A Matter of Conscience.
Sticky fingers and green thumbs.
Written for the Ray Taylor "Where have all the tea leaves Gone?" An unofficial challenge. Write a super quick micro about a thief. More details following the story.
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"Honey! Look at this, it made the newspaper!" my eyebrows raised, flushed with surprise from the banner as my husband dragged himself into the kitchen with the worst case of bedhead I'd ever seen.
It read: Local neighborhood is baffled by random flower theft.
The occurrences were becoming frequent. Nearby neighbors were blindsided by the sight of their yards and gardens pilfered. My prized tulips were inching ever so close to getting personal protection.
Erick's reaction was that of a deaf man, nothing. He continued his way to the den to retrieve an Ipad.
Seconds later from the living room, I hear him. "Candice, why are police talking in front of our house? And now they're walking up the driveway!"
I answered the door, tightening my robe.
"May I help you?"
"Yes! We are looking for Erick Coleman. We need to ask him a few questions. Is he home?"
I opened the door a little more, revealing him standing there, perplexed by it all.
***
Before Erick's words and mine were done going back and forth, police returned with a search warrant, an embarrassing invasion of privacy.
The overwhelming evidence came quick when a flower-sniffing dog went into the garage. He sat in front of an old, black trunk that Erick's mom left him and began pawing it.
I couldn't believe my eyes... It was full of wilted flowers.
Erick made a scene, denying any involvement. He called a lawyer and was told not to leave town.
***
Not even twelve hours later at 4am, I was awakened by a door slam. Curious and a little frightened as to where Erick was, I went to investigate.
Tulips in hand, more of them scattered on the ground, I screamed bloody murder. He continued ripping them from the dirt. I quickly ran to his front, protecting the last of the tulips.
His ignoring eyes, told a bizarre story...
***
Psychiatry determined that Erick’s sleepwalking episodes were brought on by the devastation of losing his mother. Him leaving flowers in the trunk symbolized placing them on her grave.
After a couple weeks of grief therapy, the sleepwalking ceased. Until it did, no one really cared what he stole... knowing the flowers were all for his resting mother.
About the Creator
Lamar Wiggins
Creative writer in the Northeast US who loves the paranormal, mystery, true crime, horror, humor, fantasy and poetry.
"Life is Love Experienced" -LW
LDubs
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Comments (23)
I was very intrigued by ‘Local neighborhood is baffled by random flower theft.’ and the tale that followed lead me down a paths of twists. I did not see it coming.,The resolution very touching. With kindness Pauline 🌸
Great story, Lamar and interesting twist.
This is beautiful!
Lord and I didn't see it coming! I kept thinking she was competing for a flower competition and he was eliminating the competition. LOL! This was a great piece to be so short. It draws you in right away and packs a nice swing at the end. GREAT story!
Oh that was sad 😢
Wow!🤩 This is brilliant ✅… especially liked how Erick had been so het up about it all.
The final twist where Erick is caught sleepwalking and stealing the flowers is both tragic yet poignant. Loved this story! Goodluck in the challenge! 💌
Loved this story Lamar and so pleased you were able to join in. Highly original take on the challenge and loved the fact that the thief was unaware. Thanks for the entry and for your support for the challenge. The winners list is here if you have not already seen it. Thanks again.
This is a sweet story!!
Wow! Sleepwalking and stealing flowers, I have a green thumb so the wilting kind of oh dear, I wish he had adorned the garage and watered them. really inventive for real, I did giggle despite the flower mess.
This was highly inventive, well written, and had a impactful ending! Well done, Lamar!
Well done! "A flower sniffing dog" was the hero of your piece.
A perplexing twist at the end indeed!! Nicely done Lamar!
This is brilliant, Lamar! A complete story with surprise, outrage and empathy all wrapped with a solution and ultimate wellbeing. As a bonus we get bedhead thrown in for good measure!
Well-wrought! You did a fine job, and the ending was actually quite touching!
Well done for such short time! Ha ha, for some reason.This story reminded me of the last place that I moved out of a couple years ago, I was collecting buying all kinds of trinkets for all the seasons and had a little too much stuff for a little less space that I was moving into. Anyways , my next or neighbor was this nice lady who had a few garden gnomes in her yard. I have this where the little obsession with gnomes, but was not going to have a yard. So the night before I moved, I stuck him inside of her fence with a note taped to his hand saying "Homeless, looking for a yard." Mind you that was two years ago... And a couple weeks ago I ended up driving down that street, And there he was chilling with the other gnomes ☺️. I never told her it was me, I wanted to keep it a mystery. It was awesome to see that he was still there and she kept him though. Put a smile on my face for sure. Sorry for the long winded comment, your story just brought me back to that for some reason 😂.
So pleased you have joined in the fun Lamar. To keep it fair I am not commenting on any entries until after the deadline. Thanks for the support Entries are listed here: https://shopping-feedback.today/writers/thieves-run-off-with-the-prizes%3C/span%3E%3C/span%3E%3C/span%3E%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv class="css-w4qknv-Replies">
Nice job, Lamar! You made this both interesting, heartfelt and upsetting in so few words! 🥰
My heart broke for Erick. I wish I could give him a hug. Poor guy 🥺 Loved your story!
Great story and not the twist I was expecting!
I'll forgive Erick knowing he meant well. Thus was a great story, my friend. Also, holey moley 40 mins total. Well done. 👏
Nice twist, Lamar. I never would have thought of a flower thief.
That is such a great little story of grief and empathy, Lamar!