Short Stories

Green Thumb

Two minutes. Two minutes and 30 seconds till midnight, the exact time I was born 18 years ago. Midnight will be the exact time I will receive my power. I paced back and forth on my room floor, wringing my hands and anxiously staring at my clock. 'TICK TICK TICK' my heart beat in rhythm to the noise, I'm not sure if it was just me but the sound was getting louder and louder. Thoughts flashed through my head on the possibilities of what kind of power I would receive. There are common powers, rare powers, useful, unusual, useless powers. And powers that are abused for the wrong purposes.

When people revive their new special ability, they are given a choice to have a job in society that requires the power, or they could choose their own career. When people possess powers that can't be put to any use in society, like my older brother Sam who can fly, they are free to incorporate  it into their everyday life, or for entertainment purposes. Sam for example, is training for the National Air Ball team. I'm not sure what I'm expecting to get, the outcome of receiving a specific power are totally random. Which doesn't help my mounting anxiety at all.

Ten seconds. Five seconds. 3....2....1. I close my eyes. Sam told me he immediately started to levitate of the ground the minute he got his power. I waited about five seconds before I started to feel something, like a tingling sensation, in my hand....no. It was my thumb. I looked at it and immediately cover my mouth to suppress a cross between a gasp of surprise and a groan of frustration.

It was green.

LITERALLY green!

I was a gardener. Well that wasn't really a power, but most of the people who received this power usually became gardeners. I have to look into it more because I'm not sure what exactly I can do. I remembered an article I read a few weeks ago about this power, it was for school but I remembered how it said that powers today tend to fit in with our society with our technological advancement, like there was an increase in the 'SuperMind' power. So there was a industry advancement equaling more pollution, meaning less plans. And as a result my power was now rare.

I sat on my bed and tried to sort this out. A wave of disappointment washed over me like the feeling you get when you work so hard on something for a contest, and then getting the results back and knowing you lost. I felt like I lost. "This can't be happening to me" I murmur. I kick the wall and decide to go out to my excited family waiting in the other room to see my new power. I'm going to be a disappointment. I thought. My brother could fly, my mom could use force fields, and my dad had super strength. All I would do the rest of my life was water plants.

As soon as I walked in the room my dad gave me a bone-crushing bear hug

"SO! Whatcha get Kimmy?" He exclaimed.

I waited for him to let go as my mom and brother gathered around me, as I sheepishly held out my hand with the green thumb. I was half expecting it when Sam snorted and tried to cover it up with a "Wow. That sooo great Kim..." Mom elbowed him in the rib.

"Earth powers!" My mom said shocked. "Haven't seen anyone get that in ages"

"Yeah..." I said with a sigh. I looked at my feet.

"You know..." Dad started. "I think your great grandma had your power...yeah she had her own private garden. Of course it belongs to the public now, but I haven't seen it in a while. Last time I checked it was a dumb, a muddy swamp!" I thought he was trying to make a joke when Sam said, "You should check it out Kim!"

"Sure." I said sarcastically. "Maybe tomorrow, I got to go to bed" my tone changed into more disappointment as I stalked off to bed.

"Uhh...Kim?" My dad stopped me.
"What?"
"I think you should know your eyes turned green..."

**********************

"WOW green eyes! The only green eyes I ever seen was on that little old lady who's house was practically leaking plants!" Sydney laughed.

I invited my best friend to accompany me to the 'Mysterious dump swamp garden' (as my dad named it.) to check it out, and maybe use my powers.

"Yeah thanks..." I said in reply to the eye comment. I do admit I was pretty surprised to see myself in the mirror with green eyes, they were probably more rare than the power.
I found myself a little excited to visit the garden, something with a little bit of life. We practically lived in a concrete jungle, and with every breath of car exhaust or  something containing pollution, I felt myself becoming weaker and weaker.

Sydney continued to ramble on about powers, she was a month younger than me, and to be honest she was getting a bit annoying. She changed her mind on what type of power she wanted every minute. She kept listing the Pros and Cons of every power and then changed her options again. There was no use in telling her she doesn't get a choice. She stopped when we arrived at the garden, it was right at the heart if the city. We opened the rusting iron gate with a creek, and could tell no one has been in here in years. Every decade tree was rotten and brown. The whole scene was brown and muddy. I heard Sydney mutter 'yuck!' and  I tried to ignore her complaints about wanting to leave.

"Wait! I see something green" I said as I rushed over to a tiny sprout. I swept away the trash and mud surrounding it. "I think it's a tree!" I could practically hear Sydney roll her eyes.

I kneeled down in front of it, I couldn't believe how it came to be there, in a world full of pollution and trash. It was small, but beautiful. I touched it. Sparks went through my hand and I of screamed in fright, I looked at my hand and it was entirely green. I looked back at the plant to see that it grown. I could tell it was an oak by the leaves.

"Kim!" Sydney shouted and rushed over to me.
"Back away Sydney"
"Wha-"
"I want to try something."

I'm not sure what's going on, but every atom in my body was screaming at me to touch that tree again.

So I did.

And the last few minutes of my life was a blur.

I saw both my arms turning green and my whole body tingled again so I guessed I was covered in green. The tree grew, it shot out of the ground. But I think every thing around us grew too. I'm not sure where I was. One second I was with the dirt, one second I was in the tree tops. But I was a part of every thing. I was the stream that trickled through the garden, I was the roots of the trees spreading into the ground, I was the blossoms on the bushes. The last thing I heard was my once-best friend scream "KIM" I wish I could tell her I am all right. I never felt so at peace before. The garden was one with me, and I was the garden.

********
EPILOGUE
(Different perspective. 20 years later)

Class field trips were mostly boring. Today we visited the town garden. I listened to bits and pieces of our teacher lecturing us on its history but I was distracted with a fuzzy squirrel. I tried to listen to the teacher.

"this garden may have saved our town.....collected poisonous pollution.....young girl....rare gift...."

That's all I could pick up before I chased after the squirrel. It scampered up an old Oak tree. Before I could stop myself I head butted myself into a plank nailed in the tree. Our similar shaded eyes stared at each other as I looked at the picture.

It read: KIMBERLY GREEN. HEART OF THE GARDEN.