Night-scented Flowers

  Last year, he planted two lines of Nicotania along the short path from his back door to the walled end of his garden. He works hard, and it is a small, but intense pleasure to greet them each evening. All those daylight hours he has spent in the computer-glare of his office, they have [...]

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Winter Garden 8: glass

Inside, the cactus spills its blousy pink flowers over the windowsill, their mouths reaching for floorboards that used to be oak trees. Outside, the day holds its dull skies as though it’s as bored of winter as she is. She stands at the window and considers the abandoned garden – lines of shrivelled fuchsia leaves, [...]

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Lemon verbena

K planted lemon verbena because it reminded her of her mother. There had been times, recently, when she found she couldn’t bring her mother’s face, or the tone of her voice to mind. They span her into a panic, these blank moments, sent her running for the line of photo albums in the room they [...]

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Sudden, treacherous gifts

It was over, they’d agreed that; had spent a long night unpicking and retying threads, getting everything in order. She’d woken the next morning, her head heavy with the wine they’d been saving for a special occasion, her heart bruised. But at least it was clear, she told her friends – herself – at least [...]

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The porcelain horse

She inherited the vase from her mother – a porcelain horse with a melancholy face, its flanks patterned with pink flowers, a small circular hole in the centre of its spine. She remembers the first time she cut flowers from the garden and arranged them, Ikebana style, in this vase, which used to stand empty [...]

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