The Garden

The Garden

He was a big city man, and she a simple southern girl, but somehow they met and married. Love and common interests is what brought them together though their interests were questionable. While she had never been outside the country and had been home-schooled most of her life, he had spent a few years in the military and had just about seen the world, or so he claimed. Her world consisted of sunflowers and all that blossomed in her garden but after their engagement, he became her world because he was so interesting and handsome. His world was now sports and the stock market though it used to be guns and politics. But there was a strong bond in their marriage and that was their great love for one another. Their marriage was peaceful and nurturing.

The couple lived in the wife’s childhood home. It wasn’t a very big home but just the right size, a beautiful two-story colonial style home with a simple, yet developed garden and a wooden swing. A month after the wife’s engagement, her parents decided it was time to move to their summer condo a long the coast and retire. The house would have gone up for sale, but the wife dreamed of having children in the very house she grew up in so the husband compromised though he would have preferred they live in a new development farther north. The husband loved his wife and it did not make much difference. They had no children or pets for the time being, but they were very happy and all the neighbors were envious of them.

People often wondered about the couple’s shared interests. They wondered how a wild city man could ever have mingled with a simple southern girl, but they did. However, this was only in the beginning. The newlyweds weren’t newlyweds for long, as time goes by fast in happier times. Slowly they began to grow apart although not because they were no longer satisfied with each other, but because they realized they were very different people and could not come to terms with their disagreements, as is usually the case in a marriage.

One Saturday morning the couple had a big spat over something of little significance in the bigger scheme of things. The wife was left in tears as the husband angrily left the house. She sought peace and solitude and knew exactly where to find it. So she returned to a place she had known for so long and had since abandoned. In the garden she picked banana peppers and traced the earthworms with her fingers. She planted seeds she had found in the old cellar, not knowing what they would produce or if they would produce at all. The girl remained in the garden all day long even around the time her husband returned from work. He watched her from their bedroom window as he changed into his evening attire and could have sworn that the girl in the garden was not the same woman he had married. She looked so peaceful in the garden, as though she were in a different world. When he observed her through the window, she did not notice him at all. She looked so content and so at peace that he did not disturb her.

From then on the husband came home to find his young wife alone in the garden until sundown. Afterwards she would shower and fall asleep within seconds. She too had a job of her own but was always home before him. And so it was that this became the routine. The husband did not complain because there was always dinner on the table and the house was always clean. Besides, he knew all too well that if he were to seek his wife’s companionship it was bound to take a turn for the worst. So he distanced himself and was thankful that he wasn’t living like the Hudson’s down the street who were constantly yelling at each other and breaking things.

As more time passed, the husband eventually became aware of many things. For one, with his wife now spending all her free time in the garden, there would be no one to talk to about the day’s events. So he withdrew himself and began to watch more sports on the television, even golf which he did not particularly care for.
The husband also became more aware of his wife. She had always been beautiful and he had always known so but he had taken her for granted. Yet even in the garden with her hair all frizzy and mangled, and sweat on her brow, she radiated. The girl had developed a warm golden tan and her hair which had once been honey, was now sun- kissed a beautiful strawberry blond. The husband became more attracted to his wife as the weeks went by and wished he could take her out for a night in the city and show her off . But nothing of the sort ever happened because the girl spent all of her free time alone in the garden.

About three months passed with the same monotonous lifestyle. It was not until the girl became sick that there was a change in her routine. Some say she was heat stricken, that the sun exposure had caused her harm, but nobody ever really knew for sure. The girl was bedridden for two weeks and could not be out in her beloved garden. On the seventh day of the girl's sickness, the husband began to experience overwhelming feelings. He was very sad about his wife's condition and angry with himself for not having made things right with her sooner. Not knowing what to do, the husband went outside to think. And there it was. He could not help but notice the garden for it stirred up a lot of memories though none with him in it. He envisioned his wife in the garden again and pictured himself walking up to her for a long embrace. What he would do with that moment. Just before the husband turned to go inside the house he noticed from the corner of his eye, that some of the plants in the garden were wilting. His wife had spent so much time and effort growing those plants, it was a shame to see them fall apart.

The clock struck 5 pm when the girl finally awoke, somewhat recovered from her terrible illness. She was a little confused for being in such a wretched state, but relieved to find a vase of sunflowers by her bedside. She wondered how long she had been in such a bad state of health and instantly thought of her husband. The girl called for her husband but he was nowhere to be found. She called for him again then seeing that there was definitely no reply, wondered whether her husband had gone and sought a divorce. She could not remember the last time they had spoken aside from a few simple words and she was remorseful of all the time she had spent alone when she loved him so much.

The girl limped her way out of bed for it had been two weeks since she was on her feet, and hobbled into the living room. There were no sports playing on the television, in the kitchen there were no dishes left in the sink, and there were no children running around the house although she realized at once that she did not have any. The girl again wondered how much time had gone by and was struck with curiosity about the state of the garden. Not knowing what else to do and not knowing what to think about her husband, she slipped on a pair of sneakers and hoped to find solace in the garden, but when she went outside she did not recognize it as before. Suddenly she let out a frightful cry for there alongside the sunflowers was her husband covered in dirt. He was planting flowers with his bare hands, a sight she had never seen before. The husband was more handsome than ever with his darkened complexion and sun-kissed brown hair. He looked up at his young wife and smiled just like he did the day of their wedding, with tear-glazed eyes.

Although there was no exchange of words between them, the husband rose to his feet, brushed himself off and wrapped his arms along his wife’s frail back, embracing her with a long adoring kiss. This was for all the time they had lost, but there would be much catching up to do. Once again they were at peace, all grudges behind them. There was, after all, solace in the garden. Knowingly the couple looked down towards the garden, then to one another. Together they sat down in the cool, refreshing dirt without a care in the world and planted the remaining flowers. Looking over at her husband, the girl noticed that there was something different about him aside from his enhanced features. There was a definite if not permanent change in his demeanor. The husband was more relaxed than he had ever been and entranced in something other than sports or work.

They sat for several hours in the garden. Because the wife was still somewhat weak, the husband held her close in his lap. At times he splashed her with the hose and she smeared dirt on his cheeks in return. They laughed. The husband picked a flower and combed it through the side of his wife’s hair while telling her how beautiful she was. They ate freshly picked strawberries and counted earthworms, sometimes going so far as to name the worms then deciding some of the names would make better names for their future children. The couple talked about various subjects and resolved various disagreements. From then on the husband and wife vowed that whenever there was a disagreement, they would take it to the garden.