Grandma’s roses

Cindy was packed and ready for the drive to her grandparent’s house. Her mother, Nancy, was finishing blow drying her hair when Cindy walked in the bathroom.

“Mom, are you almost done?”

“Makeup, then we’ll be off. Don’t give me that look, I haven’t seen them in a while either sweetie.”

“Can you put some makeup on me too? I wanna look pretty!” Cindy said. Her hands were

balled up to make a single fist in prayer.

“Absolutely not young lady, you’re only six!” Nancy said turning off the hair dryer. “Now, go get your shoes on, let’s go.”

Cindy pouted and went to go get her shoes on. They were bright yellow to match her

canary dress. Cindy loved bright colors. She waited at the door with her Dora rolling pack. Her

mother was always late for everything and visiting her parents were no exception.

After another long twenty minutes Cindy’s mother was finally ready to go. Her

grandparent’s lived far away and rarely visited them. She loved their big house and big backyard.

They had lots of fun stuff to play with, but the thing she loved the most was her grandma’s garden. Grandma was a collector of rare flowers. Most were from really far away places, and

looked really cool!

The car ride was boring. Nancy hated music, so they sat in silence. Every time Cindy

would turn on the radio, Nancy would turn it off. “I am trying to concentrate.” she would mutter

after slamming the off button. Sometimes she didn’t like her mommy.

They finally arrived to the big yellow house that was her grandparent’s. The house sat on

several acres of secluded land. No neighbors for quite a distance, just how Nancy’s dad liked it. Outside waiting in a rocker on the wrap around porch was grandma. She was pudgy old woman

with a white perm and round rimless spectacles wearing a pink flower ridden nightgown. She

saw her girls and waved.

“Hi mom, where’s dad?” Nancy asked before climbing the stairs.

Grandma took a sip of her iced tea, the glass was sweaty with condensation. “Well we are

going to have to talk about that. My sweet precious,” she said to Cindy, “how about you go look

at my garden. I have some really cool new flowers. See if you can pick some good tomatoes

while you’re at it.”

“YES!” Cindy nearly screamed. The garden was the best part of the visits.

Grandma got up from the rocking chair and walked inside. Nancy grabbed Cindy’s roller

pack and followed her inside. Cindy ran around the house into the back where the gardens were.

The backyard was a jungle of bushes, trees and flowers. There was no real order of where things

grew, one row would be white rose bushes, one row would be blueberries. She walked along the

rows looking for the new flowers. Several rows in she found some very pretty orange flowers

with pedal the size of her! She touched the carrot colored fans and found they were soft as silk.

She bent over and smelled the white sticks that stuck out of the middle of the flowers. It smelled

like vanilla. She started back examining the rows of colorful fruits and flowers. The last row she

saw had metal cones sticking out of the dirt with green leafs and spots of red. Tomatoes! She

walked to them and examined for ripe ones to pick. But further down in the field, where the grass

was not kept and overgrown, she saw something dance in the wind. Something crimson specking

out of the grass. She walked towards the deep red hidden in the grass that was taller than herself.

“Cindy! Cindy!” someone was calling from the house. She stopped before she got close

to the hiding plants. She turned around and saw her grandmother at the back door waving her to

come in.

She walked through the backdoor and into the kitchen. The walls had hand painted grapes

and vines that grandma had painted herself. The appliances were older than her mother and were

weird colors they don’t sell anymore. The fridge looked like the inside of and avocado. Nancy

was at the dining table sobbing into a tissue. She didn’t notice her daughter pull up into the chair

next to her.

“Want any tea, Cindy?” Grandma asked. Cindy nodded and grandma poured a small

glass. “Do you know what it means when someone passes away?”

“Yeah, they go to sleep forever and go to heaven.” Cindy says.

“Very good. Now I need to tell you something sweetie. Your grandfather passed away about two weeks ago. He’s in heaven now.”

Cindy took a sip of her tea and said, “Ok. can I go outside again?”

“Yes.” Her mother said through her hands. Cindy got up and ran outside. “Why didn’t

you say anything, he was my father! No funeral? No memorial? Nothing? Why mom?” she

began to cry again.

“He didn’t want a big thing about it. He wanted to just be buried and that be that. I knew

you were visiting soon and I would tell you now. I’m sorry.” She looked out the kitchen window

and saw Cindy approaching the roses she was trying to hid.

Cindy walked to the mystery in the grassy field slowly. She was curious but also

cautious. The tall grass bent under her feet as she walked, finally unveiling what it was hiding. A small short bush of deep, almost black, red roses stood in the field. She approached the bush to

smell the flowers. Cindy bent to get a good whiff but they didn’t smell like any flower she ever

sniffed. They smelled like pennies, coppery and sharp. She looked at the rose closely, gazing at

the pedals. They were beading with moisture. She took a finger and wiped the dew off a pedal.

The liquid was red, leaving her finger looking as if it was cut.

“Those are my blood roses.” Grandma said behind her. “If something dies near them, the

vines wrap around the body and suck up all the blood pushing it up to the pedals. This is where

your grandfather is buried. I couldn’t put him somewhere too far where I couldn’t visit.” she bent

down near Cindy’s face, “Don’t say a word about that to your mother. Understand?”

Cindy looked into her grandmother’s glasses and responded with a innocent, “Yep.”

Cindy started back to the house, “They are pretty grandma, I love them. But I’m hungry.”

“I’ll make us some lunch then.” Grandma said, following her granddaughter.

“Where is he?” asked Nancy over supper.

“In the backyard.” her mother responded.

“Are you serious mother? How could you do that? He needs a proper burial at a real

cemetery! I just can not believe you would be so selfish to do something like that. I think I’m

going to be sick.” Nancy cupped her hand over her mouth and jogged to the bathroom.

“It’s ok grandma, she’s always mean.” Cindy said with a mouthful of chicken.

“Hmm, I have and idea.” and grandma told her the idea.

,The next morning Cindy was the first to awake. She crept downstairs to make her own

bowl of cereal and ate quickly. She rushed out the door to the blood roses to sit with her

grandfather and admire their beautiful deep color. When she approached the roses that morning,

the deep rich red colors were gone, replaced by a pastel pink. It reminded Cindy of Easter.

Cindy still sat in the grass and talked to her buried grandfather about how she hated

school. After while, she heard the back door slam shut and saw her mother following grandma.

Grandma looked fine, but her mother was crying. What a baby! Cindy stood up and waved to

them. Grandma waved back and gave a wink.

“Looks like they lost some color, huh?” Grandma asked Cindy.

Cindy nodded and gave her a wink.

“So this is dad? Under the roses?” asked Nancy, weeping into her sleeve.

“Yes, hun. But the roses look a little pink. I think they might be thirsty.” said her mother.

“They look fine to me.” said Nancy stroking a rose. She then felt a hot sharp pain in her

lower back. Cindy pulled out the knife from her mother and pushed it back in another spot.

Nancy was too shocked and in too much agony to say anything. Cindy pulled out the knife again

and handed it to grandma.

“You need to hit a vital area for the kill, hun. She won’t die quickly in those spots.” she

then jabbed the blade into Nancy’s throat. “There, there’s the sweet spot.” and yanked it out.

Nancy fell to the ground with a hard thump, bleeding into the grass. The soft dirt began to

rumble under their feet. Cindy and grandma backed away a couple paces and watched as the

earth broke open. Black vines spilled out of the dirt like tentacles and wrapped around Nancy’s

bloody body, pulling her in. The dirt rumbled and the vines disappeared.

“This is the best part, hun, look!” Grandma pointed to the roses. Slowly the beautiful

deep color came back into the pedals. Cindy shed one tear, it was worth this beauty. “Now let’s

go try on some makeup, I have a really nice shade of red lipstick for you to try.”