Monday, July 8, 2013

Pteridomania

              

Here we go again. This week's topic:

                   - Flight - 

You can find links to other entries at

     Lillie McFerrin Writes
      Five Minute Fiction





Rose's room in the nursing home looked very much like her neighbor's at first glance: the same number of walls, two windows, the family quilt on the bed, a favorite chair, a huge piece of family furniture - in her case a wide dresser - ungainly in the room but holding too many memories to discard.




One day her son brought her a small fern 
                           and it sat tidily in its corner,


   
 but was soon joined by one from her    
 daughter, never wanting to be outdone, and so this 
 fern was a bit bigger, a little more exotic.


Rose was surprised by her own visceral reaction to these plants, but continued acquiring them until her room started to take on the aspect of a Brazilian rain forest, bringing her into some disfavor with Administration, who would occasionally drop by with pointed references to facility rules.  

One evening she slid out of bed, first pausing to put on her slippers, and padded over to the corner where she stood before her newest, tallest fern and then moved a frond aside until she saw what should have been an institutional pink wall, but was now limitless and filled with a green misty brightness.


Stepping into, and then past the fern, she heard a distant unfamiliar birdcall, and felt the warm air as her arms spread and carried her away, leaving behind two crocheted slippers that lay forgotten on the beige linoleum.
           






4 comments:

  1. I had to look up "Pteridomania." I couldn't break it down and figure out what it meant...the mania part was easy, but the rest...

    I loved this story...the lush green took on a life of its own, and fed her fertile imagination. So much better than four pink walls...I'd need an escape, too.

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  2. I think we'd all like to imagine that if we ever find ourselves in Rose's slippers, we could flap our way to freedom.

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  3. That’s the way I’d like to go.
    I’m a bit of a pteridomaniac myself - only in the garden - and I can’t think of anything nicer than to disappear into a cool, green world.

    A lovely story.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks so much, Friko. Although lately my garden is fast approaching that Brazilian rain forest since it's been too hot to get out there and weed.

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