No Argument

My gosh, she said, you two
stand in a steamy hot kitchen,
kettle boiling, jars sterilizing,
just to can your own tomatoes.
You set out the plants, weed them,
worry about rain and bugs.
Here you are canning the stuff
just to have some jars of your own
garden on the shelves for winter.
I can’t figure it out, on a hot day
like this . . . you didn’t even take
a vacation. Listen to me, you two,
I can jump in my car any winter day,
slip over to the supermarket
and buy six cans of tomatoes
if I want to. Doesn’t that make
all this work seem kind of ridiculous? ‘
‘You are absolutely right,’’ we said,
‘‘now let’s see . . . we must cool the jars
a bit before we screw the lids down tight.’’