Status: Work in progress! Thanks for readingl
An Imperial Affliction
One.
"Anna, dear, would you come help me with the garden?"
Her mother's voice rang through Anna's ears. She slowly rose from the sofa and walked leisurely towards the backyard, where her mother was tending her pride and joy, a colorful assortment of tulips, all in various stages of growth.
"Oh, thank you! Could you start watering the Rijnvelds?" After 17 years with her tulip loving mother, Anna knew that she was to find the red and white flowers with petals that seemed to have been twirled clumsily and then jaggedly cut along the edges. While Anna found these to look silly, her mother, a self-proclaimed Expert in anything involving tulips, insisted that Estella Rijnveld tulips were gorgeous.
Anna filled the yellow watering can and followed her mother's instructions.
To a stranger, Anna realized, this could be quite a humorous scene: her, hairless and pale to the point of being nearly translucent, struggling to lug a small watering can to a location merely feet away; and her mother, a one-eyed woman in a large sunhat, only visible from the chest up, sitting on the ground and singing to a group of small flowers. Both ladies were entirely surrounded in a countless variety of tulips, filling most of their average sized yard.
But to the two of them, and to all of their neighbors, it was perfectly normal; routine. Each day, Anna's mother would go out to the garden at precisely 7:45 am and return inside once at 12:00 for lunch, and again at 6:00 to have dinner, and not return again until as late as 11:30 on some nights. Anna never quite understood this- how could the gardn need so much work? She went out at 2:30 to do watering and never returned later than 4:00, even on her bad days. She'd gone out early once to find her mother looking up at the clouds, but she didn't seem to be seeing. Anna swore she saw a tear in her mother's eye, but she didn't ask.
Since that day, though, Anna couldn't shake the feeling that something was missing. But what could it be? The two were perfectly content. Anna's mother should be happy. She had a perfect garden, a wonderful though slightly sick daughter, and as much money as was necessary to live comfortably. Anna believed that it was just enough, and until that daym she assumed that her mother believed the same.
Her mother's voice rang through Anna's ears. She slowly rose from the sofa and walked leisurely towards the backyard, where her mother was tending her pride and joy, a colorful assortment of tulips, all in various stages of growth.
"Oh, thank you! Could you start watering the Rijnvelds?" After 17 years with her tulip loving mother, Anna knew that she was to find the red and white flowers with petals that seemed to have been twirled clumsily and then jaggedly cut along the edges. While Anna found these to look silly, her mother, a self-proclaimed Expert in anything involving tulips, insisted that Estella Rijnveld tulips were gorgeous.
Anna filled the yellow watering can and followed her mother's instructions.
To a stranger, Anna realized, this could be quite a humorous scene: her, hairless and pale to the point of being nearly translucent, struggling to lug a small watering can to a location merely feet away; and her mother, a one-eyed woman in a large sunhat, only visible from the chest up, sitting on the ground and singing to a group of small flowers. Both ladies were entirely surrounded in a countless variety of tulips, filling most of their average sized yard.
But to the two of them, and to all of their neighbors, it was perfectly normal; routine. Each day, Anna's mother would go out to the garden at precisely 7:45 am and return inside once at 12:00 for lunch, and again at 6:00 to have dinner, and not return again until as late as 11:30 on some nights. Anna never quite understood this- how could the gardn need so much work? She went out at 2:30 to do watering and never returned later than 4:00, even on her bad days. She'd gone out early once to find her mother looking up at the clouds, but she didn't seem to be seeing. Anna swore she saw a tear in her mother's eye, but she didn't ask.
Since that day, though, Anna couldn't shake the feeling that something was missing. But what could it be? The two were perfectly content. Anna's mother should be happy. She had a perfect garden, a wonderful though slightly sick daughter, and as much money as was necessary to live comfortably. Anna believed that it was just enough, and until that daym she assumed that her mother believed the same.
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I'll spellcheck it tomorrow. Enjoy! Also, if anyone would be interested in making me a layout, it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!