Gardening

Winner--10/5/08

ID: 896794   (Rated: 13+) Daily Flash Fiction Challenge  Enter your story of 300 words or less. Note new starting time! by arakun the twisted raccoon

                                                         GARDENING

         

         I was kneeling on the grass, trowel in hand.  A little voice at my shoulder asked, “Whatcha doin’?” It was my neighbor’s four year old.



         “I’m planting flowers.”



         “Those aren’t flowers,” she said looking at the tulip bulbs.”



         “They’re bulbs.”



         “No they aren’t.”



         “Yes they are.”



         She knelt beside me.  “I want to help.”



         “Well you can’t.  You’re too little.”



         “Why do you call them bulbs?”



         “Because they are.  Go and play.”



         “Bulbs are made of glass and they light up.”



         Gardening was a pleasure until they moved in!  Don’t they watch her?  What is wrong with young parents today?  For all they know I might be some kind of a kid-eating monster. “Look Zoë, a bulb is a kind of a very big seed.  If I plant them now they will grow in the spring and have flowers on them.”



         She looked interested.  “What kind of flowers?”



         “Tulips. Now be a good girl and go play so I can finish.”



         Why do her parents let her make a nuisance of herself?  I like to think when I’m gardening, not be answering questions all the time.  But she wrecked my train of thought. I was trying to think what I would write today and she drove it out of my mind.



          Maybe I should write about an old lady who’s too cranky to answer a little girl’s questions.  Zoë is really a bright, charming little person.  I just shooed her away.  Shame on me!

         

244 words