Garden

I lie on my back, sun streaming through the cuts in the big leaves. A lizard is baking in the sun on the rocks next to my head, my cat stretched out next to me softly purring in her sleep. A dragonfly flits between the leaves, and over the water to my left. I can hear my grandmother in the shed beyond my feet. I stretch my toes, pretending I can touch the wall of the shed with the tips.

A large cloud, shaped like the big bearded man, drifts slowly across the sky casting long shadows as it moves across the sun. The air is thick with jasmine and honeysuckle, and it feels greasy, like there is a storm brewing. The low rumble of thunder in the distance confirms this. My eyes are heavy, and the warm sunshine is luring me into an afternoon nap.

“Ani!” my grandmother’s voice is loud and sudden, pulling out of my daze.

“Ani!” she calls again, more urgently now.

“I’m here, nana, “ I croak, shake my head and push myself up quickly, the sudden movement startling the cat. I dust off my tunic quickly and run to the shed. “I’m here,” I say, peeking into the shed around the door.

Nana has a squirming plant in each hand, and pot shards and soil on the floor at her feet. “These guys woke up too quickly and kicked over their pots. Won’t you be a dear, and grab me two of those” she nudges her head towards the self next to her. I nod, run over, and carefully grab a pot, put it down on the table and grab another.

Nana puts the two shivering plants into the pots, and wraps the blanket on the table around the pots.

She wipes the hair out of her face with the back of her hand, leaving a brown smudge just above her right eye.

 

 

 

 

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I am not participating in NaNoWriMo this year, but will be trying a short writing every day, following the prompts from  https://www.patreon.com/thequietsun