A Bubble Off Plumb

I stole your grandmother’s gardenias yesterday. I see them everyday on my way home from work, the bushes snuggled up against the house, the white blooms spangling the green skirt that drapes modestly to the ground.

If my car windows are down, I can smell the ever-sosweet scent on the afternoon air, carried by a breeze and the heat of the day.

I know what I did was trespass, but somehow, I doubt your grandmother would mind. She has been gone quite a long time now, passing away quietly at home, no fuss, probably just like she would have wanted. I bet she loved the gardenias, too. Maybe when you were small, you remember them floating in a decorative bowl of water on the table in the dining room.

The house has remained empty since she passed and it makes me sad and nostalgic. I wish we could buy it, the house and the old farmstead, and fix it up. Of course, it isn’t for sale and if it were, there is so much to think about. It might need a new roof and it probably needs new plumbing. The windows are the same era as the house, which I have pegged as about 1919. Some of those windows are broken, the old glass hanging at odd angles. It may be that there is too much damage or neglect to bring it back.

But we could make it useful, just like your grandparents did. There is a shed and shop and pens.

I have heard you come back from your home in California or Arizona or Minnesota, sometimes, and park your motor home there, hook up to the electricity. If I see you there I might stop and let you know if you’re ever inclined to sell, we might be interested, if there isn’t too much to be repaired and the price is right.

Meanwhile, I have your grandmother’s gardenias floating in a decorative bowl in my kitchen windowsill. I ‘m hopeful the stems will send out roots and I can grow my own plant from hers.

I bet it would please her, make her smile, if you can do that sort of thing in the afterlife. And I hope someday someone sends a note to my grandchildren, a note that tells them that someone stole my gardenias yesterday.

Connie Burcham can be reached at Editor@WatongaRepublican.com