Page 31 of A Light in the Dark
“I’m not seeing the problem.”
Yep. The roses he held likely worked their magic on him, and he’d be laid back and possibly high the rest of the day. The first thing I would do after he turned his back would be check if luna moth shifters could drive while under the influence of flowers. If he couldn’t drive, I’d take the keys,drive for him, and babysit the intoxicated man until he sobered up.
Somehow, I would cope with my situation, although I’d have to work to keep from grinning like an idiot all the while.
Fortunately for my sanity,probable luna moths under the influence of pretty flowers could drive. I emerged from the shopping venture, which involved seven trips to the store and a blitz trip to a fast food joint, with a better understanding of why Joel gardened. Most people needed hard drugs to get the sort of high he cruised on, all without any actual impairment.
Flowers made the manhappy, and if he bounced any higher, I would have to tether him to the floor to keep him from entering orbit.
While Joel obsessed over his Joseph’s Coat roses, on the seventh trip, which was mostly dedicated to my needs, I bought two of every type of rose they had. To my amusement, a store employee found one extra Joseph’s Coat in the back, a teeny tiny plant that scored huge points for its wretched cuteness, which I claimed for my enjoyment. As it needed another massive pot of its own, I bought one to match the first along with the needed dirt and plant food to keep my new leafed children happy.
The Joseph’s Coats would live indoors, and the rest would brave the wild outdoors in my back garden. After unloading the plants and pots, I thanked Joel and sent himon home so he could begin his gardening adventures, well aware the man worried his new acquisitions would suffer in the time we’d spent going to and from the store. He thanked me for my patience before leaving, and I waited for him to disappear around the corner in his SUV to bust a gut laughing over the whole mess.
If he wasn’t a luna moth, I’d be shocked. If he wasn’t the specific luna moth paying me a visit, I’d be only a little less surprised.
With only a few buildings to fly over, he’d have no problems checking on me at his whim.
With an entire rose garden paradise to visit, I’d end up having to get a key, carry him home, and set him loose in his house. That thought kept me snickering through the entire process of planting the roses in their new places, setting up the plant lights and fixing their timers, and otherwise accepting that I would be spending a great deal of time tending to my flowers.
While I’d played decent adult supervision, Joel had encouraged and enabled my purchases.
Next time, I would demand he play the adult supervision.
Then again, if there was a next time, I’d have to reevaluate the entirety of my budget, as I’d done some hefty assaults to my extra spending account.
Joel had been right: big pots were not cheap.
The sun set by the time I finished in my backyard, and right before I was about to go inside, take a shower, and flop from general exhaustion, the luna moth showed up. He headed straight for the largest of the rose plants, which had huge red blossoms, and made himself at home. Aware the shifter was getting a hit of rose goodness but I wanted tocover the fact I had some understanding of how he operated, I kept my expression neutral, went inside, washed my hands, and prepared an orange for him, setting the dish on the counter before holding open the door and saying, “Come on in, then. Your snack is in here.”
I suspected I broke the poor luna moth’s heart, taking him away from the big rose and subjecting him to the lesser orange instead, but he fluttered away from the plant and came inside, landing on the dish’s rim and helping himself to the fruit.
Closing the door, I went to work checking out my fridge for dinner, decided I would be having chicken breast, and set it on the counter before rummaging through my spice collection in my effort to eliminate the taste of chicken from my meal. As I needed fuel to recover from a hectic day of gardening, I dug out potatoes from their box, plunked a pair into my sink, and went to work eradicating the dirt still clinging to the skin. “Apparently, I own a rose garden now. Clearly, I’m going to have to get a little patio set so I can sit outside and enjoy the fruit of my labor. Unfortunately, I have less than a quarter of my available garden space gardened, and I’m going to have to go back to the store to see what’s involved with planting herbs and vegetables.” I heaved a sigh. “I don’t suppose you know how to lure a bunch of bees over, do you? I’m going to need an army of bees if this garden of mine is going to produce anything once I’m done with it. Do you know what I had planned for tomorrow? Reading. Do you know what I’m doing tomorrow? Catching a cab and going to the plant store to buy vegetable seeds. At least I’m not going to be late for the growing season.”
Nobody planted anything until after the spring floodssubsided and the rain stayed gone for a week anyway. Nobody wanted their seeds to drown or wash away. Those with greenhouses planted whenever they wanted, but I refused to go that route unless my basement became an indoor garden.
I worried that might become an option, one filled with huge pots and pretty flowers for my enjoyment. If my guess on Joel’s nature proved to be correct, I could just entice the local luna moths into coming into my basement to pollinate everything for me if needed.
While I made my dinner, the luna moth ate his orange. After settling on the counter, he stilled, and I suspected he’d opted for a nap rather than going home. Amused, I used my new phone to take a picture, which I sent over to Roger along with a text informing him that my winged babysitter had gone on a rose bender in my garden before passing out following a fruit bender on my counter.
A moment later, my phone rang.
I picked up, giggling at the sound of Roger laughing his ass off. “I think he’s asleep, Roger.”
“I’m pretty sure he is, too. He’s not fluttering his wings much, right?”
“He’s still and quiet,” I confirmed.
“You bought roses?”
“I bought more than a few roses for my garden. I helped a friend at the garden store today, and he lost his mind. I ended up losing my mind, too. I have two indoor roses and a bunch of outdoor roses now. Tomorrow, I go back to the store to start my vegetable garden.”
“Anything strange happen today?”
“All has been quiet. I am engaging in a gardeningcompetition with my neighbor up the street, and I’m pretty sure I have him beat on roses, but he’s got me beat so far on everything else. Is there something you want me to watch out for?”
“Actually, yes. Word on the street is that there’s going to be a job fair for refugees on the top of the hill next week. See if you can convince your boss to let you attend in an official capacity. That’d really help us out.”
I bet I could swing at least twenty good reasons to go to such a job fair. “You got it. Anything particular you want me to do?”
