Daisy, the Dandelion

Daisy, the Dandelion

     What a beautiful day to be born again, Daisy thought after popping up out the ground with several dozen other dandelions all around her. At least those were the ones she could see. The sun shined down on them. It seemed to be a lot more where Daisy was at.

     I wonder where I was born this time. Daisy stood slightly taller than the other dandelions around her. That gave her the advantage of looking at her surroundings. What she saw was a large, well-groomed green lawn that wasn’t showing too much green now.

     All Daisy could see was yellow with a hint of green. She moved her petals slightly with the breeze so she could see all around here. There must be at least a thousand of us here. We are so close to each other we are almost touching. Most are touching one or more of us.

     I’m almost the only one who can move around freely using the breeze to cover my movements. There are a few others like me. But not too many. Daisy used her petals to point at several of them.

     Daisy suddenly stopped her pointing. Something is wrong here. I can hear a cutting sound. Several of them. And they are getting louder and louder.

     Stretching her stem until her roots started coming out of the ground beneath her, Daisy started scanning her surroundings. All she saw was the large grass field where she now lived surrounded on three sides of her with parking lots almost filled with cars, trucks, vans, etc. The fourth side had a large six-floor building.

     I think the humans call those parking lots, Daisy thought as she paused for about a minute at each parking lot. And that is a building. But what kind of a building is it?

     What’s the name of this building? Daisy started scanning it little by little. There must be a name on it. The humans always put a name on them.

     If it’s a house they don’t. But for any other structure they do.

     Maybe I’m on the wrong side of the building to see the name. That would explain why I can’t find it.

     Wait a second. There it is. After several minutes, Daisy stretched herself forward and slightly to her right. But it’s hard to read it from this angle.

     Daisy didn’t think anything for about a minute. She just continued moving around her to get a better angle on the name of the building. OH, NO. This is a medical building. It’s named General Hospital.

     The cutting sound started getting even louder. Daisy turned slightly in the direction of that sound. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. There are ten humans with machines. I think the humans call them Weed Whackers.

     We aren’t weeds. We’re flowers. But I think they know that. Daisy stared at those ten individuals in a straight-line walking toward her sweeping the dandelions in front of them.

     They are killing us. but that’s not all they are doing. Daisy stared beyond the ten individuals to two others picking up the dying dandelions in a riding machine once the humans walk over them.

     Daisy scanned around her again. She saw her fellow dandelions shivering. I don’t think that’s the breeze this time.

     I know we don’t usually last too long once we are born. But we usually last a lot longer than this.

     Now that’s how we are supposed to die. Daisy started scanning beyond her fellow dandelions. She stopped when she saw some humans, mostly youngsters, picking them. It’s quicker, and less painful, than the way those twelve individuals are doing it.

     Yes, we feel pain. The humans don’t think we can feel pain. They don’t think we can talk, see, hear, etc. But we can. We can do almost anything that a human can do, except killing each other.

     We even have names like the humans do. My name is Daisy. And I am a dandelion.

     Daisy didn’t think anything for several minutes. She just stared at the humans headed toward her. It’s not going to be long now. I’d say I only have a few more minutes before I die too.

     I wonder what they are going to do with me once I am dead. Will I be eaten or used to help with medical diseases? Maybe I will be used for both.

     It’s kind of nice helping the humans this time. I usually just get picked, and I die quickly only to be born again somewhere else.

     A few seconds later a Weed Whacker blade sliced through her almost at ground level. She screamed as she fell to the ground. Her killer walked on her as he continued his killing spree. Daisy was still barely alive when the big machine swept her up with all the other dandelions around her.

Word Count = 812