The Plant

Here is a story I wrote for a writing contest. It didn't win, but the people I showed it to all loved it so I'm not discouraged. I'll write for another contest soon, when I'm caught up with my fanfiction :) This is a short story that just popped into my head, complete and written in just a few hours. I was literally printing it out and mailing it off on the last day of the contest just before the post office closed. Guess I have a thing about deadlines, lol. Hope you like!


The Plant Family Circle Entry


I was hurrying home, after another drab gray day at work. I remembered that I’d finished the last of the milk and grumbling to myself I detoured to the convenience store. Of course they were out of the lowfat kind. I picked up a packaged salad to go with the regular milk and then headed to the counter. A mother and daughter, wearing matching pink shirts, were babbling about how they were decorating the daughter’s room. I impatiently waited, and then wondered why I was in such a hurry. There was nothing to go home to, just my barely decorated apartment and some shows on television. Sometimes I wondered why I even bothered. Finally the two women were done and moved off, still chatting, and I plopped my salad and milk on the counter. The clerk asked if I needed anything else. Yes, I wanted to say, I need a new life, but I don’t think you sell that here. I didn’t bore him with the response I wanted to make however and instead shook my head. Then I caught sight of a scraggly little plant on the end of the counter. The price had been reduced twice already, according to the red X’s over the numbers. A little sign said “Last Chance, 99 cents!” attached to a wilting brown leaf. As though my mouth was not attached to my brain I heard myself saying yes, I’ll take that plant too. Ten minutes later I was opening my front door, juggling the keys, the bag of milk and salad, and a little plant smaller than my arm.

After dinner, I took a look at the little orange pot that the plant came in. That wouldn’t be big enough to hold it for long if it were to grow. My plant didn’t even come with a label to say what kind it was, and I had no experience with greenery. I was pretty sure that it should be green though, and began to make a list of things I might need. I knew there was a woman who did gardening at work but I usually kept to myself. Maybe though I could talk to her. I took the little plant and held it under the faucet, and ran cool water for it. The soil inside the pot was dry, and even I knew that plants needed water. Then I put the little plant inside a bowl with more water, set it on the kitchen table and turned in for the night.

In the morning, the sun seemed to be shining just a bit brighter, as the rays shone over the little plant. I ate my breakfast of cereal at the table and found myself looking at the plant and wondering if maybe it was lonely. After having several disastrous dates in a row I’d sworn off dating, but maybe my plant would have better luck. I’d heard generally that if you talked to plants they would grow better, so I said “see you later” as I left for work. I only felt a little silly.

At my job, which was basically scanning barcodes in the computer, I poked my head around the cubicle wall. Kathy, a tall thin brunette always had her space decorated with pictures of her family and silk flowers, while my area was always empty. I figured she might know something about plants, at least more than I did, and I said hello. She looked up, surprised.

“Hi,” she replied.

“Hi, um, I was wondering. Do you know anything about plants? I kind of got one yesterday,” I said.

“You got a plant? What kind?” she asked.

“I don’t know, it’s kinda small and has some brown leaves along with the green.” I found myself describing the plant and even the pot it came in.

Kathy listened, and for the next few minutes gave me advice on what to do. She also suggested I speak to Betty, who did the gardening. Then she invited me to lunch. I was about to say no, as I usually did if I ever got an invitation, and found my mouth unattached to my brain again as it said yes. We ended up inviting Betty to lunch as well, and for the first time in a long time I found myself actually enjoying my job. Well lunch, anyway. I even surprised myself by being interested in Betty’s garden, of which she had pictures. By the time I left work at the end of the day I found myself actually humming. I didn’t go straight home. I went to the supermarket and bought a bit more than I’d planned, but found myself not worried by it.

“I’m back!” I called out as I opened the door to my apartment. Then I took a look at the sparse furnishings and wondered if I should get some more furniture. Definitely a plant stand, I thought. It might have been my imagination, but the little plant seemed a bit healthier. I talked to it as I dropped my groceries down on the table and put them away. Then I opened the magazine I’d found that told how to transplant little plants like mine and proceeded to follow the instructions, placing my little plant in a slightly bigger pot. Then I introduced it to its new neighbor, a Coleus that had caught my eye. I actually cooked dinner, nothing fancy, just pasta, and ate it at the table while leafing through a plant book that I had bought. I said goodnight to the plants, arranging them so that they would catch the sunlight first thing in the morning. Then I headed to bed, actually looking forward to the next day. Betty had said she would bring in more pictures.

The next two workdays went by quickly, and I found myself invited to come over to Betty’s on the weekend, and to bring my plant. On that Saturday I placed my plant carefully in the car, and drove to a beautiful house with a large garden outside. I recognized roses, and the sheer mass of healthy looking greenery made me look at my forlorn little plant, which I held cradled in my hands. Betty came out and waved, and I walked inside, commenting on how beautiful her garden was.

“I love it, and it’s so relaxing,” she replied. “You can make an indoor garden yourself, you know.”

I shrugged, and placed my plant on her kitchen table. Many houseplants adorned the windowsill, and her kitchen was decorated in a country style. I felt at home there, and soaked up the ambience as Betty examined my plant.

“Look, you’ve got a new leaf growing,” Betty said, pointing it out. Sure enough, my little plant was growing, and the brown leaf had fallen off. “I don’t know what kind it is though. It could be...but maybe not. Or it might be..”

I told her it didn’t matter. So long as it was getting healthier it would be fine, I said. She replied that some plants needed more water than others, and some did better with a certain amount of sunlight.

“How about general guidelines?” I asked.

“Well,” she replied, looking at my plant, “you could do this...”

For the next half hour we talked plants, and then somehow the conversation turned to other things. She asked why I never went out, and I replied that I’d had some bad experiences and didn’t need anyone anyway.

“Everyone needs someone,” Betty said. “Like your plant needed you.”

I shrugged, but found myself agreeing when she invited me to a picnic that she and some others from work were going to the next weekend. I detoured on the way home, and fitted the plant stand in the back seat of the car.

Over the next few weeks, my little plant grew, and so did the greenery in my kitchen. Five more plants now adorned plant stands, and I’d put some pretty wallpaper up. My living room also looked more cosy from the eclectic furniture I’d chosen. Two months after I’d first brought my little plant home I hosted a garden party. My apartment came complete with a nice little patio, which had remained empty since I’d moved in. Now it had a table and chairs, and of course some plants. I’d invited the “gardening crew” from work, and set to decorating the space. It was a beautiful sunny day and Betty, Kathy, Lee, Linda, and Jill showed up with various edible treats. We talked gardening and about other things, and they all commented on how healthy my little plant was looking. Linda, who was single like me, told me that she knew of two cute guys from the mail room that were interested in going on a double date. I was about to say no and my mouth once again didn’t check with my brain as it said I would love to and for her to let me know when.

They stayed for hours, and helped me clean up, and when they left I didn’t feel lonely. My apartment, which I had simply thought of before as merely a place to sleep, now felt like a home. That week I looked forward to work, as my boss said I was in line for a promotion, and would be able to do more than I had been doing. My work space was now decorated with pictures of my plants, and I had a healthy philodendron that everyone that stopped by admired.

My double date went very well. Linda was happy with Jerry, and Michael let me chat away about plants and gardening. I learned that he was an amateur gardener, and then as we talked found we had many other things in common. I’d taken my car to the restaurant where we all met, and he kissed me and asked if I’d be interested in a second date, sans the other couple. This time I was quite unsurprised to hear my mouth saying yes. On the way home I remembered that I needed to get milk, and stopped by the same convenience store where I had picked up my little plant. It was late, and a couple were ahead of me, leisurely chatting and adding things to their order. I flipped through the horticultural magazine that was on the rack next to the counter as I waited, and smiled at the clerk when it was my turn. I added the magazine to my purchase, and took a quick look at the little plant sitting on the end of the counter. It too had been on sale for some time, and I plunked down the extra dollar for it.

I was humming as I opened the door to my apartment, and called out “I’m home!” to my plants as I entered. It felt good to walk inside, and smell the healthy fragranced air. My home was now decorated in a style that I realized I liked, and I walked into the kitchen, placing the new addition on the kitchen table.

My little plant sat in a place of honor, where it could soak up the most light from the morning sun. It wasn’t so little anymore, and I’d needed to repot it twice already. Its healthy green leaves seemed to be reaching out to greet me, and I told it hello and that I had a new purchase that needed some TLC. I looked from it to the new bedraggled plant, and smiled. This new plant would be just fine, and so would I. Apparently that convenience store did sell a new life, as my full life now and the healthy condition of my little plant could attest to. With a smile, I watered the new plant and said goodnight to my garden. Tomorrow was going to be a busy day.

The End.