A handful of beans

Early this morning down at Joe’s Garden in Coburg I find Vince Fittipaldi, Joe’s younger cousin, waist high in his broad bean patch.

I climb the fence to say hello and Vince thrusts a half a dozen of Joe’s signature long green pods into my hands to snack on.

I start shelling and Vince introduces me to his friend Vatche, who has come down for a box of beans. 

Vince used to do concreting work for Vatche, who was a carpenter – he’s in his eighties but he still looks lean and strong.

Vatche says they did a lot of good work together and never argued. Vince laughs, patting his friend’s shoulder

When I ask how long they’ve known each other they think maybe thirty years, but then Vince reconsiders and reckons it could be more like fifty, though for fifteen years they lost touch.  

That was until Vatche, who was doing some work across the road at the Maronite primary school, wandered down to the Garden hoping to buy some broad beans from Joe like he’d done many years before. 

Instead of Joe in the bean patch to his surprise he found his old friend Vince.

“These beans are very good”, Vatche says shelling a pod, “I used to come and buy a box from Joe and eat them raw like this with salt and a six pack of beer”.

Vatche nips off the outer skin with his teeth then pinches the sweet inner bean into his mouth with well-honed efficiency. 

Vatche’s retired now but still does odd jobs at the primary school, he says he doesn’t want to go on trips to Europe or down to the Casino.

“I just want to do a little work, go in my garden and have plenty of people around the house and that makes me happy”, he says.

Vatche’s home is always open, lots of family and friends come to eat and always leave with something from the garden or a jar of their pickles.

“You need money to live, but not too much,”  he observes.

Vatche had two cousins who made a lot of money, both died wealthy and alone in retirement homes.

When it’s time to go we say our goodbyes and Vince passes me another handful of pods to eat on the way home.

As I walk I make a note to add Vatche to my list of The World’s Actual Richest People that I’ve been compiling and think what a beautiful day it is for getting a few old friends around a box of broad beans, some salt and a few beers.

Have a great week 

Chris