reaching for the middle
Maizey knew secrets about everybody. She wasn’t the town gossip, quite, because she only ever listened—no one’s deepest fears ever passed her lips. Instead, she was a sponge, and felt herself grow heavy with whispers and confessions, felt herself expanding with fertile wish and hopeless error. Some days her head tilted to one side with the weight of it all.
But that never stopped her, never kept her from patting a shoulder and asking all the right questions. This was her purpose, her role in life, and she’d never once questioned the wisdom or the burden of her gift. At night, she planted these secrets like seeds, and then she waited. And every morning there were flowers. Morning glory and nasturtium, rose and daisy, snapdragon and alyssum.
In her mind she knew their real names, Fred and Ruth, Shannon and Cindy, Brittany and Brian, but she liked to think of them as blooms, growing up through life’s soil.
She liked to water them with tears and open them with sunshine. She was happy to keep their truths hidden underground.
She was happy to be the gardener.
.
.
.
September 10th, 2015 at 9:21 am
I really loved the idea of planting their secrets and the seeds became flowers with the person’s name. In sorry I cannot think of better words, I’m in the sleep-deprived state of puppy ownership…took me ten minutes to type my email address.
September 10th, 2015 at 10:21 am
well. this made me cry and made my grateful you ARE the gardener. xoxo
September 10th, 2015 at 11:21 am
I’m so happy that you keep coming up with these jewels to share, what a wonderful, sweet story.
September 10th, 2015 at 4:17 pm
I love this story; I think it would make a wonderful short story, because I want to know more about Maizey. She reminds me of a crazy cat lady I know.
September 10th, 2015 at 4:33 pm
lovely. “…felt herself expanding with fertile wish and hopeless error.”
September 10th, 2015 at 4:57 pm
Beautiful! I just wrote five poems about secrets. These days I feel a terrible burden keeping a big secret that is a game changer. 🙁
September 11th, 2015 at 4:52 am
This is lovely.. there are those that love to be a gardener.. maybe the flowers need to bow and bless her with their presence a little more. But we definitely need more gardeners in our world.
September 12th, 2015 at 2:26 pm
This is exquisite.