Devonne Brown

Painting: Gladioli, Marc Chagall

Inez chose lilies of the valley, begonias, and a few purple heads from the butterfly bush. They drooped in the vase, she needed more. She hated that word, “needed.” Nobody “needed” flowers. She “wanted” more flowers, even though what she had combined together in the vase she found under the sink looked ok, they didn’t look professional. She wanted stunning. She “needed” more.

She had so many flowers in the garden, she could stuff a vase, but it wouldn’t be right. And then she remembered the rules of Ikebana, the Japanese flower arrangements, less is more. Earth, sky, heaven, three levels. Line. Mass. Color. Sparse. She wanted her arrangement to represent life, not death. So she “needed” there was that word again, less, not more, regardless of what she “wanted.”

She found an oval platter, and began with the lilies of the valley, and arranged them in a fragrant mound in the front to let the rest of her floral design breathe, next came a sail of purple butterfly brush heads. They were taller than the lilies. The purple blosssoms attracted hummingbirds and butterflies to rise from earth to heaven. Babies loved to watch them light on their fingers.

Only the angelic can pet a hummingbird or butterfly. Finally, the begonias reached all the way to celebrate the clouds. Stalwart they rose and hovered above the purple, and proteced the flowers with angel wings, and drooping red flowers.

Inez looked up from her three part arrangement. Satisfied.

“Mother and child rode an ass to heaven.” What a horrible headline, but essentially that’s what happened. They were killed when the donkey threw them off onto the rock pile. They hit their heads just right. That donkey was done for the day and it showed. It was just another twenty dollar roadside attraction too.

Freak accident kills two.