The Heirloom Farm

There's a farmer I used to live near who had an interesting proposition. You got to bury your loved ones in his soil and he would grow food from it. I remember my friend finding out about this service and signing up almost as a joke, but also because he was curious.

"I mean, it fertilizes the soil right? Gives it nutrients."

My friend's uncle had just died in a motorcycle accident. His face was completely unscathed by it amazingly. He was an organ donor, so he was emptied out. After that the hospital asked my friend what he wanted to do with the body. 

"I'm going to eat it." 

It took about a year, but there it was. The first thing he got to eat grown out of the soil his uncle was buried in were tomatoes.

"You want some?"

I don't think I ate a single tomato that summer. I couldn't help but think about his uncle anytime the topic of tomato came up. But my friend, he went about his jolly ways munching on those uncle tomatoes. 

"Aren't you grossed out by that?"

"Dude, you eat fucking CAFO beef. What the hell does it matter? It's organic ain't it?"

Next up after that were green beans. It was a good thing I didn't like green beans to begin with, but I sure did miss tomatoes. My friend kept happily eating that food. Until autumn came. Then his mood turned to a different direction.

Flash Fiction Practice