MicroHorror

It was a humid summer night, the moon full and the world still. A slight breeze brought the smell of jasmine through the southern air, one of the many grand features of nature sent to delight the senses. A delight rivaled by many, yet surpassed by few, or at least that was Samuel J. Monroe’s opinion. Delights much like that of homemade apple pie, or sensual kisses on the porch swing. Like God’s great canvas, the colors with which he paints the sky. Delights like your wedding night, or delights like the sweetest melody slowing through your ears and down into your soul. Delights like yard work, yes, yard work at night. The kind that requires heavy lifting and a great deal of digging, though once you’ve planted what you’ve brought then that delight surpasses them all.

Out by the vegetable patch where Samuel did the gardening, not but a few feet away grow his Rose’s roses. Beautifully planted and elegantly grown are they, though Rose’s roses are guilty of gaining more attention than he. Rose even planned on expanding her garden, which explains the extensive digging and potentially the heavy lifting. Not that their rural home would require the shade of night, but it just made it feel right. The beauty all around could only bring out the beauty in that which he planted, oh, and he can already imagine the glorious roses that would grow from this sacred soil.

“Well, honey, I hope this is how you wanted this to be done. I mean, when you love something so much, well, it just obviously needs to be planted properly. A proper job in the first place saves time in the long run, potentially even makes it easier to weed out the unwanted roses.” Samuel said.

Though alone in the yard he waited a moment for a response, but then got back to work when no words were to be heard.

“No need to be bashful, my dear, especially when it comes to your beloved garden,” Samuel added. “But no worries, I know just how you want this to be done.”

Sweat beads poured and his muscles flexed with every mount of dirt he shoveled out. “Hard work pays off” was the mantra echoing in his mind and continuously motivating him to press on and finish the job. Samuel just knows how much she loves her roses, which is why Rose’s roses gain special attention. Rose’s roses must be perfect, always and forever. The hole is getting deeper and the dirt mound higher, a physical manifestation of his hard work that he would only ever put into Rose’s roses. Samuel lifted his large sack above the hole, emptying it into the soil with great hopes of its beauty and how it would please Rose to see it.

“Oh, there you are, my dear.” Samuel smiled. “Hiding from me as I do all the work, now are we?”

Samuel stabbed his shovel into the dirt and lifted a mound over the hole, Rose and soon to be Rose’s roses. He stared for a moment at all that he ever loved, which had become all that he will ever lose. Though the ending isn’t a sad one, oh no, not when Rose’s roses are finally in bloom.

“Goodbye, my dear. I’m sure you meant well, but then again we all start out that way.” Samuel said, tearfully bidding her farewell.

Samuel began to fill in the hole as tears flowed from his eyes and trickled down upon his toothy smile. Tonight was a time of rejoicing, a moment when love can reunite in the utmost beautiful way. She will be missed in every aspect of Samuel’s life. He even wonders how he will go on without her, but then it is only for a short while. Before long Rose’s roses will be in bloom, full, radiant and reliable as tomorrow. Forevermore shall Rose’s roses grow for Samuel, enticing his senses and tantalizing his utmost delights.