Harvey grew mint in an attractive pot on his garden path. We all know how mint can spread and take over an entire garden. It is best that it be contained. Harvey liked to have mint. It made a refreshing tea on a hot summer’s day. He liked to boil his potatoes and peas with a sprig of mint. And he loved mint sauce with roast lamb.
It was early spring, and Harvey knew that if he cut the mint back, it would flourish so much thicker and vigorous in the pot. He cut it back almost to the level of the soil.
Later he noticed that he could smell the mint, presumably on his hands. But then, even after he’d had a shower, he could still smell mint. The smell became stronger and stronger. It would not go away. It began to affect his taste buds. If he ate an orange it would be like chewing mint. Corned beef tasted like mint. Everything tasted of mint. He could smell and taste mint everywhere and all the time, and could smell and taste nothing else.
And then Harvey began to see green. Everything was turning green. Walls were green, windows we green, drapes were green, his car, his concrete steps. He used to think that mint green was a lovely colour. Not anymore.
Harvey was starting to go crazy. He’d had enough of mint. He picked up his potted mint and smashed the container onto his concrete path. It broke into a thousand bits. The container, soil and dirt lay an eyesore on his garden path. Harvey vehemently kicked everything into the garden.
The mint was free at last. It was what it had wanted all along. It could spread throughout the garden. And Harvey could see, taste, and smell once again as normal.