Dex the digger, brought his mate Luke to work one day saying that he would share his wages with him, but needed, or perhaps he said wanted,  someone else to work with, I can’t quite remember. Well, pleased that the work would get done quicker, I insisted that Luke should be paid equal wages too.  Seeing two grown men working  for half wages did not sit right with me.  However, over the next few days, it did seem to be taking a long time to do these last bits of garden. work  Then the rain came, and came and came and came, so that when Dex and Luke came to work, they had to take shelter in the shed at frequent intervals. I was away for 3 days and left them to work, as I had done before when Dex worked alone. This time on my return however, there definitely did seem to be less work done than when Dex had been alone.  Did I smell a rat? Had it rained that much? Was I getting paranoid?   I pondered over the weekend, and decided to ask Dex to come to work early on Monday, without Luke.  I would then work with him most of the day myself. I rang on Sunday to arrange this, but couldn’t speak to Dex directly, leaving a message instead.  Early Monday came and went. Dex did arrive late morning with Luke, full of apologies.  Unfortunately his personal life had fallen apart that weekend and he had to travel from Kent that morning, from where he was now staying.  The cost was outrageous and accounted for most of his earnings that day. We all three worked in the garden till early afternoon and got most jobs finished and the place looking tidy.  The new turf had taken well and loved all the rain.  I had bought just the Cordyline I wanted and found the perfect place for it. But that was the last I saw of Dex and was left feeling very sad for him. I left thinking about the rest of the garden for another time.