A Simple Reminder

Pastor Wilson Knox has caught the bug that is going around, so he has quarantined himself at home and, with Jason Whittaker's technical help, greets his young friends over a live video stream instead of in person. After a rocky start in which he accidentally presses the wrong button and knocks himself off the air, Uncle Willie explains that not paying attention to the simplest things can cause all sorts of problems, and that is exactly what today's story is about. With Jason and several familiar voices playing the parts, he narrates a tall tale about an elderly farmer and inventor named Eli O-McRonald, who lives in the land of yore with his daughter, Priscilla, a good girl who obeys her father, but who also has a stubborn, strong-willed streak. Priscilla protests to the narrator that she hasn't done anything wrong yet, but Uncle Willie assures her she will.

On Priscilla's birthday, Eli gives her his most prized possession next to Priscilla herself: a can labeled Secure Original Nutrient. He can't quite explain what it does, only that one day she will see how valuable it is. Priscilla is politely disappointed until her father reveals his second gift: he is leaving on a year-long trip and putting her in charge of the entire farm. Before he goes, he gives her instructions, including plenty of water, harvesting at the right time, and one very important warning: a salesman comes around from time to time, and she must never get anything from him.

Three months later, a smooth-talking stranger named Lou Sipher appears in Priscilla's field. He offers her a free sample of a modern marvel called synthetic inverse nutrient, and proves its power by presenting Rob the Potato and Jerry the Carrot, vegetables that sing and dance. When Priscilla realizes he is the salesman her father warned her about, she orders him off her property, but Lou leaves the free sample behind anyway. Soon two customers, the Wolfs, show up demanding the amazing singing vegetables and refuse to buy her plain ones. Stung by the lost sale, Priscilla sprinkles the sample on her plants. The sky darkens, the ground shakes, and a change comes over Priscilla herself; she wanders off in a daze, determined to prove she can handle things on her own. Left alone, Lou pays off the Wolfs, who were working for him all along, and gloats that soon the whole farm, including the farmer's daughter, will be his.

At first the results are amazing, but after three months the plants begin to die, and Lou explains that she simply needs more nutrient. This time it isn't free; he sells her a bag, "Yes, indeedy." The next batch lasts only three weeks, and when her money runs out, Lou offers to sell on credit. The cycle repeats itself: happy vegetables, dying vegetables, credit, over and over, until just weeks before her birthday the farm is a mess and a shambles. When Priscilla goes back for more, she meets Nasty Surprise, her new credit counselor, and learns her bill is enormous. Since she cannot pay, Lou announces he will take possession of the farm, though in a show of mock generosity he gives her until her birthday to settle the debt.

In her despair, Priscilla remembers the Secure Original Nutrient. She mixes up a big batch, sprinkles it on her vegetables, and waits, but nothing happens. Furious that her father's gift seems worthless, she throws the empty can across the room, and a hidden letter falls out. In it, Eli explains that the formula was never meant for the crops. It is meant for her; she must take it herself. Priscilla dismisses the whole thing as hooey and malarkey, and right on schedule Lou arrives to collect. He tells her she has lost her money, her possessions, her farm, and probably her father's love: "You have nothing. You are nothing." At her lowest point, Priscilla finally looks at the vat that has been in front of her all along, dips a cup, and drinks. She changes at once, admitting she has been foolish and begging her father's forgiveness. When Lou offers instead to let her stay on the farm as his wife, she refuses and hurls the rest of the nutrient over him. He melts completely away, wailing, "I'm melting! Melting!"

Eli returns to find his baffled daughter and explains everything: "Lucifer was evil, and no evil can stand up to the S.O.N." The Secure Original Nutrient absorbed the synthetic inverse nutrient in the vegetables and in Priscilla, wiping out her debt as if she had never used it. He gladly forgives her, wishes her a happy birthday, and agrees when she marvels that if everyone knew about the S.O.N., it would change the world.

Back on the stream, Uncle Willie trusts his listeners have figured out who the Secure Original Nutrient is and what the synthetic inverse nutrient stands for. The story's only moral, he says, is a simple reminder about the basics and what is truly important; like Priscilla, he hopes everyone will let the S.O.N. into their homes, lives, and hearts all year long. Then, mid-blessing, he presses the wrong key one last time and vanishes from the screen, leaving Jason to chuckle and finish the goodbye for him.