special occasion, during a special time…”
He says. “The first row of ground plants flowers form into batches of orange, red, or yellow petit rounded marigold flowers. Marigold flowers are fed to chickens, giving their egg yolks a golden yellow color. Dried and ground marigold flowers are used as spice…”
“Uh, huh! Let’s go and pick me a pretty bouquet, before we have to go back into the Cubby Hole.” I pull towards the rows of flowers.
He cuddles her, saying. “Don’t touch the flowers! Flowers are part of nature. Nature should always be beautiful and blooming, like you Ketona. If we touch the flower, then the bees will not pollen that particular flower, which is covered in our human germs…”
“O! Well then, I’ll pick the flower, making it dead, then it won’t have worry about the birds and bees,” I giggle.
He grunts. “The out of control teens are running between the rows of flowers and the vine plants, like a bunch of monkeys. I do not feel like fighting them for boot space,” he fingers the left side of the trees. “I suggest we stroll along the right side. No one is present. We can have the walking path all to ourselves, admiring the flora and whispering our greatest desires to each other,” he nods, dragging Ketona along the flowery ground, killing the upright flowers. He whispers into her eardrum. “Flowers can be made into herbal teas and the floral arrangements are used to decorate the dining room tables…”
“The footpath not taken,” I giggle, narrowing my eyelashes at the short flowers. “Now, I understand completely the swift reaction of the other teens, fleeing this cold spot. The flowers are rich black colored flowers on fugly ugly plants. I’ve heard of black berries for eating, but black flowers for not picking.” I giggle, saying. “I see tiny black violas, rounded black hellebores, a batch of flowing black tulips, and finally a short row of black roses with green nasty thorns.” I giggle, reaching down to touch the rose.
Rincon jerks Ketona into his chest, cuddling then sweet breathing into her eardrum. “Don’t touch the flowers! My daddy always kept the back yard filled with tall green weeds for the rabbits, pretty colorful wildflowers for the lizards, and big orange ant hills for the birds. My backyard was a wildlife zoo.”
I frown with annoyance, studying the black flowers, when Rincon cuddles me.
He rubs and tickles her arm, smiling at her nose profile.
We stroll along the stepping stones covered in dead and dried brown flower petals.
I exhale and frown with ugliness at the ugly flowers. “I feel like I’m attending a funeral, or something sad. Ya certain, that no teens get harmed, during the Citizenship Day. Well, this ain’t no flower, it’s a black plant,” I reach down to towards the soil.
Rincon jerks Ketona into his chest, cuddling her body, sweet breathes into her eardrum. “Naw, that’s Veratrum species. The flower is highly toxic with sodium ion channels, causing heart failure then death. All parts of the flower are poisonous, including the roots, the pods and the stem. A person becomes nausea with vomiting, abdominal pain, numbness, headache, sweating, muscle weakness, and then seizures, before death. Some primitive cultures used the root juice to poison metal arrows, before war battle combat with their enemies, being too successful, too.”
He walks towards the section of flower, when I frown with fear. “O! That’s very useful for some dead bodies…”
“The rich black looking flowers and plants are really a deep, deep color of purple, where the outer eyeball image appears to represent the color of black.”
I eye roll, then view the blue sky, walking along the stained stone path with ugly black flowers and plants, that I can’t touch for fear of death. I narrow my eyelashes, fingering the far horizon over the blue sky, burning under the yellow sun. “Wow, I can forever. The rows of black flowers go for miles and miles deep