The Century Plant

NATURE SUBMISSION:

People lined up around the block, masks on, cameras and children in hand. The news spread fast, as these things do in 2020, via Facebook and Instagram. Some thought it might be a hoax, but any excuse to leave the house was welcome.

The woman who planted the Agave was just ten years old when she and her dad had picked placed the little cactus in their front yard. She'd decided to hold onto the house after her parents moved to Florida hoping to see it flower someday. Now, despite the crowds and reporters, the long wait had been worth it.

From Guest Contributor Alice Ryder

Flower Girl

Springtime breeds passion. It is the riotous pheromones.

A vision wanders down the garden path in a sundress that waves in the breeze like the surrounding petals. Swaying, they dance together. Her radiant smile and obvious love for the flirting blossoms is what originally caught my attention. She gently sprinkles water.

One of her solar smiles would make my life soar. She doesn't notice me among all this teeming beauty. Nonetheless, in love-struck desire, I sit taller as she approaches. Surely, if she can adore flowers so fully, I can cherish her as much. If only I wasn't a cactus.

From Guest Contributor Bill Diamond

Little Motel

There is a stretch of highway where the tallest foliage is a three foot cactus. Shade is a commodity nearly as precious as water.

Blake sat on the porch of the Sierra Motel, staring at the horizon. His vision plumed and prismed in the heat, causing him to hallucinate. Or maybe he was already in Hell.

Blake lamented having to meet death with the lingering caress of rough linen on his skin and greasy cheeseburgers on his breath, but like his mom used to say, you get what you deserve.

At least he'd gotten one last night of decent sleep.

Survival Stories

A dim blue light manifested over the valley. The crisp breeze squeezed even the rumor of moisture from the air.

A spot of water, too meager to be named a drop, formed on the needle of a cactus. It clung near the edge, threatening to plummet into the abyss.

Gravity pulled, the breeze tugged, but the droplet's tensile strength held firm, and rather than fall, it rolled the length of the spine, reaching the porous membrane at the cactus's heart.

The water seeped inside. The cactus sprang to life at the sudden nourishment, enough sustenance to endure another few weeks.