodbye to everyone else.
After she left, Ken began unpacking boxes, bringing stuff to his room, stuff to the kitchen, and stuff to the den. Various folks passing by would move a box or three as they went.
Luna was having lunch but decided to eat by Ken while he opened more boxes. She felt she hadn't had a chance to get to know Ken and thought this could be an opportunity.
"Where do you think we should put all these plants?" he asked Luna. He pointed out spiderplants, and coleuses, and jade plants, and a Boston fern.
Luna wasn't paying attention to the plants Ken was pointing to. Her attention had been grabbed by a little plant Ken had stuck near the corner of the room.
"Is that what I think it is?" she asked.
Ken nodded. "Do you think it will be a problem? I like growing things and my mother didn't mind it. I was hoping it would be okay here."
"Well, if the sheriff comes back to see how you're doing or if we've gotten any more runaways, I don't think he'd be happy to see it. And I don't want to find any of us, including you, in jail over that plant. We can't afford to get into trouble at this point in our growth. I want to see the commune last a year here at the very least. Hopefully a lot more."
"I was going to keep it up in my room. Look, nobody's gonna see it up there. I'll make sure to keep it out of sight. I promise."
Luna sighed. "I don't know, Ken, but it's not my decision. I think we're gonna need to talk about this in the commune meeting."
"Luna said, 'Ken, we'll need to pass, and we'd better, we'd better, get rid of it as soon as we're able.'"
Sal was the facilitator for the next commune meeting. There were a lot of items on the agenda but the one that ended up getting the most time and attention was Ken's little pot plant.
"I don't mind a little smoke now and then," said Marge, "but I don't want there to be any excuse for the sheriff to shut this place down."
"I agree," said Nancy. "The sheriff and deputies were very nice while they were here and they seem fine with us running a commune in their county, but I don't know how fine they'd be if they saw that growing here."
"Yeah," said Cat. "I just don't want trouble."
Sal asked, "Is there anybody that thinks that it would be a good idea for there to be grass growing up in Ken's room?"
"I do," said Ken.
Viv said, "I don't see why he can't keep it if it's kept up in his room. The sheriff isn't going to be going up to people's rooms, is he?"
"I hope not," Dan said. "But if he got a complaint about this place and came with a search warrant, he could go through people's rooms."
"Well, let's make sure that no one complains about us," said Ken.
"It's not that easy," Dan said. "He could be looking for anything, including runaways, but if he saw that it could cause lots of problems."
"Unfortunately, I agree," said Luna. "We've put too much work into this farm to jeopardize it for one plant."
Viv looked at Ken. Ken sat and looked thoughtful. No one said anything for a few minutes.
"Alright," Ken said finally. "I'll have my mom come by and pick it up. Soon."
"I'm sorry," Luna said. "Maybe we're worried over nothing, but I just don't want to take a chance."
"That's okay," Ken said. "I'll trade it for my lizard. I miss him. His name's Harry."
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