Elroy’s Story II

During the week, Bill and Nancy leave their home at seven-thirty in the morning. Each holding a briefcase which contains a lunch Bill prepared: one apple: a sandwich (tuna salad or cheese and tomato): a small can of fruit juice: and, last but not least, a muesli bar. They drive off together in their blue Pontiac. Bill drives, while Nancy reads the newspaper. When they arrive at the train station, Bill gets out of the car, fetches his briefcase from the back seat, takes the folded newspaper from Nancy 's hand, gives her a kiss and then walks off to catch his train into the city. Nancy buckles herself into the driver's seat and drives off to the nearby shopping mall where she runs a Young People's Fashion store.

Unbeknownst to the Ordinarys, they've been sharing their house with someone else besides each other and their cat. To be more correct, they've been sharing their backyard with someone else. This being who has been a part of their lives all of these years, is none other than a plastic garden gnome, Hocpoi, whom they inherited when they moved into the house. He has stood patiently all those years underneath the kitchen window in one of Nancy's perennial beds, with a Shovel of Industry in his hand. Garden gnomes are supposed to grant the wishes of their garden family with the Shovel of Industry.