Chapter Eight: Stan Moves On

   "...Stan, old boy, this is a showdown..."

Things at the farm were a little less busy with new members to take up the slack.  And maybe there was just a little too much slack in some places.

It was Wednesday night, time for the regular commune meeting.

Dinner had been cleaned up and the dishes had been put away. The dining room had been swept and the kitchen floor had been mopped.  Now both rooms were empty.

Everyone was gathered in the living room of the middle farm house, which, at this point, was packed with people.  Fairly upset people.

Ed and Ralph were visiting and simply sat in, not saying anything, while new members Marge, Darren, and Ken watched the meeting quietly, still trying to figure out how this commune thing worked.  Cat was facilitating.  And everyone was looking at Stan.

Stan was sitting with his back against the wall looking up at the ceiling.  His hands were fidgeting in his lap.  His legs looked like they wanted to move of their own accord.

"We've given you several chances to clean up your act," Luna said.

"Yeah, and I don't think you're good at cleaning up anything," Sal added.  She turned her gaze to Nancy.

Nancy didn't say anything but shifted in her seat.  She in turn, turned toward the facilitator.

Cat looked bewildered for a moment.  "I... I really don't know what to say to you, Stan.  I've seen everyone else working away and nobody had the least idea where you were."

"I know where Stan was, at least where he was sometimes," Dan said.  He seemed ready to explode.  He sat and took a deep breath before he spoke again.  "I've found him in his room napping while the rest of us were working."  Dan stared at Stan.

Stan looked at Dan.  He started to speak but stopped.  He looked around the room.  Everyone looked back.  He looked back up at the ceiling as if he might find some comfort there.

The meeting got very quiet.  Cat sat down and stopped facilitating.  The new folks seemed to be holding their collective breaths.  Luna looked like she wanted to say something more but sat on her hands instead.  There were a couple of minutes of rather uncomfortable silence before Stan finally spoke.

"I forgot to tell you!  There's a fairy festival happening out west!  I'm going!  Tomorrow!"


   "But Stan he got caught, he left in a shot..."

Breakfast was quieter than usual the next morning.

Things were still busy enough that soon Cat and Nancy were baking away, Marge and Darren were setting up the baked goods stand, Sal was setting up the produce stand while Dan was trying to make his way from under the spaghetti squash, Ralph and Ed were bringing vegetables in, Ken was transporting goodies from the kitchen, and Luna and Viv were out in the fields, harvesting.  Stan was in his room, packing.  And no one said an unnecessary word.

Lunch seemed even quieter than breakfast, if that was possible.  Stan walked to the room in around the middle of the meal, but no one spoke with him.  The silence was disturbed only by the clinking of silverware and the occasional request to pass the pepper.  Everyone seemed to be eating in slow motion.  Eventually people got up and began bringing their dishes into the kitchen to be washed.

As the last dishes were being stacked and the table was being wiped down, Stan looked out the farmhouse window for the umpteenth time and this time he saw what he had been looking out that window to see.  He announced to everyone, "My ride to the fairy fest is here!  I'm leaving!" and, dropping the dish that he had been holding, he ran up to his room to get his belongings.

A purple station wagon with a giant pink rubber raft strapped to the roof was pulling up the drive.  Moments later, two bearded men in long colorful dresses got out.  They stood there for a couple of minutes just looking at the place before Stan came barreling out the door with two suitcases and a large box of his stuff.  The two guys hugged Stan and then spent a several minutes contemplating his things.  Then they looked back at the packed station wagon and gave an audible collective sigh.

It took them a while but somehow they managed to shove all of Stan's stuff into the already very crowded vehicle.  Then it took another couple of minutes for them to create enough room for Stan to squeeze himself into a space he made for himself in the back seat.  Once that happened the guys stood outside, leaning on the wagon, while they stared at a paper full of directions and slowly figured out where they could get on the interstate and where they would be headed to next.

When they finally got back in the car and were able to start the station wagon engine again, Stan rolled down his window and waved at all the people that were gathering.

In spite of all the harsh words of the night before, most of the commune had come out to wish Stan a fond farewell.  Dan had a couple of pieces of chard coming out of one of his pockets.  Luna seemed to be holding her breath.  Cat was jumping up and down.  Ed looked amused.  Viv looked confused.  Several people waved back at Stan and a few folks shook their fists.  As the station wagon left the drive and drove onto the road, Sal yelled out those familiar words: "And if we ever see your sorry..."


    "...and Luna collapsed with relief and laughter."

Chapter Seven: More Members Arrive

    "The sheriff came in, talking of Ken..."

Stan looked at Luna and Dan.  They looked at each other and nodded to Stan.

The sheriff and his deputies walked slowly into the gathering.  They seemed hesitant about coming into the building, acting as if this place was a strange, new territory for them.

The sheriff stood in the dining room and looked around the place.  He stuck his hands on his hips.  The deputies stayed by the door as if they weren't sure what to do with themselves.

"Sorry to bother you, ladies and gentlemen," the sheriff began.  "This is a commune, right?"  He looked somewhat embarrassed after he said it.  It struck Luna as a bit silly since the green "Commune!" sign was still stuck on the fence by the road.

"Yes it is," Cat and Sal said together, almost as if they rehearsed it.  They stared at each other for a moment afterwards.

The sheriff paused, as if he wasn't sure what to say next.  "Well, it seems like these communes are a bit of a magnet for runaways."  He stopped and looked around at everyone, as if he was looking for someone in particular.

When he didn't seem to see who he was looking for, he continued.  "We have a report of a young man, thin, dark brown hair, tends to be a bit nervous, who ran away from home a few hours south of here.  His name is Kenneth and his parents are worried about him.  You haven't seen him, have you?"

Several people shook their heads.

"No, we really haven't," said Nancy.

"Well, we'd be very obliged if you'd call us or his parents if you do see him."  While the sheriff was talking, one of the deputies handed Stan a piece of paper with some phone numbers on it.  Stan handed it to Dan.  "Sorry to trouble you folks."

"Can we offer you some pie while you're here?" Nancy asked.

The sheriff looked at his deputies.  They looked at the pie.  "Thank you, ma'am.  That's hard to turn down."

They sat at the table for a few minutes, talking with some of the commune members about crime in the county and the recent weather.  Everyone relaxed a bit.  Wine was passed around but the sheriff and deputies declined.  One of the deputies looked like she actually wanted some.

Then the sheriff pushed back his plate.  "This was lovely but we need to go.  Once again, please let us know if you see Ken or hear anything about him.  His parents have been calling us daily."

The sheriff and deputies got up and, after shaking hands with several people, left.

Clean up continued.  Soon everyone headed for bed.

The next few days were rather busy.  Business was still going strong.


   "... who proceeded to sit at their table..."

Two nights later, just as dinner was being served, there was another knock on the door.  A thin young guy with short, dark brown hair stood there.  He looked around at everyone rather anxiously. "Is this really a commune?"

Viv grabbed Nancy who looked at Luna. Luna gave a faint nod.  Nancy said, "Sure is.  Come on in, you're just in time for dinner."

As they ate, the young man introduced himself as 'ElmTree' and said that he always wanted to live in a commune.  No one questioned him as they ate and people told various stories about life on the farm.

After dinner, Sal suggested that they all sit together and talk.

"So," said Nancy after they were seated, "we were visited by the sheriff a couple of days ago.  They were looking for someone named Kenneth.  And the description the sheriff gave..."

"Okay, okay," ElmTree said.  "It's me."

"He said your parents are worried about you," Luna added.  "We can use new members, but you need to call them first.  Let them see the place.  Maybe they'll let you stay."

ElmTree, who now decided his name was Ken, looked quickly around at all the friendly faces.  "Alright," he said.  "I'll call them.  Maybe if they see the place..."

Ken had been doubtful but when his mother came, she was actually impressed with the commune.  It probably helped that Viv and Dan had just scrubbed down the dining room the day before.  And Nancy offering some of her Raspberry Maple Walnut Bread might have helped as well.  Ken's mom had two slices and sighed afterwards.

"Okay," she said to Ken finally.  "As long as you're happy here.  I can talk with your father.  He and I will be by with some of your things in a few days."  She gave him a big hug.  "And don't forget to call us regularly," she said as she left.  She gave Nancy a big smile as she walked out the door.  "I want that recipe," she said to her.

She started down the drive but had to wait a minute while a green van moved over to give her space.  When Viv and Cat spotted the van, they went running out.

The van parked in the space left by Ken's mother.  Darren and Marge emerged from it and were immediately grabbed by Cat and Viv.  Cat and Viv were glad to see their friends, but Darren and Marge seemed especially glad to see Cat and Viv.

"We brought your stuff, Viv," Marge said.

"And our stuff, too," added Darren.

"Can you still use people?" Marge asked Cat.  "A plane nearly landed on our street the other day and they evacuated the neighborhood for six hours.  We decided it was time to get out of there."

Chapter Six: They Sell Food

     "Luna burst in and grinning a grin, she said, Danny boy, we've got a business..."

With two farm stands, things really took off.  The farm was now officially in its busy season.

Nancy and Cat kept the "Chthonic Baked Goods and Yggdrasil Cupcakes" stand flowing with breads and pastries, Sal and Dan began selling produce from the other stand, and Luna and Viv worked out in the farm's fields, doing the sowing and reaping.  Stan was helping out with a little of everything.  Often no one knew what he was doing.

"Wait," said one of Cat's customers, eyeing some of the sweet treats in front of her. "What do you mean there's no wheat or dairy or soy or sugar in the cupcakes?  What's in them?"

"It's a secret," Cat said.

"You can't tell me?" the woman asked.

"If I told you, I'd have to..." The customer gasped and Nancy stopped moving as Cat's voice dropped to a hoarse whisper. "...make you work here."

Dan was drowning in kale and collards and spinach and zucchini and peppers and onions and carrots and tomato and basil and several leafy greens that he couldn't identify.  Every so often Sal would have to pull him out from under a mound of various vegetables.

Even though they had done next to no publicity, the line of cars for the two stands now snaked down the road, backing up to the gas station and general store.  Fortunately one of their neighbors was also a regular customer.  He let them use the area at the end of his property as overflow parking.

"I come here everyday," one guy said, almost every day that he came there.

"It's one stop shopping," another of their happy customers proclaimed as she loaded up on baked goods and veggies.

Several customers wanted the recipe for Nancy's Raspberry Maple Walnut Bread.  "We should write a commune cookbook," she said to Cat.  "When we have any time..."  Cat didn't have a chance to reply because two young men were squabbling over the last of the carob mint cupcakes.

At night Luna and Dan counted up the money from the two stands.  "Hey," Luna said, "even including our food, water, and heating bills, and the electricity and the mortgage, we're still making enough money to give everybody a small allowance."

Everyone thought the allowance was a good idea, but no one had a chance to spend it. Each day, it was more crops, more vegetables, more baked goods, more sales, and more money. And lots and lots of work.

"Do you get a vacation when you work at a commune?" Cat asked Nancy as they were sweating in the kitchen, baking on a warm summer morning.

"Sure," said Nancy, wiping her brow.  "But I think we won't have time to have time off until October."


     "And we'll do better, even better, as soon as we're able..."

When Ralph and Ed turned up, a week later, on one of their periodic visits, they got pressed into service, carting vegetables from the fields to the farm stand.

"Where's Dan?"  Ed asked Sal when they got to the stand.

"I know I left him around here someplace," she said.  She looked around and saw a pile of eggplant moving ever so slightly.  She and Ralph reached in and extracted Dan from the pile.

"And where's Stan?" Ralph asked.

"Now that's a very good question," Sal said.

Viv and Luna were checking on the progress of some of the squashes.  None of them were quite mature but there were a lot of them on the way.

"I can't believe how fertile the soil here is," Viv said.

"I attribute it all to prayer--and horse manure from a riding ranch in the next town," Luna said.  "It's sort of the way that they did it at Hornfind in Scotland."

Just then Ed and Ralph came back with their carts.

"You got some more for us?" Ed asked.

"I think that's it for now," Luna said.

"Dan said we need more carrots and peppers.  He said they're about sold out."

"Sorry, but nothing else is ready."

"We're going to have to grow even more stuff next year," Viv said.

"Yeah," said Luna.  "Absolutely."  She pointed out to Viv and Ralph and Ed where she hoped the commune would have another field for vegetables, and where she planned to put in the apple, peach, walnut, and hazelnut trees, along with the strawberries, and raspberries, and high bush blueberries, and...

Dinner that night was real quiet.  Everyone, including Ralph and Ed, seemed to be too exhausted to talk.

Afterwards, when the meal was being cleared up and sleeping arrangements for the night were being figured out, there was a knock on the door.

Stan opened it.  Outside were the county sheriff and two deputies.

"Can we come in?"  the sheriff asked.

Chapter Five: The Farm Has Visitors

   "The visitors checked out, leaving no doubt, to help with the commune's survival..."

Sal grew up in Ithaca (town motto: 'Ten square miles, surrounded by reality').  Nancy, on the other hand, grew up in the rural south.  Her best friend as a child had been a girl who lived down the road, Amanda Cody.  Nancy was astounded when she received a call from her old friend one day when she was working in the kitchen.

"Amanda's coming here," she said to Sal a little later.  "I haven't seen her since I was twelve."

"Do you think she's changed much?" asked Sal.

"I'll know soon."

Luna also got a call.  From her mother.

"Mom wants to see the place," she said to Dan.  "I told her she could stay here for a few days if she wanted.  I think she just needs to get away from my dad for a while."

"I can't see that will be a problem. We haven't had very many visitors here.  It will be a nice change to have some different folks around."

Amanda took the bus north.  Nancy picked her up at a terminal in the state capital.  Nancy barely recognized Amanda.  Her skinny little childhood chum was now tall and full figured.  Her eyes looked bloodshot and her hair was an shiny shade of bleached blonde with very dark brown roots.

"You haven't changed a bit," Nancy said.

"You neither," Amanda replied.  She turned her head as she coughed a couple of times and then said, "Northern living must agree with you."

Nancy put Amanda's two suitcases in the trunk and they drove back to the farm.  Amanda barely said a word to her on the drive, just fiddling with her purse as they rode along.

When they got to the commune, Amanda excused herself for a few minutes.  Nancy spotted her behind the left farmhouse, puffing on a cigarette.

Amanda saw that Nancy had seen her.  "Don't start," she said.  "I hear it enough from my sisters."

Luna's mother arrived a half hour after Nancy drove in with Amanda.

"Doesn't this look nice," she said to Luna.  "And who are all your friends here?"

Luna introduced her mother to Sal and Nancy and Amanda and Dan and Stan and Cat.  Sal and Nancy excused themselves to get dinner on the table.   Shortly after that, everyone sat down to the meal together.  They were almost done eating when Ralph and Ed arrived.

"Did we come at a bad time?" Ed asked.

"No," said Luna.  "Not at all.  I've been wondering what it would be like with a lot of people here."

"Well, you're in luck," said Cat.  "I have four friends from Eastie on the way over."


     "Cat said, Luna come meet the gang..."

Sure enough, less than an hour later, a green van pulled up next to the Rabbit.

Four folks got out.  The introductions took up the next twenty minutes.

Darren, Vivian, Marge, and Steve had lived downstairs from Cat in a triple decker a quarter mile from the airport.

"Wow," said Marge.  "I've been here a half hour now and I haven't heard any planes land yet."

Soon there were all sorts of conversations going on.  It turned out that Ed and Stan knew Darren from fairy gatherings and Vivian had always wanted to live at Old Corn.

At one point, Luna realized that Steve had disappeared.  Amanda didn't seem to be around either.  When she wandered around the property, she spied them both behind the farmhouses, smoking. Together.

The dinner kept being extended to feed folks as they arrived, but fortunately, clean up was easy with so many people.  Everyone was getting along but Luna's big worry was that there wouldn't be enough rooms for them all to sleep in.  She needn't have fretted.

Luna ended up sleeping with Marge, Dan slept with Stan, Amanda slept with Steve, Darren and Ralph and Ed all slept together, and Vivian, Sal, and Nancy all slept together.  Luna's mother slept by herself and Cat also slept alone.

The next day everyone pitched in with chores.  Luna's mom helped with the baking, Vivian and Darren helped Luna in the fields, Marge helped Dan and Sal build a new farm stand for the produce, and Amanda and Steve seemed to be helping Stan with something, although no one else had a clue what it was.  Things at the commune never seemed so productive.

The meal that night was a feast.  Produce was starting to come in and there were baked goods galore on the table.

"I like it here," said vivacious Viv.

"Hey," said Dan, "we can sure use more people.  Welcome aboard."

"You did a great job working with me," Luna said.  "And I think we really do need more help with farming in the fields."

"Well, good," Viv said, "I don't have much stuff.  Marge and Darren can bring most of what I own the next time they visit."

The sleeping arrangements that night were pretty much the same as the ones the night before except Luna slept with Stan and Dan slept with Marge.

The next morning was a busy breakfast. Most of the folks were leaving soon after.

"I'll tell your father that you're still alive," Luna's mother said.  "For some reason, he thinks the commune is going to kill you, but I'm just glad you're having a good time."   She hugged her daughter and drove off.

Lots of other people were hugging, too.  Slowly the visitors got into their vehicles.  Marge and Darren drove back to Boston.  Ralph and Ed yelled, "We'll be back," before they drove off.

And Steve and Amanda were getting in a last cigarette before Nancy quickly herded them into her car and took them to the bus station.  Anyone not paying close attention might have thought that they disappeared in a puff of smoke.

And life on the commune began to settle down again.

Chapter Four: They Talk and They Work

   "Luna Lagoon checked around the commune, only to find issues tribal..."

Things were pretty loose at the beginning.  They didn't seem to need a lot of policies and regulations.  Most of the folks got along with each other.

And the arrangements they had with each other were pretty loose as well.  It turned out that Luna had been sleeping with Nancy.  And Sal. And Dan.  And Dan had been sleeping with Stan. And Sal. And Nancy.  And Sal and Nancy were still sleeping together occasionally. And there were rumors about Stan and Sal.  About the only one who wasn't changing beds regularly was Cat--at least as far as most people knew.

And then things got really messy when Ralph and Ed came to visit, and Ed found Ralph and Stan cuddled up together.

But there were actually very few problems with romantic jealousy on the commune.  (Except maybe for Ed's threats to make Ralph actually listen to Stan for an hour.)

Instead, people were complaining about who was snoring, who left the windows open, who left the dishes in the sink, and who didn't clean the bathroom.

"I cleaned!  Last week!  I think!" said Stan.

It was their second ever community meeting. They just had decided to do them every other week while they were getting going.  This one was held in the living room of the middle farmhouse.  It was the biggest room on the place and could have held another six people easily.  Which was sort of the point.

Nancy was facilitating.   She was doing pretty well considering the number of people who were yelling.

"Well, somebody left a mess," Luna fumed.

"It was one of the men," insisted Sal.  "I know it."

"And just how do you know it?" Dan declaimed.  He put his hands on his hips and glared.

Cat appeared to be trying to disappear into the wallpaper.

Nancy raised her hands.  "Let's take a minute of silence," she said.  She got dirty looks from almost everyone, but there was nearly two minutes of silence before anyone spoke again.

"Look," Luna said finally.  "I'm sorry I lost my temper."

"Me, too," said Dan.  "I know I was getting defensive."

"I'm sorry, too!" said Stan.  "Really!"

"Well, I'm not," Sal said sternly.  "The bathroom is still a mess and I want to find out who's responsible."

Immediately the meeting re-erupted into chaos.  Sal, Luna, Dan, and Stan were all yelling, Nancy was waving her hands, and Cat seemed to be inching toward the door.  The meeting lasted into the night.


   "This earful it seems, disrupted their dreams..."

The next day, people tried to get back to their routines.  There was lots to do.

Nancy and Cat were in the kitchen baking.  Nancy was preparing a sweet dough for the loaf pans; Cat was testing how well done the cupcakes were with a knife.

"Well, that was a healthy meeting," Nancy said.

Cat stopped, knife still in the air.  "What do you mean?"

"Everybody got a chance to air their feelings.  I'm sure everyone feels better now."

Cat stabbed the cupcake until it crumbled.

Out in the fields, Luna and Dan were checking on the growing veggies.

"Looks like we'll have a lot of kale," Luna said.

"And zucchini," Dan replied.

"Oh, yeah," Luna said, tugging on her hair.  "Lots."  She stopped and thought a moment.  "Ya know, I don't think that starting a commune is going to be as easy as they said in the brochures."

"Did they say it was going to be easy?" Dan asked.

"Well, not exactly.  But I didn't think it was going to be this hard. I wonder if we need to do more concentrating in the meetings."  Luna  sighed and kicked a rock out of the soil.  She looked beyond the two fields they had cleared.  "Maybe we should plant some berries and trees over there.  I've heard you're s'posed to do that if you're doing Protoculture."

"What about the commune building?"

Luna kept looking at the fields.  "It will happen.  It will. Somehow. I know it."

Back in the main building, Sal and Stan were cleaning the bathroom.  Together. Sort of.

"You missed a spot," said Sal.

"Oops!" said Stan.

Sal looked at the ceiling and counted to ten in her mind.  "Why did I think you'd be a good person to live in a commune with?" she mused.

Chapter Three: The Group Gathers

   "Now Luna Lagoon, was back in the commune..."

Luna was showing Ralph (aka ex-best man friend) and Ed (aka pretty city boyfriend) around the place she had invested their cash in.  They had brought a friend from Boston with them named Cat.

"All it's gonna take is some folks to work the land," Luna said.  She waved her arms over a patch of weeds.

"I'll help you," said Cat.  "I'm getting tired of life by the airport anyway.  I can't even think when the planes take off."

Luna was delighted.  She didn't have time to reply because there was a rundown old Rabbit pulling up the dirt drive.  Out popped four folks.  She recognized Dan but he had companions.

She was surprised to see Ed make for the car even faster than she did.  "Stan, you old dog," he said.

"Ed!  Ed!  What are you doing here???"

"I put money into this land.  Luna here is trying to build a commune."

"I know!" said Stan.  "I'm here to join!"

"Oh, no," said Ed.

"You two know each other?" asked Luna.

"We dated for a while," said Ed.  "Then Stan found some fairy folk who were going south to join a farm in Wilmington.  That was before I met Ralph."

Luna turned to Stan.  "Oh, wow.  So you're my ex-lover's current lover's ex-lover.  So pleased to meet ya."

"Likewise!  Absolutely!" said Stan.

"This is Sal and Nancy," Dan said.  "They're from Old Corn.  They want to see what it's like to farm in the north country.  Sal, Nancy, Stan, this is Luna, the brains behind all this."

Luna waved Cat over.  "This is Cat, who just decided to join us.  Hey, now there's six of us."

"What about them?" Sal asked, pointing at Ralph and Ed.

"I think we could be in the frequent visitors category," Ralph said.


   "Now she and the man, who called himself Dan, were in the next room at the farmhouse..."

The next morning, after everyone wished Ralph and Ed goodbye, Luna dragged Dan into the den for a private conversation.

"Okay, now that we got people," she said, "I think we'd better get farming.  Got any ideas how to get all these folks organized?"

"At Old Corn they had all these community meetings to figure out what they were doing."

"Sounds good to me.  You want to run it?"

"Sure.  We can do it the way they do.  They make all their decisions by concentrating."

"What does that mean?" Luna asked.

"Well it seems like if they concentrate people hard enough, everybody ends up agreeing."

Fifteen minutes later, the two of them plus Sal, Nancy, Stan, and Cat, were standing together looking at the land.

"I'm calling on Luna," Dan said.  Fortunately no one else really wanted to talk at that point.

"We got to get farming.  Anybody know anything about growing food?"   Luna actually knew lots about growing food but didn't want to be the only one doing anything.

"Sure," said Sal.  "At Old Corn there was lots of farming to do."

"We did farming in Wilmington!" said Stan.  "And I helped!  Sometimes!"

"Well, we're gonna need to start with getting rid of some of these weeds."

"We picked weeds at Old Corn," said Sal.

"And packed them," added Nancy.

"I know every weed that grows in East Boston," said Cat.

"Well, I'm sure that some of them are growing up here," said Luna.  "Let's see if we can get a few of these weeds out of here so we can plant some stuff."

By noontime, the two largest fields on the land were bare.  Sal and Nancy had organized the picked weeds into twelve categories and were busy packing them up.  Cat had several piles of Boston-like weeds.  Stan was leaning on a shovel, supervising.  And Luna was going over the next stage with Dan, talking with him about what they would plant.

At some point it dawned on everyone that no one had made lunch.  For some reason they all turned and looked at Stan.

"I'll make something!" he said.  "Right away!"

By one o'clock it became evident that the food stash that Luna had gotten from the general store earlier that week was getting low.

"Okay," said Luna.  "At these Equal Opportunity Communes everyone shares their income."

"That's right," said Nancy.  "We been sharing our income with everyone at Old Corn for the last six months.  That's why we don't have any."

"I'd share with you!" said Stan.  "If I had any money!"

"I've got two dollars," said Cat and handed them to Luna.

Luna sighed and looked at Dan.  He reached into his wallet and pulled out a twenty.

"That's the last of my cash," he said.

"We're gonna need to figure out a way to make some money," Luna said.  "It's going to be a little time before the stuff we're gonna plant this afternoon will be big enough to pick."

They all sat and thought for a few minutes.

"I can bake," said Nancy. "Bread and muffins and biscuits and cookies.  And lots of different kinds of pies."

"Me, too," said Cat.  "I bake really good organic vegan gluten free cupcakes and I can make a really mean stevia frosting for them."

"I was thinking of putting a farm stand up by the road anyway," said Luna.  "Maybe we could use it to sell baked goods while we wait for our crops to grow."

"I could build a roadside stand," said Sal.

"I can help," said Dan.  "I don't have a lot of experience farming, but I can swing a hammer."

Nancy and Cat drove into town to buy supplies, while Dan and Sal helped Luna begin planting.  Stan cleaned up.

When Nancy and Cat came back they began baking, and baking, and baking.  Luna continued sowing seeds while Sal and Dan started building.  Stan was everywhere, holding seeds for Luna, nails for Sal and Dan, and pie plates, loaf pans, and muffin and cupcake tins for Nancy and Cat.  He also managed to squeeze in a nap.


  "Luna had come, covered with crumbs, to taste all the breads on arrival..."

Of course there were taste tests.  Of course everyone ate up the first batch of goods that Nancy and Cat made.

"That was excellent bread," said Luna.

"And amazing cupcakes," added Dan.

"Thank you," Nancy said.

"Thank you," Cat said.

By the next morning, the stand was up and filled with goodies.  Sal had made up a sign that said, "Chthonic Baked Goods and Yggdrasil Cupcakes".

The road by the farm was not a busy route, but there was very little to do around the town and the word spread fast.

Within days, there was a line of cars waiting to pick up pastries, mostly from the surrounding towns, but some coming from as far away as New York and New Hampshire.

Suddenly, there was money coming in and crops coming up.  There were also interesting things they were learning about living together.

Chapter Two: Dan Finds Folks

       "But Daniel was hot.  He thought quite a lot..."

Dan left after breakfast the next morning.  His parting words were,  "I'll be back.  With reinforcements."

Within hours he had left Luna and the mountains of green far behind and was riding into megalopolis, Manhattan, and Newark, and Trenton, and Philly, and Wilmington, and Baltimore, and finally into the District of Columbia.  When he had left Washington behind, the land turned green once more.  His final ride took him into Clarissa County, home of the Three Sycamores commune.

Three Sycamores had almost two hundred people living in a small village.  They had lots of communal houses and a big dining hall named after a famous Russian Jewish farmer.  They grew their own food, had plenty of cows and chickens and goats and elk, and made their money from a bunch of little businesses, including their signature Three Sycamores lawn furniture and their home grown organic pickle relish.  They had a rock band, and a funk band, and a Klezmer band, and two or three jazz bands.  They even had an a capella shape note blues singing choral choir which was famous throughout the county.  What they didn't have was anyone who was interested in moving north to start a commune.

Fortunately, a mere seven point three four miles down New Valley Road in nearby Vitamin Rock, was the new commune called Old Corn.  And when Dan went there he got lucky.


     "...she called herself Sal, and everyone knew her and Nancy."

It was at Old Corn that Dan ran into a sassy sapphic couple who were tired of the hot southern summers.

"So, what's the point of this commune, anyway?" asked Sal.

"We're going to do organic farming," Dan explained patiently, trying to remember what Luna had told him that night. "We'll be doing lots of cutting edge stuff, like Protoculture, and Eco-expensive Agriculture, and Five Season Harvesting."

Nancy yawned.  "We do lots of gardening here.  What's so different about your commune?"

"Well, how much snow do you get here?"

"We got almost a foot last year," said Sal.

"Luna told me they get around six feet a year up there.  And that's normal."

"Wow," both women said.

"Plus, you'd have the fun of starting something from scratch up there instead of just sitting around here packing weeds."

"Well, we get to pick weeds, too," Nancy said, but she didn't sound enthusiastic.

In the end, Sal and Nancy decided they needed a break from packing and picking weeds and thought it might be fun to see this new commune.

It turned out that Nancy had a car and she and Sal and Dan headed north together.  Sal said she had a friend who lived at the Wilmington Free Farm that she thought might want to join them. That became their first stop.


     "So one day they drove into town.  Booked themselves a room in the local commune..."

The first thing that they noticed as they got out of Nancy's 1984 Rabbit was the lush land surrounding the Free Farm.  Vegetables, herbs, berries, flowers, grasses, and weeds grew together in wild disarray.  It was like the land inside Old Corn or Three Sycamores having been let free (or burst free), except in this case the trees and forests of Clarissa County which surrounded the communes had been replaced by crumbling city buildings in glorious states of urban disrepair.

Nancy started running around looking at everything.  "It's like one of those, you know, things in the desert that have palm trees."

"An onassis?" Sal asked.

"Yeah, something like that.  An onassis in the city."

A young man flew out of the house at the back of the land.  "Sal!  Nancy!  Strange guy!  Welcome!"

"Hey, Stan," Sal said.  "It's been a while."

"Stan," Nancy said, "this is Dan."

"Hey, Dan!  Pleased to meet ya!" said Stan.

"Is he usually this enthusiastic?" Dan asked.

"Oh," said Sal, "you should see him when he's really excited."

"Ya'll need a place to stay???"

"Just for the night," said Nancy.  "We're headed up north to see Dan's friend Luna's new commune.  Want to join us?"

"Wow!  Would I???  We just had a commune meeting last night!  This might be a great time for me to go traveling!"

"I won't ask," said Sal.

Inside the house, everything was organized with complete abandon.  Battered tables were covered with books and dishes and art projects and they had their choice of decrepit sofas to sit on--as long as they moved the stuff on them.

"Where's everybody else?" Dan asked.

"Off in search of food!  There are dumpsters in Wilmington that are overflowing!  Someone needs to liberate the contents!"

Sure enough, a half hour later a bedraggled cluster of young folk streamed into the house carrying massive amounts of produce and canned goods.  A table was cleared off and food was sorted out amidst sporadic introductions of the various newcomers.  A couple of the men started dinner preparations, while communards handed them stuff that needed to be used quickly.

"Living off the land!" Stan said as someone passed him a steaming plate of food.

"Yes, and how long are you going to be living off this place?" a woman asked him.

"Ah!" said Stan.  "We were just talking about that!"

Dan, Sal, and Nancy all ended up together in the guest room which fortunately had a double and a single bed.

The next morning most of the commune came out to wish Stan a fond farewell.  "And if we ever see your sorry..." someone yelled, but the rest was lost in the noise of the traffic.

"I could be coming for an extended stay!" said Stan.