The Plant Lady

         Elisa stepped through the doorway, and into the living room.  Walking past the door to the small kitchenette something reached out to caress her leg.
         “Oh Ralph!,” she exclaimed, slapping away his advances.
         Unperturbed, Ralph removed his appendage.
         Elisa walked into the living room, and sat down on her felt-upholstered couch.
         “Maria,” she said to get the other woman’ attention in the room.  “What do you want to watch today Maria?” she asked.
         Maria stared unflinchingly at Elisa, no answer coming.
         Elisa shrugged and took the remote from the immaculately clean and organized couch side table.  She flicked the television on and flashed through channels.
         A fine looking news anchor smiled on the screen, his perfect white teeth lined up like railroad tracks.
         “Good evening Seattle!” he said, his voice like a smooth, mellow wine.  “Tonight on the Nightly News, our top story is one that has hit close to home.  Earlier this week, several young children were taken from a park, a well publicized story for the community involved.  Today the Seattle police found them in a basement of a suspect who has not been named.  They were found maimed, one of them in critical condition, who later died on the way to the hospital.  It was his brief testimonial to police which led to the capture and then arrest of the suspect.  Due to child protection laws, none of the evidence given to police can be broadcast.”
         “Oh my.  Isn’t that terrible?” Elisa said to Maria
         Elisa had shoulder length graying hair, strokes of black flowing down the back of her hair.  Her homely face was cracked with lines, almost like a rugged mountain range.  In her old age, her eyes had grayed, almost to the hue of an overcast sky.  These deep orbs reflected an inner fire, a passion, burning bright inside of them.
         Dressed in a white woolen sweater and a brown blouse, her legs clad in khaki trousers, she sat with her legs crossed while watching the news.  Maria sat silently beside her, her quiet demeanor offsetting Elisa’ talkative manner.
         Elisa glanced over at the kitchen, just seeing the rear of Ralph whisk in the kitchen.
         “If anyone wants to pay their respects to the deceased children, there will be a candlelight vigil held at the Waterfall Garden between eleven A.M and twelve P.M,” he said.
         Elisa looked down to her hands, small and petite.
         “Oh my!  Maria!” she exclaimed, staring at her hands.
         Blood covered her hands, a thick covering of it, as if her hands had been dipped in a bowl of thick elementary school paste.  Thick crimson liquid slowly dripped off her fingers, staining the fabric of her khaki pants.
         “Maria…”she whispered with dread.
         A dense coppery tang drifted from the blood.  It filled her nose, grasping at her senses, causing her vision to cloud.

         “Please!  Don’t take me from Ralph.  He was just born!” Elisa screamed as the police smashed down her door.  Large muscled men, dressed in bulky Kevlar vests and utility belts, guns unslung, their submachine guns scanning the room.  Two of the largest, their shoulders stretching the fabric of the uniforms beneath the vests, threw themselves onto Elisa.  They tackled her to the ground, their dense arms wrapping around her as a third one came in and slapped handcuffs around her small wrists.
         “Clear!” one shouted
         “Bedroom clear!” another shouted.
         “Bathroom clear!” the last one shouted.
         “Suspect in custody,” the one who had just cuffed her said.
         The two men on her arms lifted her off the ground and hauled her towards the door.  Ralph sat on the floor, waving franticly as the men passed.
         “No!” Elisa shrieked.  “Ralph was just born.  Bring him with me!  Please.  Don’t leave him here!” she pleaded.
         On their way out, he last one out the door lifted Ralph up, carrying him behind her.
         Elisa sagged into the arms as she saw Ralph carried to safety in the burly arms of the police officer.
         “Oh Ralph.  I’m sorry.  We’ll be okay!” she called.
         She was dragged past the bathroom, where in the bathtub was a tiny hand peeking over the red streaked white ceramic side.  The stagnant water was stained red.
         All across the white tile were blood spatters, and sitting on the edge of the sink, was a knife, covered in congealed blood.
         Elisa looked at this scene with a lack of expression, her eyes questing over the blood and knife, staring blankly.
         She glanced up from the bathroom, her thick black locks falling over her face.  Sadly, she looked at Ralph being pulled along behind her.
         “I’ll protect you honey!  I will never let you leave my side,” Elisa yelled at Ralph as they emerged into the hallway of the apartment building they lived in.
         Forest green carpet stretched wall to wall, meeting the cheap white stucco of the wall.  Standing with his back against the wall, a man stood.
         His eyes were bloodshot, brown hair disheveled.  He stood with his arms across his chest, his face sagging with sadness, large bags hung under his eyes, almost black.  Slowly, he watched Elisa pulled away, his expressionless mouth slowly morphing into a frown.
         She stared at him, her eyes narrowing, deep creases forming on her smooth face.
         “Fuck you!  You fucking monster!  You did this.  You did this you monster!” she screamed at him.
         On her finger was a heavy diamond ring.  She ripped it off and with the little slack she had in the cuffs, she attempted to throw it at him.
         Her hand caught the other one, and the ring flew through the air.  It landed two steps away from the man.  He pushed off the wall and went down to pick it up.  His thick, calloused hand reached down to lift the ring from the floor.  Wrapped around his finger was a thick golden band, inscribed on the loop were a set of initials.
         “Elisa,” he called quietly as she was hustled in front of the elevator.
         He followed her, and stood at the entrance to the wider space, staring at her.
         “I really loved you.  With all my heart.  Why did you do it?” he pleaded, his eyes soft and glistening.
         Her glare still on her face, she let loose an animalistic howl, clawing at the air.
         One of the officers pulled out his Taser and applied a quick shock to Elisa’ thighs, silencing her scream abruptly.
         The elevator door opened and the man watched as she was taken in, and the door shut, sealing her away from him forever.

         Elisa broke out from her reverie, the blood on her hands disappearing, the small room flashing into focus, Maria still sitting beside her and Ralph still moving about in the kitchen.
         “My.  I remember when Ralph was born,” Elisa said, a stupid smile spreading on her face.
         “You know Maria, I’m so happy that you stayed with me after that.  I know Ralph was considering going back to David.  But he stayed with me.  It’s better here anyways,” she said.
         Elisa looked glanced at the coffee table, a small cup filled with caramel candy sat there, beside a gardening magazine.  The date on the postage stamp read nineteen eighty-five, its edges yellowing slightly.
         A knock sounded on the doorframe, echoing through the room.
         “Yes dear!” Elisa called out.
         A young women stepped through the doorway, past the bathroom and into the living room.  She set the tray she was carrying down onto the counter of the kitchenette, taking a cup of water and a small paper cup with pills in it
         “Here you go Mrs. Chamberlain,” she said sweetly.  She offered the cup to Elisa.
         “Oh dear,” Elisa sighed.  “I don’t want any candy today, thank you.  I had some caramels earlier.”
         “Oh Mrs. Chamberlain, you know you shouldn’t eat a lot of them.  They do upset your stomach so,” the young woman said.
         “I know, but they were so good,” Elisa replied.
         “Well, just take these candies now.  They wont be that bad, we have your favorite too.  Corn soup with a biscuit,” the young woman said.
         “If you insist.  You are so very kind.  And beautiful, you are very young and beautiful,” Elisa said to the woman, who broke out into a smile.
         “Thank you Mrs. Chamberlain,” she replied, passing the cup to Elisa.
         Dumping back the cup, Elisa took the pills, then the water.  The young woman smiled and straightened up.
         “I forgot the watering can, I’ll be right back,” she said, leaving the room.
         Elisa spat the pills in her mouth into the cup of soup the young woman had left on the coffee table before leaving.  Standing up, she walked over to Maria.
         “I’ll be right back, I just need to run a few errands, take care of Ralph for me, you know he loves you so,” Elisa said.
         She turned away from Maria and walked into the bathroom, reaching into the cupboard beneath the sink and pulling out the small hair dryer she had stolen from the young woman’ room on Christmas.
         Steam rose from the bathtub, the warm water sittling sill.  Elisa plugged the hair dryer into the socket that she had pried open and turned it on.  Stepping into the warm water, she sank down, her clothes soaking up the water.
         “Bye bye Ralph, bye Maria,” she called.  “I’ll be back soon.”
         She dropped the hair dryer into the bathtub.  As it came into contact with the water, a loud fizzle erupted, and her body convulsed, before the bulbs blew and her body fell slack in the water.

         Minutes later, the young woman walked in with a watering can in her hand.  She walked into the living room, and Elisa was no where in sight.  The lights had turned off, and the young woman began to feel a sense of unease creep up her spine.  She turned to leave, and saw a hand hanging over the edge of the ceramic bathtub.
         Shrieking, she dropped the watering can, and ran to the bathroom.  Elisa lay inside the bathtub, her face a rictus of agony.
         “Andrew!  Andrew!” she screamed, fleeing from the room, looking for an orderly.  On the calender by the door was a circle around the day, inside of it said, Ralph’ birthday.
         Together, the young woman and a muscular orderly ran into the room, in his hand was a clipboard, the words on it, in bold read ‘Do not leave unattended while eating.’
         “Call nine one one,” Andrew ordered, pulling the plug on the hair dryer.
         In the living room, the water had seeped through the carpet into the kitchen, surrounding the pot that Ralph sat on, his thick green fronds rustling from the quick movement of the young woman to the phone.  On the couch, she knocked Maria down in her haste to get to the phone, rich black dirt spilling from the pot, her one of her flowering red heads falling off and rolling on the floor, coming to rest in the centre of the water spill, just beneath another calendar, an identical marking on it.