Subject: “Why were people taking so much seed—far too much to grow and use?”

Um… the overexuberance of first-time gardeners? [I've been there.] A compulsion to collect things (especially when they’re free)? The notion that if some is good, more is better?

Perhaps a few of those people had come into ownership of secret underground bases — something Dr. No-ish with volcanic heat, rich soil, an artificial sun, waterfalls and all that — and they wanted to accent the bulkheads and world-domination training grounds with Hungarian poppies and nicotiana.

That’s my best guess.

Speaking of the poppies, though: One of the French women asked me about a certain kind of poppy, and as she described the color, I said, “Oh, I might have those (Blue Hungarian breadseed). I shuffled through all the envelopes on the table, then in my bag, then in my pockets. I was a bit perplexed: where did they go?

I began to tell that woman, “Yeah, sorry, I don’t know what happened to them,” and then this young woman to my right piped up and said “Oh, do you mean these?” And she had the whole packet, unopened (I hadn’t even set aside any for myself) in her binder.

I had to pause for a second so that I didn’t make a really strange face or blurt out “What the hell?” Because, you know, I didn’t want to come off as Mr. Stingyseed, but I was surprised at how people were just gankin’ stuff.