Jeannie's Plant

short fiction story about woman dealing with loss

It was early Saturday evening when I discovered that Jeannie was still with us. It started out as a pretty typical day. Jason and I had gotten up early, mostly because Cressa didn't give us any other choice. After breakfast, we went our separate ways. Jason went into the office like normal. I packed up all the things Cressa and I would need for a day of errands and we were off as well.

Even though I had the unending demands of my toddler to tend to, Jeannie was still so much on my mind. It had only been a week since her passing, and everything seemed to remind me of her. I would be in the grocery store, trying to keep Cressa's little hands from demolishing the canned food displays, when I would glance at the rows of Spaghettio's. It seemed like only yesterday that Jeannie was telling me, for about the hundredth time, just how nutritional they were. I laughed and rolled my eyes while I teared up.

"Come on, buck up" I tried to cajole myself. "You've got stuff to do, people to take care of, errands to run. You can't do any of that with your face leaking!"

My mind was being the logical one here. OF COURSE I'd come to terms with the death of one of my closest friends...right?? Eventually? However, my heart wasn't on board with that plan. It was all I could do to NOT think, and NOT remember the friendship that Jeannie and I had shared. Times at the office when I thought I was going to go crazy, and she would be there to listen to me. She'd be the one to calm me down, and keep me from doing something stupid. Jeannie was much more level-headed than hot-tempered me! Jeannie was the one who introduced me to Jason. She was also the one who listened to me go on and on about how great he was, and did she think that maybe he was attracted to me, and wow do you think he'll call me back, and all the other stuff you feel when you fall in love. She was my maid of honor when Jason and I got married, and she was the "bonus auntie" for Cressa.

How was I just supposed to forget all this, and go on with my life?? Well, not forget. I'd never forget. But, maybe just....not remember all the time. Maybe just have the pain ease a bit, so that I could at least function?

"Mommymommymommymommymommy....." Cressa's chatter interrupted my thoughts. Of course, having a very active toddler take up so much of my time helped me get through my days. But then Cressa would go to bed and I'd become a blubbery mess.

Our last stop for the day was the nursery. Jeannie just loved growing things, and had a magic touch when it came to plants (yet another difference between us, since plants tended to unalive when I was around). I wanted to get a plant for Jeannie's husband, just to let him know that I was thinking of him and that I shared his loss.

I wandered around and around but couldn't seem to find the right one. Nothing jumped out at me, nothing screamed "this is the one!" I was about to leave, thinking I'd look somewhere else when I didn't have a toddler in tow. Cressa interrupted her babbling and pointed low on the shelf.

"Ooh pretty, Mommy!" She pointed directly to a lovely Christmas cactus, laden with red blooms. Of course! This was the perfect plant! At the office, one of Jeannie's favorite plants was the huge Christmas cactus in the lobby. She had a special touch, and it bloomed constantly under her ministrations. I leaned down and gave my daughter a big hug.

"Honey, that's perfect! You picked out the perfect gift!" Cressa just beamed at my praise, seeming to understand how much this meant to me.

Later that night, while Jason took care of the bath-and-bedtime routine for Cressa, I started cleaning up the kitchen. My mind wandered to the plant Cressa had picked out, and the joy on Bob's face when we stopped over with it. Often Jeannie gave me cuttings from her plants, but I just couldn't grow them like she did. At my house, the beautiful flowers and greenery struggled more than they thrived.

For example, the Christmas cactus cutting from our office. I did everything that Jeannie suggested, but I could never get the darn thing to bloom. I had the plant for over four years, and still no flowers. Meanwhile, the parent plant in our office proliferated beautifully. I had pretty much resigned myself that mine never would.

As I was bringing the dishes to the sink, the "garden" in the large kitchen window caught my eye. I had several varieties of plants there, all cuttings from Jeannie's various plants. Something caught my eye. There was a bloom on my cactus. And as I looked closer, I saw not one but two! Two red blooms, sitting there as if they had been there forever. I turned as Jason walked back into the kitchen.

"Do you see that?" I asked incredulously.

"What? Your plants?" he said as he shrugged. I pointed wordlessly to my cactus, unable to speak. Jason looked closer.

"I thought that thing never bloomed!" Jason commented as we both stared.

"It never has. not until now," I managed to say.

As Jason and I stared at my cactus, not trusting ourselves to speak, it was as if a slight wind came through our quiet kitchen. The blossoms just barely moved, as if it was Jeannie talking directly to us. Jason and I realized that she wasn't gone after all. Maybe she wouldn.t wave hello from across the street, or call with some gossip, or tell me about her Spaghettio's anymore. But I KNEW that Jeannie was still around. She would always be with us in our minds and in our hearts. And maybe, just maybe, Jeannie's spirit came alive in my flowers. Fitting place for her to live, if you ask me.