50 Bags of Dirt

I had to buy plants before i had the greenhouse ready or the boxes set up because the nurseries only sell certain plants during certain weeks and they really only have vegetables at all for the month of april. By may 1st everything is gone and its back to flowers. So i had some plants sitting in tiny little containers and i really needed to get the greenhouse up and running if they were to live. I had holes drilled in all the toy boxes but they were empty. I figured i would need at least one carload of dirt. I wanted someone to load it for me so i figured i couldnt do walmart. It had to be a hardware store so they’d put all the bags in the car. I was already going to have to get them out. No sense in doing it twice. I drove to the hardware store and told the staff member that i wanted to fill the car with as many bags of dirt as would fit and then charge my card for that many. They said no. The bags could not go in my car until i paid for them. I asked her to send a staff member out to look at the bags and look at my trunk and decide how many they thought would fit and i would buy that many and give it a go. If they wouldnt all fit i would just ask for a refund for what i had to leave behind. She agreed and called for a lot attendant to come to gardening. They sent a teen in a mesh vest. I explained what we needed him for and he followed me to my trunk. Once at the trunk he took a look inside and said, “with the seats down, i’d say, 50.” I was surprised. I said okay, lets go. He got called away for something else while i was paying and then once i had paid for fifty bags of the dirt they called for assistance again and the teen showed up with a friend to help him load. The other teenager said, “whooo, you told her fifty? In this car? Fifty, he says. Fifty.” He shook his head. The first teen told the second teen to shut up. The second teen talked **** all the while that they were loading and i was counting. When the first teen heard me say, “29” he said, “hold up you said 29? Okay yeah its gonna fit.” He seemed quite sure at that point. I had no idea so i just kept counting. As they loaded the bags i heard myself say, “47, 48, 49…” the first teen wedged a bag sideways against the window and closed the trunk “50”. I shook his hand, “im impressed. I gotta hand it to you, you estimated well. Exactly 50.” The other teen that had been giving him such a hard time for his estimation skills was silent. I told him thank you and to have a good night. Now the first teen was giving the second teen **** about having faith in him and his abilities. They walked back to the building. I got in the car and suddenly realized i had 50 bags of dirt in the back of it. I had made the car quite a bit heavier than it had been. I tried to quickly do the math of how many lbs of extra weight would be in the car if i had 4 200 lb passengers riding with me. I decided that no matter how i worked it out in my head this was probably more weight than was supposed to be sitting on the tires. The car felt very heavy and i had to push harder than normal on the accelerator pedal to make the car move. I drove very slowly and carefully all the way home. Upon arrival my immediate thought was that i had to get all this extra weight out of the car. I backed up to the greenhouse, jumped out, and unloaded the 50 bags onto the ground one at a time. Once i had the stress off the car i parked it and turned my attention to what to do with all the bags of dirt i had stacked next to the greenhouse. I carried them two at a time into the greenhouse and ripped them open at the top with my hands. 6 bags filled up one container. I carried and ripped, carried and ripped until all 50 bags were utilized. It was just enough dirt to fill all of the containers. I then planted the sprouts i already had as night fell.

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