The Onion Van

As happens in life we all grow older as time passes.  In my family that also often means that our hearts will succumb to the ravages of time before we are of a normal retirement age.  My brother Bob, while yet in his early fifties, was forced into an early retirement for this reason.

Although I had a heart attack when I was 41 I had been fortunate enough through surgery to be able to return to the work force again, and was a general repairman for a servicing mobilehome dealer.  In this business the repair work necessarily took place at the home site so I spent a good part of my time traveling from place to place around the northern parts of New York.  Having spent a year of my life unable to do much of anything after suffering the heart attack, I knew what Bob was going through day after day with nothing to do of consequence.  So it was my habit to pick him up on some occasions when it appeared I would be spending much of my day traveling along the highways and byways.

On one such occasion I had to travel to a lakeside area in the Adirondacks.  It seemed like a ride that Bob might enjoy, and I liked the company while driving as well.  So it was that we rode together to my designated home needing repair along side the beautiful Lake Bonaparte (named after Joseph, brother of Napoleon).  The home owner was working, but I had permission to enter the home to complete the necessary repairs, and so it was that Bob was free to wander the surrounding area among the woods and lakeshore to whatever degree he had the strength to do.

Possibly as much as a couple of hours passed as I effected whatever repair work the homeowner had requested.  Upon completion of  my tasks I finally returned to my work van to go on to the next stop of the day.  As I entered my van it smelled like I had entered a giant onion.  The air was pungent to say the least.  Bob sat within the van, non-concerned as to this overpowering odor.  My first words were, “What is that awful smell in here?”

He nonchalantly replied, “I’ve been picking leeks.”

I suggested it smelled more like he had taken a leak, but he assured me it was merely a plant and he had picked a bunch in the nearby woods to take home.  I was not familiar with them at the time, but they are apparently related to the common onion as they smell nearly identical.  Since then a neighbor made some soup from some and brought a sample to my family, and I must report that it was very good, but the particular day that Bob placed them in my work van I was not so sure about their goodness.  In fact the odor could be detected for many days thereafter.