Anna’s Garden

I have three favorite flowers in the garden. One is red, and one is blue, and one is yellow. Nanny told me all their names, but I don’t remember them. I wanted to pick them and bring them back home, but she wouldn’t let me. She said they belonged to everyone, and not just me, so I couldn’t have them. I don’t know why she said that. There’s nobody here but Nanny and me anyways. I think she was just being mean. I wish I could have a flower for my room. They’re so pretty.

Nanny let me put my feet in the pond. It was very cold and I didn’t even have a towel when I got out. She showed me pictures of fishes on the holo, but we don’t have any fishes in our pond. I think it would be much nicer if we did. I bet fishes are fun to play with.

We had sandwiches and orange drinks for snacks. I had crackers and apples too. Nanny says the apples we’ll have when the garden isn’t broken will be much nicer. She says real snacks don’t come in tubes, and that real apples grow on trees. Nanny’s very silly sometimes.

Today is Saturday. I don’t have to do my learning on Saturday, because Saturday is the day we go to visit Mommy. I used my new crayons and drew her a picture of the pond. I put some fishes in it, even though we don’t have any. I put a shark in there too, because sharks is fun to play with. Not fun for the other fishes, but I’d like to play with them anyways.

Mommy is on the other side of the garden. I’m not allowed to go there by myself, on account of Jack Scratch. He’s afraid of Nanny, so he won’t come out when she’s with me, but Nanny says he’d grab me in a flash if I was to go there by myself. I’ve never seen Jack Scratch, but sometimes I can hear him when we are on walks. He breathes loud like a dragon and sometimes I find scratches on the walls from his long fingers. That’s why his name is Jack Scratch, because he scratches things. Nanny says he’d scratch me if he could catch me. I’m afraid of him, but he won’t hurt me if Nanny is there.

Nanny isn’t supposed to go on the grass because her feets make it all smashed and messy, so we have to go around to get to the other side. Her feets are like my toy tank, but I don’t have feets like that. Nanny says Mommy doesn’t have them either, but I’ve never seen her feets before, so I don’t know. I’m glad I don’t have feets like that or I couldn’t go on the grass or put them in the pond. Fishes have fins, and not feets.

I don’t know what kinds of feets Jack Scratch has.

Nanny has to push the right buttons to open the door on the other side of the garden. I can’t even reach them. I won’t always be small. Nanny says Mommy is tall and I will be tall too when I grow up. If I am too tall for my bed, I will sleep on the grass by the pond. It’s soft like a pillow and then I can play all day there too.

I hold Nanny’s hand now, because Jack Scratch won’t grab me then. There’s dark spots in the walls that are tunnels, and they go down to where he lives. Sometimes I can hear him breathing inside them, but he won’t come out with Nanny watching. She’s got a magic finger that makes him stay away. It’s blue and can make lightning come out and if she shoots it then he has to go to sleep until she’s far away. I don’t know why she doesn’t make him go to sleep forever like Sleeping Beauty. Nobody would kiss him and wake him up.

It takes a long time to go where Mommy is. Nanny says she’ll carry me if I’m too tired, but sometimes I don’t want her to carry me because her skin is so hard and cold. My sleeves are too short today so I don’t want her skin on me.

There’s a lot of boxes with people inside, but Mommy’s is the one that’s got pictures all on it. I draw them and Nanny brings me here to give them to her. There’s one of me playing with a puppy. I know what a puppy looks like because Nanny showed me on the holo. There’s one with my dolls at the food closet. There’s one in the room that I can’t remember the name of, with the big round window where all the stars are outside. There’s one with Nanny charging her bat’ry. There’s one with me watching cartoons on the holo.

Nanny gives me a magnet off her stomach so I can stick my new picture on Mommy’s box. I have to move one of the old pictures to the box I used to be in, because Mommy’s has got so many on it. My box broke, so Nanny came out of a closet to take care of me until Mommy wakes up. She’s still asleep, but Nanny says I don’t have to be quiet, because she’s not going to wake up until we get to where we’re going. I don’t remember what she calls it, but Nanny says it has three suns so I won’t ever have to be afraid of Jack Scratch and the dark anymore.

Nanny says Mommy will be happy to see me when she wakes up.

I wish the children in the boxes would wake up too so I could play with them.

I hope we get there soon.

Maybe they’ve got enough flowers there for everybody.

 

Tipsylit Prompt


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20 responses to “Anna’s Garden”

  1. Elizabeth yon Avatar
    Elizabeth yon

    Love, love, love this! Is there more? Will there be more? Generation ships are one of my favorite Sci-fi constructs. I want to know everything about it!

    1. Kameko Avatar
      Kameko

      Okay, so here’s the thing. I wrote this as a prompt from the folks at Tipsylit. The problem is that the limit for this was about 1,500 words, and my version was shooting rapidly past that before I’d even gotten anywhere near to the finish. So what I had to do was set aside that draft and come up with something shorter.

      What this is here is sort of a setup for the larger story, which will have more Jack Scratch, more time with Anna alone on the ship, and more overcoming seemingly insurmountable obstacles.

      There’s so much more story here that I want to tell, there’s no way 1,500 words can do it!

  2. Cameron Avatar

    We are maybe known to go back and forth about the concept of the vignette, but I think you sell yourself short when you lament writing them. This is a perfect peek into Anna’s world, and obviously there is more to tell, but this is why we write scenes for prompts… whetting the whistles and playing!

    1. Kameko Avatar
      Kameko

      Look, I’ve got a solid 20,000 words I can get out of this baby. That’s a lot of whistle to whet!

  3. Roxanne Avatar

    Dude. I want more.

    1. Kameko Avatar
      Kameko

      It’ll be coming!

  4. zeudytigre Avatar

    This is great on it’s own but, as others have said, it makes me want to know more. You are such a good writer.

    1. Kameko Avatar
      Kameko

      Thank you. Already fleshing out the bigger piece as we speak!

  5. J. Raven Avatar

    Eagerly awaiting more as well – really enjoyed this!

    1. Kameko Avatar
      Kameko

      Thanks!

  6. Deanna Avatar

    I love you…..oops, I meant this. I love THIS. 🙂

    1. Kameko Avatar
      Kameko

      I’ll take it either way!

  7. Dawn Landau Avatar

    Wow! Kameko, you blow me away! I am not generally a fan of sci-fi, futuristic stuff… but you write it so well, and add such a beautiful human element to each piece. This is just great! I will look forward to the more verbose version! 😉

    1. Kameko Avatar
      Kameko

      Go big or go home!

      Or something like that, right?

  8. Kerrie Ann Salsac Avatar

    Such a wonderful sci-fi take on the prompt. Love it 😀

    1. Kameko Avatar
      Kameko

      Thank you! Hope you like the expanded version once it all comes together.

  9. Dorothy Avatar
    Dorothy

    I’ve only recently discovered your blog, but I find your writing enchanting. Keep it up! We all want more.

    1. Kameko Avatar
      Kameko

      Thank you so much. I’m glad to see you coming by, and I hope you keep liking what you read!

  10. Wendy Strain Avatar

    I’m so excited to see the longer work! This is so engaging 🙂

    1. Kameko Avatar
      Kameko

      It’s coming, it’s coming!

      By the time I finally finish all the short stories I’ve got going, I’m going to end up with a nice, fat collection.

      Not that that’s a bad thing.

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