Daily Flash Fiction Challenge

Jerome Wilkerson was, without question, the best orchid grower in all of Squamous County. So it was big news when one of his prize flowers was mysteriously destroyed one night.

“It was on that bench,” Jerome told the police. “I was prepping it for the show over in Brisketville.”

“My cousin lives in Brisketville,” said Officer Burns.

“Isn’t that a bit irrelevant here?” said Officer Johnson.

“S’pose so.”

“Anyway,” said Jerome, “I came into the greenhouse this morning to find my best orchid destroyed. It’s all chewed up. Look, you can see tooth marks all over it.”

The officers bent over the mess of shredded purple petals and pulpy stem. “Looks like human teeth to me,” said Officer Johnson.

“Yep,” said Officer Burns. “I say some human did this.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Jerome sputtered. “Who would do such a thing?”

“Well,” said Officer Johnson. “I didn’t say anything earlier because I didn’t want to embarrass you, but you have some purple stuff in your teeth.”

Jerome ran his fingers across his teeth. When he looked at his hand, he saw tiny purple bits. “But, how? This just can’t be. Why would I ....” His voice faded to silence, for lack of anything further to say.

“Do you ever walk in your sleep?” asked Officer Johnson.

“Not that I know of.”

Just then Jerome’s wife appeared. “What’s going on here?” she wanted to know. “And why is there purple goop on your pillow?”

Jerome stared blankly in the direction of the purple pile on the bench. His wife spotted the mess and said, “Oh, no. That was your baby. What are you going to do now?”

“I, um,” said Jerome. “I guess I’ll have to take the yellow one.”