The Old Man's Flower
A teenager was walking home one day from school. She was 15, so she couldn't drive yet so every day she walked home and her mom drove her to school in the morning. The walk was not very long, only about 10 minutes, so it was not very bad. On her way home, she passed a retirement community. Within the community, each of the houses had groom gardens because they would have gardening competitions. This section of the walk was her favorite.
On this particular day, she saw an elderly man planting a flower in his garden. It was not a seed, but a full flower. The flower was the prettiest flower she had ever seen with unique colors on its petals. She walked up to the man, wondering what the flower was so she color use it for her date's boutonniere at homecoming and asked, "What type of flower is that? I have need seen such a pretty flower!"
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| The Flower |
Scared, the man threw the flower at her and ran off (very well for his apparent age). She caught the flower, confused, and continued home, taking it with her. She kept the flower in her room and it didn't die. For years, the flower stayed alive. During that time, she had success in all the endeavors she wanted. She was accepted into her number one school, aced tests she did not study for, and was overall lucky.
Years later when she was grown and successful in her career, she was at dinner with friends. They all got up to pay at the cash register, but she stayed behind because she had already done so. An elderly man approached her and grabbed her purse. She grabbed it back, asking what he wanted. He reached inside grabbing the flower and replied, "You have had my flower and luck for too long. Now, it is time for me to take it back."
Not wanting to make a scene in the restaurant and realizing she had her time with the lucky flower, she let the man take it.
Author's Note- Fox-Fire
This story originally was about a farmer who stole the elixir of life from a fox by swallowing it. He has it for 15 years then the fox steals it back at dinner. I changed the characters and setting of the story to make it more relatable. Then I changed it to a flower because when I think of an elixir, I think of a potion, not a glowing orb. I thought a magical flower would be fun and color possibilities were endless.
That is an absolutely beautiful picture. I think it perfectly illustrates the story. I liked the way in which she got the flower and how well you illustrated how lucky it had proven to be. She was originally interested in the flower for her date’s boutonniere, but she had it in the end. Did she not use it for the boutonniere, or did he give it back, or maybe she discovered its luck somehow and decided to keep it.
ReplyDeleteHello Caitlin!
ReplyDeleteThis is story is super interesting. I also really enjoy the photo you have decided to use. I like at the end of the story how the old man gets his flower back. I also enjoyed how the girl did not wanna fight the man when he took the flower back. It was like she knew her time with the luck was over and it was time to give it back.
-Sam
Hi Caitlin! I love how you re-told this story. When I read the original I felt like it was kind of hard to follow and there were a lot of insignificant details. You did a great job of keeping everything relevant and interesting. I also love the idea of writing about a flower instead of an orb. That makes it easier to visualize. Really great job!
ReplyDelete