The Plant House

Anna’s house is filled to the brim with life.

The space became overwhelmingly small but the air was new and energizing.

Living in a house with more plants than things, her friends referred to it as, “The Plant House.” So instead of asking their parents to visit Anna’s home for a playdate after school, they would say, “Can I go over to The Plant House?”

The house and the name are stuck to Anna.

She didn’t mind her named house, or what other children would call her at school. She knew her friends enjoyed the green-covered walls and beautiful flowers.

But often, when she went home, the lively air was sucked out of each room. It was only the plants and the fish in the koi pond that greeted her. Friends were only allowed over on weekends when her parents were home, and she wasn’t invited over to other’s houses regularly.

And so, she sits alone for the rest of the day.

She takes care of the plants, making sure to water them based on the schedule stuck to the refrigerator. She goes out back to pick the vegetables in the garden, and plant more marigolds to sit in the beds to ward off unwanted insects. She knows which plants to leave alone, and which ones to trim, and moves others if they need more sunlight. Before heading back inside to cook the fresh vegetables, she feeds the fish while sitting on the stony steps with a dry wicker basket in hand.

Anna is the keeper of living things, though it is a job she never signed up for...or even wanted for that matter.

The eleven-year-old only wants some company.

***

Though they are the holistic and healing type and exude that energy when home or out with friends, Anna believes it is merely an appearance they want to be perceived as; both by others and themselves. Anna’s mother is a corporate lawyer and her father works in finance.

As much as they tell Anna it is because they want her to live a wonderful, carefree life, she knows it’s their drive for money and obsession with work. She wishes she could believe them. However, Anna thinks that if they wanted her to truly have a carefree life, they would be around.

They say they want their home to feel like an oasis, yet are never here. The greenery is a cover-up that hides them from seeing their irresponsibility with Anna.

That being said, it wasn’t always this way.

When Anna was younger, her grandmother, Nani, would take care of her. Those were her best years: where the house would be filled with light and breath. Nani never sucked the air out of the room. She was the one bringing it all in. Anna felt very loved and always calm.

But as Nani got older, it was more difficult for her to take care of Anna. That is when The Plant House saw a new babysitter or nanny each week. Nothing would ever compare to Nani, and Anna wasn’t susceptible to change.

In fact, she hated it.

Nothing was panning out as planned. Anna was becoming too difficult for anyone to be hired, they would run away from the house as fast as they could. This was only because Anna wasn’t given time to adjust, and wasn’t able to trust anyone around her. She wasn’t given the attention she needed from her parents and no longer had it from Nani either. But her parents weren’t home enough to understand that this was the case. Instead, they wrote it off as their child having behavioral problems.

As they got more desperate, Nani decided she only wanted to make Anna happy. She returned to The Plant House and tried her best to be Anna's caretaker for as long as possible.

It only lasted one month until Nani tripped in the clustered house and hurt her wrist. Though she was okay, only with a sprain, it was the final straw. Nani could no longer watch Anna after school. Only weekly visits instead.

Those Fridays were what Anna looked forward to most.

However, it was the final straw for her parents too. It is when they decided to give up on Anna. After returning to Nani, they knew Anna would never get along or tolerate any other babysitter. So, they stopped trying to find one.

Instead, they sat down Anna and said she was old enough to take care of herself. It was a safe neighborhood and the bus took her straight to the driveway.

And with that, came all the responsibility to take care of the house and all the plants.

***

Anna walks through the sunroom that holds the table and chairs her parents sit at in the morning for coffee and tea, and walks into the kitchen to plop the wicker basket onto the island. Quickly chopping up the zucchini to place in the oven, the room now smells of garlic, olive oil, and pepper. As it is cooking, Anna is absorbed into the thick velvet couch and begins her other job, homework.

She starts her English reading, racing through it. Hearing the oven beep, she takes out the zucchini then moves onto history, trekking through a DBQ. Her last subject of the day is math; more specifically, introductory algebra.

Just as she wishes she could get help from her father, a car beeps out front.

At first, panic sets in...Anna has not yet gotten a chance to make dinner and is worried her parents will be hungry. They wouldn’t be anything but moderately frustrated, though she only wanted to please them. Their frustration would make her feel guilty, as it always does.

But it’s still light out.

She glances at the clock. It reads 4:13.

Well before either of her parents would be coming home. They won’t be here for 4 hours at least. Surely, it couldn’t be Nani, it’s not Friday and she has her physical therapy today.

Rushing over to the window, Anna curiously slips the blinds open. Careful to not open it too wide in case the person is looking in her direction.

She sees the familiar car and the familiar hair peeking through the window.

It’s her father.

She thinks: he came home early, just for me.

Excitedly, Anna runs out the door with a great big smile...though her smile immediately vanishes when she notices his physique. Strange, a bit sad, and definitely hiding something.

With takeout in his hand, her father says, “Anna, let’s head on inside, okay, bug?”

Anna loved that her father still called her bug. It made her feel special, almost as if everything else was forgiven.

Placing the plastic bag that says "thank you" with smiley face on the kitchen island next to the wicker basket and cooked zucchini, Anna’s father fills his lungs with the vibrant air of the room.

Over the next few minutes, he would explain that he no longer has a job. That he decided to stay home with her. Anna can tell by his voice and body this is not the case, it is evident he was fired.

She is undecidedly feeling both happy and disappointed. Ecstatic that her father will be home with her, but miserable that she wasn’t his first choice.

She knew he wasn’t staying for her.

But Anna thinks this is best left unsaid, as most things are in this plant house, she pushes the thought deeper into the back of her mind. The roots will always remain, but for right now she decides to just smile and continue on...they will get dug up sooner or later.