Sneha sent us this story. Thanks, Sneha!
I was never like other girls, I wasn’t very good at sports or fashion or stuff like that. Instead, I liked flowers. All types of flowers. Every morning during summer break I used to wake up at 9:30, dress in a colorful dress, grab a breakfast bar and go to the lawn to water my flower. I only had one flower that I got for my birthday, and the flower never bloomed. I had no idea what type of flower it was and my parents would always be busy when I tried to ask. I trudged the hose from the garage and lugged myself towards the the small flower pot. I let the water spray on to the pot which was caked with dirt and bugs with no hope for the flower to bloom any day. Still, I waited for the flower. I watched the flower for hours as if it was some entertaining movie. Than I felt like I was putting too much pressure on the flower, like what would you expect a first grader to think. I turned my back and pretended to jump rope for about 5 minutes, then, I saw a sprout.
I jumped to my feet and galloped all the way back to the pot. I always thought that all living things have feelings, and I didn’t know why people didn’t treat plants and animals like real people. I continued this process for about 2 months and that was when school started. Even when school started, right after I was done with my homework it would be right to the flower. I didn’t care what anyone thought of me, even my parents. About every day I would remember my parents saying “Kate, why don’t you think about getting some real friends?” I would always tell them the same thing. “Flowers are living things and anything living has feelings, and they are my friends.” My parents would just roll their eyes and walk away, and that was just how I liked it.
4 YEARS LATER
I’m hearing rumbling under my feet. I have no idea what’s happening. I hope this is a dream but I’m pinching myself and realizing it’s not. I sprint to my feet and run outside. I think it’s an earthquake, I think it’s the end of the world! Just then I run outside and realize it’s not either, it’s a giant flower in the middle of my backyard! That thing must be about 30 feet tall! I think my heart skipped a beat. How could this be in my backyard? I have a bunch of questions in my head but not a single answer. I run around my backyard wondering where the flower came from but then I realize that it’s my old flower that was in the flower pot! I stopped watering that thing years ago! I had no idea what to do, so I hollered to my mom and she came downstairs and ran outside to see what was the big fuss. Then she screamed, like I expected. “Good heavens, what are we going to do with that thing?” she exclaimed. My father came downstairs and gave a girly scream that made me laugh. It seemed like I was the only person that was keeping cool at that moment. “Well, what should we do?” asked mom. “I guess our only option is to cut it down.” said father. Mom and father had a big argument on what to do. They both wanted to cut it down but mom was scared where it would land and how heavy it would be. Father said we should cut it down and then call someone from the world records to examine it. I was okay on the world records thing but cutting it down? Never. Deep down inside I felt bad for abandoning my flower when it had done nothing to me. Those soft pink and white petals were too good to cut down. My parents came to a conclusion. They decided that they should ask me what to do since it is my flower. This is all I could say, “When you like a flower, you pluck it. When you love a flower, you water it daily.” My parents both smiled at each other and then smiled at me. The flower never grew after that even though I watered it daily but it seemed happier when I watered it. The flower was never cut down, and never will be under my defense. I still loved that flower and I knew it still loved me. From that day onwards I learned that if I was just myself then everybody would like me. I made so many good friends just by showing them my flower. Their mouths dropped to the floor and they asked me how I managed such a big and beautiful flower. All I said was “Love.” Suddenly who ever saw my flower was suddenly interested in flowers. Of course, people tried to cut it down but I knew that I would always defend my flower and my flower would always defend me.
By: Sneha Kandalgaonkar