“There’s those questions again. They annoy me.” She traveled down a path made from glittery blue rocks.
Every odd flower an artist could dream up, bordered the path. Triangular shaped violets and actual heart-shaped roses. Bright yellow ones that slithered in the wind like snakes and green-red daisies that dripped silver drops. I even spotted those big purple bulbs that Addie Mae always served in her pies. Those tiny pouches in the center glowed pink and bubbled at the surface.
This is. . .this is life? This is the world? This stuff exists. Magic and. . .this stuff.
“Grab me a bunch of those.” Addie Mae raised her cane and pointed it at a bush outlining the wall.
The flowers were the size of my head. Ever few seconds they opened and closed. Pink tongues licked out of them, but I didn’t see any fangs. Not that the lack of fangs calmed me.
What is that? What the hell is that?!
“You don’t have a bag on you.” She sighed. “You probably shouldn’t hold them in your arms then. Get that bucket over there, take it to the bush, pull as many as you can off, and drop them in the bucket.”
What the hell is that?!
“Daniel, don’t let your fear get to you. Fear stops you from doing the things you need to do most.”
“I always thought fear helps you stay safe.”
“Stay safe from living. That’s all it is. Keep you locked into the universe like a little sheep. But you’re not a sheep. What are you?”
I blinked. “I’m a wolf?”
“No! You’re a shepherd. You guide and protect the sheep.”
“And Faith is a sheep?”
Addie Mae shook her head in annoyance. “No, she’s the light.”
The flowers opened again and all the freaky tongues licked the wind.
I gulped in my fear. “Who’s the sheep?”
“I don’t know, boy. Maybe, that was a bad metaphor. Just get the flowers. And tell me everything that happened.”
“What are the flowers going to—”
And then Addie Mae scared me more than the plants. Her eyes glowed crimson red. Her voice dropped down to so many levels I could’ve sworn the devil himself had spoken. “Enough with the questions and pick the flowers!”
Fuck! This is not okay! I need my gun. I need my gun. This is not. . . I need my gun.
I took a tiny step toward the bush. Never in my life had I felt like less of a man. I’d spent my days leaping over the ledge and jumping into the fire. And tonight, my life had been so shaken up, I was scared to touch flowers.
Those things aren’t flowers. You should be scared. Stop it. You’re not helping me! Fuck! Why am I talking to myself like I am two people?
I let out a long breath and managed several more steps to the bush.
Addie Mae’s voice shifted back to normal. “That’s right. You’ve got it. Now tell me about this snowman. Catch me up. Something felt wrong in my skin. I knew something had happened to my baby.”
When I approached the bush, I started with the beginning—the moment I spotted Faith in the snow and the things she said. My hands shook as I raised them to the first flower. It was smaller than the others, but still the size of my head.
You can do this.
The tongues lapped at the breeze and the petals closed around it. I chose that moment to yank it off the branch and drop it in the barrel.
“Shit. It moved in my hand.” And those few seconds, it was too warm to be comfortable and beating around my fingers. “It’s alive.”
“It’s a garden. Everything is alive in a garden.”