This spring, Laertes vows, he'll get the garden started early. He's checked his book to see which of their plants will grow back again, and which will need to be replanted--the latter is most of them; the tomatoes and beans and squash and greens and potatoes are all annuals, and although the onions and garlic are perennials, he'll still need to break the garlic bulbs apart and press them back into the earth.

Today, Laertes is moving down the garden rows with a wheelbarrow, pulling up last year's plants and breaking up the soil with a hoe. The light physical exertion feels good, in the fresh spring breeze, and he thinks that he might swim in the lake afterward to wash off the dirt in its clear, crisp water.