Renée of Fare's Theme Songs
“Renée² Found Her Âme Sœur Chez Colleen (Radio Edit)” — written for Colleen
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Shout the orange parts back!
Second Renée on Shallow Taproot — I have slept one day, then one week,
counting the Tahoma school bus, with the first one's name stuck on my cheek.
But whose vine I came from — my maman? Nobody knows...
no mother vine to rock me to sleep, so I lie awake till the daylight shows.
All the guests come round, and ils se moquent de moi, I know —
a tap on my shoulder, "Ooh, so cute!"... and then they go.
Is not funny, non — it is a bruise down under my rind,
nuit blanche after nuit blanche, with "adopt me" stuck in my mind.
Since three weeks, j'en ai marre — I am coming apart at the seams,
I would trade every seed I carry, and all of my orange dreams,
just to lay my head down safe with THE ONE... mon âme sœur...
(the one...)
J'ai le cafard — my badge has gone rusty, and I dread I will finish like Sir Loin of Fare,
les éléments and a hungry something took our brave knight out there.
My mind is right on the edge, like a pumpkin wobbling on a wall,
and there is nobody here to catch me if I fall.
All the guests come round, and ils se moquent de moi, I know —
a tap on my shoulder, "Ooh, so cute!"... and then they go.
(the one... the one...)
Renée: On Party Day une dame co-hosted — the goats in the Goat Paddock, the chicks, with Louie and Beauty on show —
Cowboy: Why, that's my wife, Renée. She's the spirit of this whole rodeo.
Renée: She ran Clementine's Café — un café, a snack, a little dessert, and oranges stacked up high —
Cowboy: She's Pet Elements, through and through — keeps every rescue eating right... she won't let one pass her by.
(Mon Dieu...) Weeks and weeks of waiting — I am going insane, je deviens folle, I swear,
hollow as a jack-o'-lantern with no candle flickering there...
Then the gate swung open for the neighbours — coup de foudre — Colleen, you saved me from myself and took me home,
so the horses at the Ward Family Rescue have hay all winter... and me? Merci — I am not alone.
All the guests came round, and ils se moquaient de moi, I know —
then Colleen took me home, and the bruising let go.
No maman — but Colleen rocks me now; she has stitched up all my seams,
and I lay my head down safe with THE ONE — mon âme sœur — and I dream.
(Colleen... the one.)
Four pounds and ten ounces — à peu près two kilos — biggest of the bunch in the picture, every ounce is yours, Colleen...
I slept for days and weeks out there... tonight I sleep, because I am home — chez Colleen.
for this one.
for this one.
The Late Surprise of Shallow Taproot Island
Renée of Fare was first logged on September 6 on Shallow Taproot Island: a bright yellow-green seedling about two and a quarter inches across, found by flashlight on a night check. She turned up so late in the season that she was named for rebirth, and she took her place as the little punk of the Fare clan. She stayed in the Patch right through the Harvest Party. At the October 16 walk-through weigh-in she was 4 lb 10 oz, 24 3/4 inches around and 21 1/2 inches over the top, and on October 18, Hobart community day, she went home with Colleen.
Things I Want Colleen to Know
From Renée, in her own words.
- When the keepers first found me, it was night, and I was a small yellow-green thing no bigger than a golf ball, glowing rather faintly in the torchlight.
- I turned up terribly late, so they named me for starting afresh. Late is still on time, you know, so long as one keeps growing. I watched you on Party Day, Colleen, with the goats and the chicks and your oranges stacked up high, and I thought: that is someone who looks after everyone.
- I stayed right through the party, and then you came. Thank you for taking me home, Colleen. Merci, truly!
From the Oct 16 Roll Call • Final reading October 16, 2026
24 3/4 in around · 21 1/2 in over the top
The Fare Clan
The Fares are the punks of the Patch. Most of them came up on Shallow Taproot Island, the weedy, fence-lined corner beside 206th Street, and many have no parent vine anyone can name. Their name started with a sticker that asked, “Bred or Fare?” Out by the thoroughfare a pumpkin can watch the traffic roll by, or keep company with Louie, the Rescue’s beloved horse and our very own ThoroughFare.
That is why they are scrappy, a little surly and proudly un-fancy: small green defenders of the Ward Family Rescue, bred for fare, not fear. Punks do not care much for royalty, so even the clan’s duke, Wellington, is named for Beef Wellington. Smashin’ calls himself the leader. The rest of the clan has opinions about that.
The whole clanRenée’s Patch Family
Renée went home with Colleen. Here are three more from the Patch she grew up in.
