SKILLS

"Potee don't be like that. You know how much people like 'mokimo ' you know, our mash up. You and me together mashed up. My leaves anyway but still... You and me together. You and... "Pumpkin coaxes wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"Stop! Just please, stay away from me. " Potato exclaims then huffs in frustration.

Pumpkin never gives up. You could get a cold from giving him a cold shoulder. And he would still be flirting. Sande was all the way in his house cleaning up when all that conversation came to find him.

It's like he attracts the words and so they come in waves colliding in his head all at once.

This gives him a headache and he wills it to go away but it's just... stuck!

He makes a mental note to ask the potato who seemed smart about tuning their conversations out and his not affecting them. At this rate, he couldn't sleep at night or be sane not having any thoughts.

Clad in a baggy denim long trousers which are rolled up a bit at the bottom and a plain blue shirt with some cowboy boots, Sande was ready to step out.

But there is too another reason he had to hurry to his crops. Their conversations were now heated arguments, groans, grunts and yelps too. His thoughts were messing with them.

He got more reason to be confused. How come he gets to lead them when mere thoughts from him make them hostile. They may not attack him, but they will each other and that is the last thing he wants. So once he's there the first thing he does is repeat his exact words from earlier.

And the crops are back to their well behaved states. He heaves a sigh of relief. He could really use some time to first of all tell himself this is all not a dream or nightmare or that he's actually dead. A lot information to process in a short time when he was never good with acting on impulse certainly has paralyzed him.

"You are doing it again! " Green capsicum says with a raised green brow.

That snaps Sande out of his thoughts. He is now frustrated.

"How about this, keep singing that song of yours. You sung it for a while back there and it had a calming effect. " Pumpkin advises.

All of them nod in realization and agreement as they remember they had some calming effect for a few minutes some time back when Sande was at his house. So Sande sings the song in his head and the crops visibly relax.

Sande's eyes wonder across his farm. Now he takes a good look at his crops. He's been singing that particular song for ages while farming. The crops are enjoying it and he's glad.

"Tell me, how exactly does any of my thoughts affect all of you at the same time? " Sande asks cutting short the pure moment of relaxation.

"I don't know about the others but for me, the words from your thoughts get jumbled in my head. You know words have letters and letters on their own say nothing. But when they are jumbled they form other words then sentences which change your command and the first to find is always to 'blow some steam off'. " Pumpkin explains but he stops sees Sande looking at him with his head cocked a little.

Instinctively he runs his tongue over his teeth in a bid to get rid of anything that might be lodged there getting Sande's attention.

"It's like you have to say the command in a way. Because, otherwise all other thoughts you have are stored like prerecorded clips which slowly start jumbling and once they form that dreadful command we have to follow. Maybe try giving us a command like you mean it. " Potato says not bothered by Sande's little attention span and the way he keeps looking weirdly at Pumpkin.

'Hocus-pocus everyone call pumpkin Bumking. ' Sande says in his mind.

On his face he wears a huge satisfied grin.

"This guy is hopeless. " Says a deep annoyed voice of the tallest plantain behind him.

Potato looks tongue tied with her left eye twitching. She wonders how the man is going to handle anything when the aliens come back.

"It's bumpkin. " Pumpkin mutters frustrated.

Poor him, he would have really loved if everyone called him bumpkin. He turns around with a pouty face and checks out his bum then shakes it a little.

The carrots are trying hard to hold back their laughter. Their faces are so red you would think they are chocking on hot food.

The cabbage is asleep. The Napier grass are making cricket sounds. The Lucerne are just staring on. The capsicum have their mouths hanging open.

The man on the spotlight looks worriedly at all his crops. It's as if during all that everyone was acting in slow motion and then things speed up bringing them all back to reality where they recover slowly.

"A try, but it didn't work so maybe say a command like it's official, like you really want us to do it, like your life is in danger and you need us to save you. " Potato encourages with a tight lipped smile.

Sande blinks. Then blinks again.

"At least from the blinking we know he's alive! " Yellow capsicum says with a sigh at the same time potato says,

"And no calling the guy bumpkin or whatever, please! "

Sande is still quiet. The plantain from earlier throws his leaves up in frustration then quickly before they know it has his dried leaves around Sande and pulls him to himself.

"Listen here rusty head, come up with a way to control your thoughts and your commands soon or I'll do something nasty to you. We don't have all day here, some of us need the sun to make food. It's never there 24/7!" The plantain warns.

"Easy there big guy that is our king. And you know you can always catch some bugs or birds to eat. The meat is really good. " The cabbage speaks for once startling everyone.

They all thought he was asleep .

"I'm vegan. " The plantain defends glaring at the cabbage.

Everyone stares blankly at him and he awkwardly releases Sande from his hold.

"I think I just pissed myself. " Sande says weakly.

Everyone turns their attention to their king whose denim pants have a darker shade of color from being soaked around his groin. He looks flustered.

"Again! " A carrot exclaims dramatically throwing his head leafy thingy every which way.