Eva's Garden

As the wind danced with the drawn curtain Eva sat watching her granddaughter below in the garden. The fragrance of marigolds drifted through the open window and along with it the memories of her own childhood. Her granddaughter Lisa was the same age she was before leaving the Netherlands for England and eventually the United States. Oh how she had loved spending time in the garden with her mother. The tulips were pretty but the marigolds were heavenly for little Eva. She loved how they greeted the sun every morning. She felt their orange and yellow flowers were the sun itself in perfect flower form.

Eva the child wondered if the marigolds greeted the sun in the days before her parents were killed during the Nazi occupation. The old woman who sat by the window assumed they did but she had no way of knowing what became of her garden after she boarded the ship to England with relatives. Her parents were to follow in a few weeks but all that arrived was news of their demise. She never understood until she was older why anyone would want to take her parents from her. She still wonders why there was so much hatred. As a child she thought that the German war machine would not have happened if they had viewed everyone as beautiful as her marigolds. She knows better now, but the passage of time did not heal all her wounds. People can love you and care for you but they can also take from you. Eva’s garden took all of her sadness and all of her anger and transformed it into love.

Lisa skipped around the marigolds as her grandmother continued to recall her past.

Eva never understood the entirety of the Nazi regime until years later. She thought, perhaps, understood was the wrong word. Who could understand such atrocity?

The boat ride to England felt like an adventure until word came about her parents’ deaths. She never heard how they died, only that they did. She felt like her leaving caused their death. Back then Eva wished she had died with her parents. With the news of her parents passing came the screaming, which would have appeared as madness were it not for the fact that the world had gone mad. Why, why, why she yelled over and over again. These unknown enemies had taken everything. Her mood in England fit her surroundings. Gray most of the time with hints of sunlight. She wondered how anyone could have a garden in that darkness but was surprised by the magnificent gardens she observed. She took her cue from the flowers and looked up when it was sunny. Her mother taught her that every sunrise was another chance to bloom. And that her tears were meant to water the marigolds. That always made Eva smile.

Eva missed the German blitzkrieg later that same year. By then she had already arrived in the land of the free and the arms of her Aunt Tess. Her mother’s sister had emigrated to America several years earlier. Aunt Tess was a lot like her mother but she spoke near perfect english. She had a sadness in her eyes that Eva recognized in her own. Her aunt also grew marigolds. In the very same garden which was now hers. The same garden where her granddaughter played. The garden that would one day become Lisa’s, if she wanted it.

Eva thought about her long trip to America but the memories were becoming too much for one day. It was sad and lonely being on that ship but she was no longer alone. She got up from her chair and went to join Lisa in the garden.

It was time to clip some flowers with her granddaughter. Lisa picked out the best and brightest to bring into the house. Eva took her hand and showed her how to cut the flowers from their stems. Eva leaned over and gave her a hug. Lisa giggled and the marigolds reached for the sun.