My evergreen, you are always gonna be...
He's spent the night alone. It's taken some coaxing, Tom hadn't been especially willing, but gentle insistence and he'd given way. Yes, I'm fine. I'm sure I'm fine. You don't need to take the girls, I'm really fine. A night alone in this house, with his daughters, with his ghosts. He doesn't even know how many of them there are now. One more added to a cast of thousands, though some stand out from the crowd.
He gets up early before the girls, pulls on some clothes and walks outside and looks at the world. It's a world without her in it, except that isn't true. There's the tree. And there's life. She had been life, surrounding him.
So he'll surround himself. Slowly.
He goes back inside and picks two stringy vines off a table, collected the night before, their roots packed in damp towels. They look a little the worse for wear, but he thinks once they get in the ground it'll go well enough. He has a trowel borrowed from the Compound and his hands and that's all he needs.
By the time the sun rises through the trees he's turned the earth over in two little patches, one on either side of the door, and the girls are stirring. He goes back inside, cleans his hands as best he can, changes Mack and Flo and gets them dressed and brings them outside. Mack laughs and reaches up to catch a blossom drifting down from the branches.
She's not gone. She's still here. He gives up the trowel and uses his hands, fitting the roots of the vine into the earth and covering it gently, Flo scooping at the dirt with her little hands. The soil is soft and warm between his fingers. Blue Dawn Flower. He'd looked it up; he never knew anything about plants. It seems fitting. He'll fit a frame against the doorway, give it a place to climb. Mack laughs again and tosses a handful of grass into the air, the blades flashing brilliant green in the sunlight.
Life. Life all around him. It's time to join it.
[ooc: Mike and the girls doing a little gardening. Great time to meet him; he hasn't been in this good a mood in a while. Late tags are always fine and as usual I'll be semi STed while school kicks my ass.]
He gets up early before the girls, pulls on some clothes and walks outside and looks at the world. It's a world without her in it, except that isn't true. There's the tree. And there's life. She had been life, surrounding him.
So he'll surround himself. Slowly.
He goes back inside and picks two stringy vines off a table, collected the night before, their roots packed in damp towels. They look a little the worse for wear, but he thinks once they get in the ground it'll go well enough. He has a trowel borrowed from the Compound and his hands and that's all he needs.
By the time the sun rises through the trees he's turned the earth over in two little patches, one on either side of the door, and the girls are stirring. He goes back inside, cleans his hands as best he can, changes Mack and Flo and gets them dressed and brings them outside. Mack laughs and reaches up to catch a blossom drifting down from the branches.
She's not gone. She's still here. He gives up the trowel and uses his hands, fitting the roots of the vine into the earth and covering it gently, Flo scooping at the dirt with her little hands. The soil is soft and warm between his fingers. Blue Dawn Flower. He'd looked it up; he never knew anything about plants. It seems fitting. He'll fit a frame against the doorway, give it a place to climb. Mack laughs again and tosses a handful of grass into the air, the blades flashing brilliant green in the sunlight.
Life. Life all around him. It's time to join it.
[ooc: Mike and the girls doing a little gardening. Great time to meet him; he hasn't been in this good a mood in a while. Late tags are always fine and as usual I'll be semi STed while school kicks my ass.]