Jeb Barrow is the oldest living relative, who is still alive today, of the legendary Captain James Barrow. James was as determined and stubborn as Jeb. He reminds the residents of an older version of Captain James Burrow, in looks but not personality, far from it. James Burrow was a bit of a loner and only had a couple of very close friends, but his sincerity and reputation remains in the history books as a brave and solitary person who changed a little part of the world in his own way.
Jeb however, is a loner too but he is a grumpy old man who prefers the company of dead people to anyone that is alive. This is why he chose to get a part-time job in the Cove's Mausoleum as a grave digger.
He supposedly idolised Captain James Barrow, so much that Jeb began living in the past and had become a little eccentric and odd over the years. He insisted that the Captain was going to come back and get him some time. Maybe it came from working in the catacombs all these years. People were very sad to see the only living relative of their saviour reduced so close to insanity. They tried for years to befriend him, brought him food and gifts. He would take their gifts then virtually tell them to get lost. He had some very strange idiosycrancies such as going through not only others garbage bins, but his own...
...and he would wait until he was almost starving before he would make himself something to eat.
...or he'd lick his plate then put it in the dishwasher! Yes he had a dishwasher! only because he was too lazy to do anything else with the dishes. At least he was washing them now, at one point he was licking them clean and replacing them in the cupboard.
The first time he entered the catacombs of the Mausoleum it is said he was attacked by all manner of strange and undead creatures. He came out looking worse for wear the first time.
...and suffered the same fate for many weeks after. No one understands why he kept going back, perhaps he thought the Captain would find him there. He nearly lost his life several times.
...after a while he just accepted his fate and came out mauled, scratched and bruised over and over but didn't bat an eyelid. It was like he'd lost all feeling. Rumours were going around that Jeb was finding things in the catacombs of great value. He apparently found some unusual seeds on a number of ocassions. His passion for gardening sent him back down there on many ocassions in search of more unique and rare seeds. It was like he was possessed, or obsessed and kept going back. As for valuable things, no evidence or proof has been found to this rumour as yet.
He cleared his property of the prickly bushes and thistles and began his garden with one solitary rare and perfect lettuce seed which was found across a chasm in the catacombs and his garden built up from that.
He kept vigil of this one lettuce seed and invested in some self-watering sprinklers to ensure it received the exact amount of water it needed and chose not to plant anything else until it was grown. It was rumoured that he believed this seed harboured special powers and that if it didn't grow, the island would suffer some catastrophic event and end life on the island as he knew it. So he didn't proceed with any other planting until it produced a healthy seedling.
As it turned out it came through with flying colours, so Jeb decided to walk around all the parks and gather seeds that were there for the taking. He would always go at night so he would not run in to anyone and have to strike up a conversation.
Soon he had a little garden going but he never went far away from his original lettuce seed.
He began gathering many other varieties of seeds after that, from all over the place, which he planted in his garden. It seemed he was only happy when he was amongst his plants. As his skills improved and developed in gardening, he was able to plant many rare and unusual seeds which even he didn't know what they were until they reached maturity. He found some unusual plants around his mausoleum that were already growing and some of those rare seeds he planted.
He had other strange habits such as talking to his plants, particularly his sacred lettuce plant. He talked to plants and the dead as eventually people stopped trying to get to know him. It was the only socialisation he had these days, which only added to his strange reputation. People stopped visiting and he was living the life of a hermit. With no family alive, there was no one but him left of the Barrow decendants.
Several times he went off looking for seeds and harvesting wild plants for so long that his fireplace set his place on fire several times.
The first time he even actually thanked the fire woman and had a short chat. It was the first time he'd spoken with a live person for the longest time. She was very sympathetic to begin with.
When it began happening over and over the woman was not quite as patient with Jeb. In fact she screamed at him to either spend some money and get a decent fireplace or not to bother calling the department again.
Yet although he had the money, he didn't change his fireplace no matter how much the fire lady, Michaela Grimm, encouraged him to. Yet she still made a point of coming to his rescue everytime there was a fire. She may have felt sorry for the old man. One day she stayed on a bit longer and after she'd played in the sprinklers, to Jeb's disgust, she warmed herself at his fireplace.
He just argued with her and told her he didn't want her around. This time she screamed back at him, which took Jeb by surprise, he was shocked at her outburst.
"Shutup, you grumpy old man! I put out your fires, the least you could do is share your fire. Your Great, Great Grandfather would turn over in his grave if he knew how you treated people. Don't you get it? He gave his right arm to help people, including my ancestors and here you are, the only living relative of the revered Captain James Barrow and you shame his name. Go and have a shower, You stink!"
Jeb was so shocked he stood there a moment with his mouth agape, then having nothing to say, stormed out of his house to the outhouse. He stayed there for quite awhile after he'd showered and stared at Michaela through the window. She saw Jeb watching her and a wry smile spread over her face and then she left. Jeb was still shocked at the gall of the young whipper snipper as he called young people. He went to bed that night and tossed and turned.
The next day he just continued pottering in his garden trying a few samples of every new fruit or vegetable that came to maturity before he harvested them. Michaela's voice rang through his head over and over and he would shake his head to try and get it out, to forget.
As time went on, he became a better cook , but rarely cooked anything, he usually made salads or peanut butter and jelly. He was a bit of a technophobe, and except for the dishwasher had very little technology in his home.
He was becoming quite a gourmet with the variety of vegetables and salad dishes he created. He may as well have been a vegetarian, meat required cooking and since he rarely cooked, he had very little meat in his diet.
Then a few days later, the phone rang...Michaela was on the other end.
to be continued...
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