Innocence , not ignorence

True story of life's lessons

Felony flowers

I was a child of the sixties
AKA:  a little flower child
Not because I wore them in my hair
smoked them or worshiped them
I was born in may of nineteen fifty eight
moms favorite flowers blossomed then
By the time I was ten I was sick of flowers
I was never a girly type of girl
more like a tom boy who liked dolls
climbed trees, broke vases
had tea parties with salamanders
and pulled daisies until " he loves me"
An old fashioned country girl
Moxie in a wine glass
Flower's had a different meaning to me
I learned that flowers and toilet water
went hand and hand, at times,cheek to cheek
as when Auntie May kissed me on holidays
Twice a year we would have to help my gramps
pick the yellow flowered plants near the creek
it was skunk cabbage, enough said
We learned to con our mom with flowers
to get what we wanted or out of trouble
She too would use flowers to bribe
or con us into keeping busy
during the long summer days she cleaned
" If you love me, you'll pick me bunches
of may flowers with out breaking the stems "
She cleverly asked, early in the day
She knew those tiny buggers were fragile
and it would take all day to make her happy.
One time my neighbor was digging in her garden
" what ya doing" I curiously asked her
" I'm putting dirt over Myrtle" she replied
I gasped, how could she be so cruel I thought
I ran home and hid until mom explained
" she didn't mean her dog Myrtle, its a flower !"
On Mother's day one year, I hadn't a gift
I ran to the woods to find a bouquet
the only flowers were the Lady Slipper's
but it was a State flower
and was a crime to pick them
" but it's mother's day, and no one will know"
I whispered to my older sister
she already had two in hand
We ran the long shaded path to the road
we reached the house
we gasped !
A police car was in the driveway.
we starred at each other in awe,
how could they have known
"maybe they found the tag off your pillow"
my sister teased
Our life was over,we just knew it
I walked into the house prepared for the worst
Clutching the bouquet of lady slippers and ferns tightly behind my back I walked into the house and greeted Sergeant Howard a longtime family friend. I was relieved he was one officer in town that was most like Andy Taylor therefore my life would be spared .But I knew that didn't mean I was going to get away with breaking the Massachusetts law of picking lady slippers. He kindly tapped my head and asked if I had been behaving, I politely said yes as my hands tucked the bouquet of illegal flowers further up my shirt ,walking backwards I exited the kitchen and ran like hell to my bedroom where I hid my mother's bouquet of flowers under my pillow.. I grabbed the Do not remove tag I had removed earlier from my pillow while the words "Under Penety of the law " made my palms sweat from guilt.
. I hid under my bed taking the tag tat I tore off my pillow illegally with me. . TAnd then I'm knock on my door I knew my life is over I stood with my hands ready to be cuffed when suddenly sergeant Howard pulled an elastic out of his uniform pocket lovingly he said you might want to put the flowers in a bunch and get them in water right away your mother will be so pleased.. the lady slipper is my favorite flower as well..... you and nature have given your mother a very thoughtful gift. That was the last time.e I ever picked a Lady Slipper or tore a tag off my plllow.

Author's Note

Rough draft but true story l

Reviews

[APOORVA]

that's innocent, raw and beautiful