Earlier parts can be found here:

https://summerstommy.com/2018/09/19/mr-marsden/

https://summerstommy.com/2018/09/19/mr-marsden-part-2/

https://summerstommy.com/2018/09/24/mr-marsden-part-3/

https://summerstommy.com/2018/09/26/mr-marsden-part-4/

https://summerstommy.com/2018/09/27/mr-marsden-part-5/

By fun, Mr Marsden meant the mystery of discovering what impact the potion he chose to experiment with would have on the fledgling carrot plants.

Sure, enough within a few days he saw evidence of the seeds germinating and the tiny, frail plants begin to emerge from the soil. Another week and he would thin the crop and then see what became of them.

There was one potion he was curious to use on a plant and the carrots seemed the most likely. He had over the years perfected a potion to counter baldness and it had proved effective for most men and on occasion the odd woman.

So, with the crop thinned he went down the rows spreading the potion in a rather liberal dose.

By now his plants were about three inches in height with hopefully a few more inches to go.

Nothing happened for a few days and he started to think the potion may not work on the carrots. But by the next day, his opinion changed considerably.

He came out to see the strangest sight, the carrot tops had changed to a bright orange much like he anticipated the roots would be. Not only that but he could see the roots which had risen above the soil level were now a bright green.

Mr Marsden’s first reaction was he might need sunglasses in future as the colours were dazzling to say the least.

But when he bent to inspect them further, he heard a voice: “What cha lookin’ at buster?” Then another voice to his left: “He’s a right loser.” And then “You lookin’ at me, eh?”

The voices started to come at him from all angles and he was taken aback when he realised the voices sounded like the voices he’d heard in an old gangster movie. He tried to remember what he had put in the potion and whether or not he’d been watching a gangster film at the time of mixing it as he’d discovered there were times when the environment around the mixing of a potion had somehow influenced the outcome.

“Best tell Lefty you comin’ round, eh?” announced a carrot to his right and then another stated: “He’s gonna make you an offer you can’t refuse.”

“Like what?” Mr Marsden heard himself say, immediately wondering what had caused him to react that way when normally the plants existed in their world and he in his, even the geraniums.

“We wanna take over this joint,” replied a tough voice in front of him. “Yeah,” came a chorus, “We gonna take over.”

With that Mr Marsden took his shovel and dug up the offending carrot. There was a scream, a collective gasp and then silence followed by muttering of the type only carrots make.

“Okay, Okay,” came a voice less belligerent, “The guy has no sense of humour and its cost us Ralphie.” Ralphie he assumed was the now limp orange topped carrot he had just dug up. Though Mr Marsden was impressed with the size of the actual carrot he now held in his hand.

“It’s a size thing I know,” came a female voice away to his right, “some guys just can’t get over it can they?”

Mr Marsden then thought of his geraniums and wondered how the two might get on then he shuddered thinking it could be an experiment to even make him blush.

Just then he was startled by a voice coming from the door of the container.

“Hello Mr Marsden, can we talk?”