"Could you explain to me how it was at the beginning?" Natasha asked.
"Beginning?" I furrowed my brows, thinking I had already explained to her the crash.
"How it was without your mother when you first got out of the hospital." She explained.
"So the presidents in there?" I beamed with an excited smile, pointing to the White House.
"Maybe." Cole laughed.
I put my hands against the gate, staring at the beautiful landscaping. I was in awe with the red flowers sprawled across the lawn.
My mother had always kept a garden. We grew vegetables and did our own landscaping. My mom was in love with flowers.
I always remember my moms favorite flower on the middle of our dining table. A rose. It was in a little white pot.
My mom wanted to be a landscaper as a career, but my father would never let her. He said nobody would pay for a woman to do something a man could easily do.
My father used to hit my mother when he came home and realized she had spent all day in the garden instead of mopping or doing laundry.
He had power over my mother at all times. She was never allowed to get a job, so she never had money. Which meant she was trapped.
I'd use my birthday money from grandparents to buy my mother flowers or mulch. Something that would make her happy.
At night I'd find my mom drinking. She didn't have much of a life. I mean she wasn't even allowed to wear makeup if she wanted.
One night I remember my dad coming home, drunk like always. My mother was wearing bright red lipstick that her mother had bought her for her sixteenth birthday. She had just found it in an old drawer.
Her favorite color was red, so I knew she felt confident in it. She had got all dressed up in a white dress and heels. She made a pot roast and had the house sparkling clean.
Despite all this my father was still angry. He got one look at my mothers lipstick and struck her across the face. He called her names like whore and slut, throwing the pot roast to the ground.
Gardening helped her forget what was her reality. Kneeling in the dirt and digging brought her joy.
I imagined my mom in her little sun hat and gardening gloves working in the garden of the White House. I imagined her planting those red flowers, because they were her favorite color. I imagined her happy.
I felt a tear drip down my face, smiling at the thought of her dreams coming true.
"You really like flowers that much?" Cole chuckled, wiping the tear from my face with his thumb.
"I guess I so." I turned to him, wiping the rest of my tears.
"C'mon kids! Let's go to this really really good ice cream place! It's just up the street!" Cole's mother hollered from the car.
"Coming!" Cole yelled back.
Cole reached for my hand, allowing me to grasp his in mine. I beamed a smile at him, turning my head to look towards the house one last time as we walked.
