As beautiful as a Marigold

It was a perfect summer day. The fields spread for miles around me and I drank in the sunshine behind a cheap pair of shades.

I had come for the weekend, to escape the city and all around me was a hazy kind of summer stillness. A wave of heat rose from the fields with no breeze to disturb it.

It was blissful in the moment.

So, I lay back in amongst the harvested crop and stared up at the unnaturally shaded clear blue sky. London was nothing like this, it was all stressed people, crowds, bad smells and dirt. I mean, here I could smell earth, but it was mixed with natural faded scents.

I must have fallen asleep, because when I awoke I sensed someone looming over me.

I pulled myself up, startled and immediately made contact with a soft set of petals.

I leaned back and re-focused my vision on what appeared to be a Marigold before me; fresh and bright as the sunlight and grasped firmly in a tanned male hand.

“Hello.” Said a distinctly Eastern European voice.

“Hello?” I said a little uncertainly.

“I had this Marigold and needed to find someone as beautiful to give it to.” He smiled.

“That’s a line if ever I heard one.” I scoffed.

“What do you mean line?” He said innocently.

“Don’t go playing the innocent,” I said: “I was just the only girl you saw here.”

He laughed evenly: “No.” He said: “You are as unique as this Marigold. I promise you.”

“So not that unique then?” I said, slightly dejected.

He smiled.

“Strange foreign men invariably mean trouble.” I said blithely.

“If you say so…” He said, smiling still: “But will you accept the Marigold? It would mean a lot to me if you accepted this small gift.”

“I guess it could do no harm.” I said hesitantly.

“Great.” He said: “That means now we can get married!”

“What?!” I exclaimed.

“I’m joking,” he said: “I just thought you would like the flower. I’m not that nuts.”

“Oh.” I said embarrassed. I blushed and cast my eyes downward.

“Of course, you could always take a walk with me and get to know me…” He trailed off looking awkward.

I smiled. He was not unattractive and I had nothing to do that day and he didn’t seem to be an axe murderer. “I will walk with you if you bring me a Marigold the next time you see me.”

“There will be a next time..?” He said, looking suddenly happy.

“Yes.” I said: “I think there will.” I smiled again.

“The next time I see you I will bring you a bunch of Marigolds.” He said warmly: “I grow them for a living, but for you they are all free.”

“I see.” I said giggling: “So now I am as beautiful as a bunch of Marigolds.”

He smiled: “Maybe you are.” He said and took my hand and started to walk with me across the fields.

Now we have been together for four years and everyday I wake up to a bunch of Marigolds and a cup of peppermint tea.

I’m still not convinced that I am as beautiful as the flowers, but he is still by my side and we never would have met if I hadn’t been overwhelmed with the stresses of the city and my hellish ex-boyfriend and taken a weekend away.

I like my new life, though it seems as though no time has passed at all and I have never looked back to a time before all the Marigolds and the sweetest foreigner that I have ever known. Brexit be damned.