The Quiet Ever After

A Lawn of Leaves and Grass - 2

Warm sunlight splintered through the neighborhood's mountainous tree canopy as Axel finished placing the piece of sod into its proper spot. The dead patch he removed was in a trash bag on the driveway, along with the flecks of other burnt bits he picked away to be healed soon. Axel leaned back, still on his knees, wiping the dirt from his gloves.

"Couldn't be better," Axel muttered and waved to the approaching couple, Phil and Hideki. They brought a light smile to his face, though Phil pouted on Axel's behalf, his stringy gray hair falling over his ears.

"Oh, kiddo, this is terrible luck. Of all the places for that lightning to hit."

Phil was never the subtle type. He laid things bare. As he'd tell someone, he spoke plainly, but it didn't mean he was rude. As he'd also tell someone, he didn't say dirty things to clean people.

Phil fiddled with his hair as he inspected the rest of Axel's lawn.

"Geoff's gonna kick your butt in the lawn competition if you don't get your act together."

"That man has an advantage." Hideki looped his arm through Phil's as he pulled his husband away. Phil had resting old man face, while Hideki had resting happy face. He wore a polo shirt with shorts, a nice watch as always, and tennis shoes. "He didn't have a house randomly struck by lightning."

"Did you see it happen?" Phil asked.

Axel grimaced. "I saw the flash but not much else."

"We get those odd lights sometimes at night, did it have anything to do with that?" Phil asked with a shrug.

"That's just a cosmological phenomenon, hon," Hideki said. "From the Starlit Plane."

"So maybe it shot out some lightning! I don't know. Things weren't always like this."

"Please don't hit me with a back in my day, Phil." Axel sneered in his neighbor's direction. Phil's jaw dropped, aghast that anyone would call attention to his age. He made sure to always admonish anyone for not calling attention to his finely woven gray—silver—hair, doubly so if that called into question his age.

Hideki had sharp black hair with little silver speckles throughout that he only kept around because it bothered Phil so much.

Hideki laughed at his husband. Phil jabbed a finger at the new patch.

"You know what? I hope it stays dead. I hope the competition judges come around and point right at that and say, 'Back in my day we had lawns not getting struck by lightning.'"

Axel shook his head, but couldn't lose the smile on his face. The two said goodbye to continue on their morning walk—Hideki had the day off from being at the urgent care. Axel pushed himself up and stretched his legs, taking the opportunity to observe the rest of the neighborhood or at least the houses on his street.

Two rows, parallel to one another, of Bungalow and Craftsman style houses ran down a curved street that was shielded on all sides by a pristine autumn forest running up into the mountains. Stare intently enough and you'd see the other set of houses, a more luxurious and snooty, on the other side of the woods behind Geoff's house.

Axel rested his hands on his hips while he surveyed the other homes and their lawns, some replete with splendid turf or perfect gardens. The competition.

Oaken Reserve was renowned for its annual lawn competition, one that came amid the autumnal season. The way that the competition runners saw it, summertime created an ideal condition for everyone to have their lawn in tip-top shape, so it was hard to judge who truly put work into their grass and who didn't.