Hello and welcome to meet us pod episode 13. I'm your host D Mitas. Our story for this episode comes to us from Heather Santo. Heather works as a chemist in Pittsburgh, PA. Her educational background is biochemistry, forensic science
and law. In the past two years she's had flash and short stories published by ink and sword, yellow mama spaceports and spider silk retreats from oblivion, Jersey double press, the haunted traveler, bewildering stories and the mystic blue review with two stories pending in the Staybridge. Joining me telling this story are Charlotte North, Elijah be more. Michael Blakey, Lex Zorn, and Stacy Cotham. Stay tuned after the story for full actor bios and some news about
the future of metus media. Without further ado, here's our story. How does your garden grow by Heather Santo. I slicked back my hair and flash a dazzling smile. Check again please. I tell the young woman at the front door. She checks her screen for the 10th time. I'm sorry, there's still no one by the name Jasper crane here. honest mistake, I assure her. Claudia gave me a verbal invite at the Worthington's charity event last week. Maybe she forgot to tell you. I amp up the smile even
more and inch my way across the threshold. I'm sorry she repeats but I wave a dismissive hand. There she is now I say and call out to Claudia. My dear. There seems to be some mix up. Claudia saunters over a black dress fitting like a second skin on her curvaceous body. Faint recognition registers our face. How do I know you? We met at the Worthington's last week. I slipped my arm around her shoulders. Remember I told you I wouldn't miss your opening for the world. She squinted me
through thick black frames. Next years 2035 models smart glasses by the look of them and tosses a mass of lime green hair over one shoulder. Why don't you show me around? I suggest it's okay mossy she tells the frazzled girl of the door. I'll show she falters and I flashed a smile bright enough to light the city. Jasper crane I offer? Yes, I'll show Mr. Crane around from here. Thank you. We walk into the dimly lit entrance of the gallery aptly dubbed artsy fartsy surrounded by the city's elite
Jasper. We definitely did not meet at the Worthington's last week, or anywhere before for that matter. Yours is a smile I will not forget why I'm insulted. So easily forgotten by a woman as beautiful as yourself. I'm sure you have a legion of beautiful women at your beck and call. You have however, piqued my curiosity. She says taking my elbow. I'll take it. I navigate the crowd. A
large group is gathered in front of the gardenia garden. The Knights main attraction and namesake of the exhibit opening. Claudia is responsible for creating set exhibit as well as part owner of artsy fartsy it's breathtaking. I don't remember real flowers but I've heard this emulations pale in comparison to the real thing. How did you do it? Claudia shakes her head sadly. This is one of the first subjects I captured with environmental camera technology. I have a friend a few hours
north with a pretty house in the country. I sprinkled micro lenses in her garden to capture the individual images. And that was surround vision display edited each from 2d into this life sized 3d display. Fascinating. Out of those work. I motion of the projectors on the wall. They emit an invisible fog, allowing me to adjust focal plane and depth of field and project the images into space. How soon after you photograph the garden did the freak pod fungus hit the US? Less than six weeks.
I walk into the exhibit. Immediately enveloped in glossy green leaves and soft white blossoms. It's almost as beautiful as the photographer. Okay, Jasper. Enough chitchat? Who are you on? What are you doing at my exhibit opening, I remove my arm from her shoulders and raise both hands and defeat. You got me, I say and pull an old photograph from inside my tux jacket. It's from a now obsolete instant camera. The muted colors of the image are bordered in white paling in
comparison to the vibrancy of guarding your garden. I hand it to Claudia. How did you get this? The photo depicts a young woman dressed in a simple white t shirt, knees drawn up to her chest with a single gardenia tucked behind one ear. Gillian is my older sister. I say. I can see the realization slide into place. Although Jillian's features are softer, like the flower in her hair, the family resemblance is undeniable. We drifted apart. Both so focused on our careers. Claudia
whispers me with photography and her with science. She looks up at me. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think of her. She's in a coma. I say and Gloria grips my wrist daily. has been for almost a year what happens? I bought a business card for my tux jacket. The front of it reads yours Greek food delivery service. cloudier rips it from my fingers. Meet me tomorrow. at this address. Five o'clock sharp. I'll explain everything. I turned to leave Claudia to her adoring fans. And
as I walk away she calls out Jasper. I glance over my shoulder. This is the best photograph I've ever taken, she says holds the instant image to her heart. Yours is a hole in the wall on the north side. The food delivery gigs started out as a front from Aleyda scheme but much to my surprise it quickly grew into a profitable business. The credit goes to Xander my chef and a former Army Ranger. What's cookin? I yell as I enter gear yours. I launch myself onto a bar stool and prop my feet up
on the counter. Xander a mountain of a man with a screamin Eagle haircut is busy in the grill. Same thing that's cooking every day. He growls Sandra's famous gyros my man go three, then ratty haired and blue spectacles. The antithesis of Xander good falls from his spot at Central Command. He's a drone pilot and one hell of a hacker was six screens hooked up
to a network of computers, none of which I understand. It probably rivals anything set up at the CIA or delivery drone, which cost me a nice chunk of change sits on the table next to Central Command. We nicknamed him Hermes. Did you have Chow yet? Xander asks, throwing a guy row in front of me. His apron says kitchen bitch across the chest. No, I haven't. And I take a huge bite. You're welcome. he grumbles turning back to the
grill. So where's this photographer chick? Guthrie asks as Claudia saunters through the door right here, she says flipping her lime green ponytail with sensuous grace. Xander and Guthrie stare, mouths agape order up. I call and slam my hand down on the kitchen service Bell. Conrad explodes out of the stockroom long limbs Tangling together like yarn. I'm here I'm coming. I've got it. He yells and Paul's face first in
front of Claudia's red high heeled pumps. The kitchen erupts into laughter and I help Conrad to his feet easier years newest hire a struggling ventriloquist who walked in one day and asked if we were hiring. We weren't but I gave him a job on the spot. The guy although a bit high strung, is extremely likable and eager to please. Plus his dummy Pierre gives Xander the creeps. Well guys, something smells delicious. After I introduced the photographer to Xander Guthrie
and Conrad, we get down to business. Not the guy real business, the real business. But we do eat Kairos as we talk, the risk of family Claudia exclaims incredulous. How did you learn get involved with the mafia? Indirectly as it turns out, I explain her colleague, some guy drowning in gambling debt was developing mind control technology. One of those main bruisers isn't really this guy makes Xander look like a kitten broke into the complex where she
worked. plan to steal the guy's tech to make up for the debt and then break the guy's legs for good measure. stumbled into Joe's lab by mistake. I pause to take a deep breath. what Joe was working on was more valuable to the mafia than mind control. And what was that? Flowers resistant to the freak pod fungus? Top Secret stuff. Her first success was with gardenias Claudia stares at me, speechless. The boss big Polly thought they could make a mint selling real flowers, weddings,
anniversaries, funerals. You not believe what people were willing to pay for flowers on the black market. So they went in put my sister didn't give up her flowers without a fight. Reserves guy put her in a coma and she's been at St. Margaret's ICU sense. What can I do to help? Claudia asks without hesitation later that night one of rizos men places his weekly delivery order like clockwork Xander prepares the Kairos Conrad boxes everything up and Guthrie fires up the drone.
Claudia pops open her very expensive laptop and we wait. Watching the drones feed when one of the central command screens holy cow. Claudia says when she spots Rizzo is bruiser the front door of the delivery location. Ironically, the mob works out of a kitchen design store a few blocks south of here he is told you he was big. I say as the behemoth takes the box of food from the drone. Guthrie pilots the drone back home and we
switch views to cloudy his laptop. The microlens is attached to the food box which on and she starts capturing images and rapid fire speed. Photos of 12 wiseguys plus big Polly making a baker's dozen pop up in succession. We also get a complete layout of the room. There's a door in the back that immediately catches Guthrie's interest. Something important behind there, he says pointing voice and face recognition on the outside. If you ain't big Polly or one of us could pose
you ain't getting in there. I look at Claudia. Can you be back next week, same time. We're gonna get Jill's flowers back. The next Saturday, we gather back at years. Xander works furiously at the grill preparing the resume family's weekly order. There's a tub of his secret guiro sauce next to the grill. The recipe kept secret even from me. Except this week, I've added my own secret little ingredient. Good old Georgia homeboys enough to knock out even the largest of results
clan. Order Up. Xander yells hitting the kitchen service Bell. Conrad boxes everything up for delivery and Guthrie fires up the drone wants to be big boy bruiser takes the box from Hermes. Claudia pulls anxiously at her lime green braids. Are you sure this is going to work? Nope. I say Guthrie has loaded the photo software onto one of
Central Command screens. While he brings Hermes back to he is he simultaneously switches on Claudia's micro lenses, again, attached to the delivery box and captures images of rizos men big Polly included devouring Xander Slimer Skyros. The secret sauce drips through their fingers splattering on the table covered with playing cards. We wait. Less than an hour later all 13 men are down for the count. That's our cue. All right, everyone loaded into van drive a few blocks over Guthrie riding
shotgun to the kitchen design store. The old panel van 2018 model but still more reliable than many of my ex girlfriends rattles as if in anticipation. Pull in here. Claudia exclaims and I slide the van into a side alley. Everyone out I say and look at Conrad in the rearview mirror. Are you ready? Yes. He squeaks and opens the back door. Luckily for us, Rousseau's men didn't lock the door. After grabbing the guy rose from the drone. We slipped through the darkness and into the store. The
room reeks of cigar smoke and guiro sauce. All 13 men are slumped in various positions around the car table. Big barley at the head. I pet his flabby cheek as we walked by. How's the food big barley? He snorts in response and turns his head the other way. snoring like a buzzsaw Conrad Harry. Conrad approaches the back door. He's been practicing for this moment all week. Studying online videos of big Polly's last court deposition. Hey, it's me big boy. He says mimicking the mafia
bosses voice perfectly. A lot on the voice recognition screen blinks green Xander looking totally creeped out. Olds up here to the facial recognition scanner. Guthrie 3d printed a perfect replica of the bullies face earlier in the week and swapped it out for the one on Conrad's dummy. Pierre looked decidedly more ugly for the effort. Another green light flashes in the back door lock clicks open. Before anyone can say anything. I push through and walk into an illegal grow
operation of a most unusual kind. Instead of kitchen design supplies the brightly lit room was filled with roses, peonies, lilies, tulips and last but not least, guarding Yes. Oh, my God. All right, box everything up and loaded in the van. The following Monday the news headlines puzzled over the mysterious return of freak odd resistant flowers to the lab where they were originally stolen from. The story runs tandem with reports of the entire Rizzo mob family being hospitalized for ingesting
large amounts of a date rape drug. In light of these events, I decided to permanently close yields for business. While Xander Guthrie and Conrad move everything from the kitchen into a storage locker on the east side. I drive van to artsy fartsy and pick up Claudia. She has a green haired vision and a houndstooth print pantsuit. And her hands she holds a tiny potted gardenia ready, task. So I'll never be we sit in silence as I navigate through midday downtown traffic.
St. Margaret's is at the heart of the city surrounded by simulated flower gardens. Hopefully soon, they'll be filled with real flowers. Hello, Jasper. A pretty nurse says to me when we enter the ICU. Haven't seen you in a while. Yeah, sorry. I flashed a dazzling smile. This is Claudia, a friend of Julian's. Uh huh. She says and walks away briskly. Emotional for her to enter Julian's room. My older sister's like a small child of to an IV under a thin blanket.
Hi, Jill. Claudia says, and in the state of light peeking through the window blinds, places the gardenia next to the hospital bed. Links to our author and actors work will be in the show notes that meet us pod.com. Charlotte Northrup, Charlotte was born and raised in Denmark. Since childhood she has been in love with dark and sinister stories and enjoys a sick and twisted world. That is horror. Charlotte's work can be heard all over the place. Honestly, there's just too much to be
listed here. But Eliza be more as an actor based out of Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He can currently be seen on CW legacies. Elijah also has a new podcast coming soon called cover to cut. Check it out if you like movies. Michael Blakey, voice actor, musician, human. He writes songs and brings messages to life with his voice, and Missouri boy who wants the people in this world to just be nicer to each other. I think we can all appreciate that. Lexa Warren lek is a very prolific
actor, both on screen and voice only. And recently, he started making his own films as well. He frequently collaborates with his children, Aria Kelly and Liam Isaac on both cast and crew. He's also a radio sports commentator. And last, but definitely not least, Stacy Cotham is a voice actor based out of North Carolina. She's also a radio host, cosplayer
performance artist and lecturer. meanness media is expanding and I'm devoting a lot more time to it recently made his opponent is going to be moving to a slightly different format for a while. The full cast episodes like this one are going to be few and far between. Most episodes will be more like episode 12 with a single storyteller. With this format, I'll be able to get more episodes out. I still have my day job and full productions
take a while to get produced and ready for your years. I'm working on getting a more regular release schedule and this change will definitely help out. I've also been putting a lot of work into my daughter show Fun Fact Friday with Leila and David, which is now live streaming on Twitch on Thursday nights at seven Eastern time. Yes, I know we should do it on Friday, but there are reasons, I promise. Thank you to all of our
listeners and talent. If you'd like to make a donation and help with the server costs head on over to meet this bob.com and click the donations link. All donations go to making the show better. Our music comes to us from od Sprite, you can check out more of their work and on sprite.com. All written works a property of their respective owners, media sponsors and biggest media production all rights reserved unless otherwise stated. Have a good one folks. We'll see you next time.