Word Count: 246
The leaf lettuce is fanned out and formed from pale chartreuse voile. The brussels sprouts from pipecleaners and blue-green taffeta moire. The peas are from silk strung on wrapped florist wire and the tomatoes are satin-covered styrofoam balls.
Each morning she goes out and adds leaves and new yellow flowers. Moves the small buds to new stalks replacing the old with the larger ones she has made during the night. Changing colors as the tomatoes grow larger and ripen. Adds sticks to the okra for height.
It’s a garden that’s moving along with the season. Adding a surprise of new blooms as the rain comes along. No one can tell as they’re quick-driving by that the lushness is all fabric like velvets and wash-and-wear polyester/cotton blends that don’t fade in the sun.
After dinner she sits with her husband and with needle and thread, adds a new wrinkle or two to his face. Darkens his arms with watered-down tea as the sun might have tanned them and satisfied, sits back and reads as he watches TV.
In the morning, just before she goes out to tend to the vegetables and satin-tipped roses, she unzips the baby, fills out with batting his rosy chubby cheeks and his round little tummy. Redresses him in a clean outfit and puts him back in his crib for a nap.
She then sprinkles the dust on the tables and floors, then vacuums it all up again.
Not sure how you do it, Susan (and not sure I want to know) but I was gagging by the end of the second sentence, and read the rest with my eyes shut …
(Sandra always has the best comments!) I was really taken by surprise when she started on the husband! Great stuff! So creepy!
Ah, Sandra, it was the brussels sprouts then? I myself didn’t know where this was going until I brought her inside the house, Ann!
this is perfection! I love how this develops, from tasty to terrible to daily. So good.
Thank you, Marcus. I’m beginning to believe that the dark side is where I belong.
on first read it’s eery, but i swear today when i walked in the garden i looked at the way its moving along with the season, with things sprouting and popping up – and then i thought of the way farmers and physicians tinker with plants since the first farms, moving / removing / picking / tending / selecting. (which also goes for all assorted things…)
That’s sort of where my mind was going, the strange way they’re experimenting with plant life and animal life as well.