Several Short Storiesss

The Succulent Question

"Hey," said Daisy.

"Hi," said Matt.

"Hey, what would you do if there was a succulent in the middle of the road?"

"What?" Matt stared at Daisy. They didn't talk much, mostly because she was weird and had a knack for freaking people out.

Daisy repeated her question as if it were completely normal. "What would you do if you found a succulent in the middle of the road?"

"What's a succulent?" Matt fidgeted. Daisy was creepy, too. Her hair was always in these gross blond pigtails and there was always some unidentifiable stain on her shirt.

"Do you know, like, these little potted plants like cacti? That's the plural form of cactus," she said when Matt made a face. "They don't need a lot of water and they're cute! They exist. You know, a succulent. Some of them aren't cacti, though. Some are like, masses of these solid, waxy leaves... they're so cute. You know, succulents."

"Um... no?" Matt has never seen or heard of a succulent in his life. Except for cacti, he guessed. Was that really how you say it? Matt always thought it was cactuses.

"Well, what if you knew what they were and what if you found one in the middle of the road, but they were cars coming at you? What would you do?"

"What are my options?" He picked at a scab on his pointer finger. Where was his dad?? He was never this late to pick him up after school! Now he had to talk to Daisy Bowfield. If his friends saw him, they would laugh!

"There are no options," Daisy said matter-of-factly. "This is life; you decide for yourself."

"I would pick it up?"

"And get hit by cars on the oncoming freeway? You get hit off the crosswalk, and it's your fault! Your lawyer can't defend you once you're damaged and broken.  You were the person who obstructing traffic! Now you're in pain and that succulent is probably dead because when you got hit by the car it flew out of your hand and crashed into the ground in a little pot of mess!"

"So then I'd leave it alone," Matt said, disturbed by her vividness. He inched away from her a little.

Daisy's blue eyes locked on to him. "And let some car behind you drive over it, tearing apart its tires?" She gasped, apparently appalled. "Then the car slings out of control, hitting all the other cars on the interstate, causing a 10 car wreck, creating traffic, and killing several people while injuring others? Do you want to be responsible for all of those lives? Will you talk to grieving families and friends? How will you live with yourself, knowing that it was all your fault for not moving a simple plant?"

Matt looked at Daisy dumbfounded. She was actually senile. "Then what am I supposed to do?"

"I don't know, this is life."

Matt could not believe her. In-sane. "You've got to know, you asked me!" He said.

"Fine, you want the answer?"

No, not really. "Yeah." Matt picked at a hangnail on his thumb now, avoiding eye contact with the batty chick. He didn't really want the answer, he wanted to go home!

"Okay," said Daisy, "here's what you do. You walk across the crosswalk with one of those grabby claw things, the ones in that Over the Hedge movie that the raccoon used to get snacks out of vending machines, you snatch the succulent plant from the street, and then you'd pick it up in your hands and give it your water and you keep walking until you're on the other side of the road. There, when you meet an old lady, you give the succulent to her. She's actually in a rush to get to her grandson's party, so now she gets there with the succulent you gave her. She'd forgotten to buy him a gift, so she just runs in with a succulent, and guess what? Her grandson loves it so much that he names it. So the grandmother tells her daughter, who is actually the head CEO and top shareholder of a company, that she got the plant from you! Now the rich CEO lady is looking you up with, like, technology.  She finds you in the red light camera and gives you an all-expense-paid trip to Hawaii! There, you meet a new friend, who will be the love of your life and your significant other, but you don't know it until later. However, you made a bet with your family that you would find the love of your life in Hawaii, and now you've found them, so you go back home and show them off.

"When they meet your parents they're accepted into the family, but not without doing some family fun DNA testing, where you find out that your secret ancestor is the South African King of Oil or something, so you knew that you had to tell the South Africans. They give you your crown, so now you're also rich. With this new money, you better the world and give plants to all the kids that secretly love them. With that little act of kindness, you find the love of your life, you get super-rich and go to Hawaii, and you, as Oil Rig King of the biggest oil company in the world, start putting alternative energy resources in Africa, turning Africa into the first alternative energy sufficient continent on the planet. You set an example for the world and make us a greener globe."

Matt stared at Daisy, horrified. That story was so long and far-fetched and...stupid! Was she kidding? How could his dad not have picked him up during all of that?? "Okay..." he inched a little further away. "None of that would actually happen though."

"Maybe it could," said Daisy, twirling a pigtail. "Do you get the moral of the story?"

"No." Heck no. Matt didn't want the moral of the story.

"Help people out they and they might repay you. You may become rich and famous because of them. Kindness goes in a big fat circle." She made a circle with her mouth and then slapped it, making a huge popping sound.

"Please stop talking to me," Matt said.

"You're welcome," said Daisy.

**a/n: Now, I don't even KNOW what that was, but it sure was... interesting... I can't even remember when I wrote this, but I think it's pretty interesting. This was inspired by someone I met in middle school. I wonder where they are now...

ANYWHO, next week we're starting the last short stories of Several Short Stories (SSS). They're called Walking Backwards, and they're pretty neat-o. I'm actually thinking of uploading Scrimshander this week! The Prologue comes out right after this, and Scrimshander updates will be every Friday, so look forward to that!

So. If you thought The Succulent Question was... something, be sure to comment and vote, I think!

<3 Tara!