I'm in a strange place, with a number of my family members. Dave strolls in with a handful of large fresh pea pods. The pods are huge, like a foot long, with plump peas in them. He hands one out to everybody but me.

But I wanted one! I ask him where he got them, assuming them to be from a store, and perhaps there are more around. Everyone laughs, as I appear to be missing the obvious - they came from plants, like that one right over there!

There is a large kitchen, and the pea plants are growing all around. There are no pods down low, where they can be reached, but I can see some up higher, requiring me to climb up on the counters, aided by a thin double cord, like that used with blinds. At one point I swing around the refrigerator on the cord alone, and the words "three points of contact" (as spoken by Byron of the climbing club) come into my head. I look down, and it would be a long way to fall.

I find a couple of pea pods, but they are only about half full of fresh peas, the other half being shriveled and dry.