We Plants are Happy Plants (part 4)

Posted on Tue Jul 18th, 2017 @ 1:18pm by Veronica Kiley & Lieutenant JG Elizabeth Jackson

1,118 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Pulling Together
Location: Arboretum

[CONTINUED]

[OLD]

This place held a new surprise literally every minute, Veronica realized jaw-dropped, as she watched the monkey run in, and the arboretum lady introducing her strange pet to her. "Hi, Robin...", the girl said shyly, as she watched the monkey grab its food and began eating the various fruits. "I've seen monkeys at the zoo on Bolarus III last year.", she explained, while watching the animal's moves, "I didn't know they were also living on starships."

[NEW]

The Capuchin cocked his head at the girl as she spoke. He chittered in response and ate another piece of fruit.

"There aren't many," Lizzie admitted. "Robin lives in the arboretum with George and Gracie," Lizzie explained.

"Who's George and Gracie?", the girl asked now with utmost curiosity. She remembered those names from one of her school classes. They were the first pair of whales repopulating Earth a hundred years ago. If the arboretum lady tells her there are also whales here, she'll jump out the airlock, because this simply cannot be true.

"They're my Macaws. They hang out in the trees. I named them after an old Earth comedy duo."

"Macaws? That's not some kind of a whale, right?", Veronica asked curiously. Why would a whale hang out in a tree?

"Whales?" Lizzie wasn't sure what she meant by that. "No. A Macaw is a type of bird. A bird that lived in the tropical areas of Earth. They live in the arboretum along with Robin."

The girl felt embarrassed by her apparent lack of knowledge, and folding her arms, replied, "I'm half-Brazilian. I know everything about tropical birds."

"Are you?" Lizzie asked. "That's awesome. Did you ever visit the rain forest? I admit, I don't know about all birds. Plants are my specialty. I visited the rain forest once. The ecosystem is incredible." Then she stopped and raised a hand, half in apology and half to stop herself from going on about rain forests. "Sorry. I'd totally forgotten about those whales. They were named George and Gracie, weren't they? No wonder you went to whales and I went to Burns and Allen."

Veronica shook her head slightly, not knowing who or what Burns and Allen were, but she ignored that part. "Well... I've visited the rainforest once.", she said, "When I was little...", she added with a voice of disappointment, "Since then, I've only visited it on the holodeck." She almost added 'starship life sucks'.

"Maybe you can go visit on leave some time. I miss some of the real forests on earth, too. Holodecks are nice, but they're not the same as the real thing." That's one of the reasons Lizzie was such a proponent of arboretums.

"Oh, yeah, sure...", the girl nodded, while she finished the foundations of the pot, standing ready to plant. She turned to the arboretum lady, indicating her work with a glance. "How does it look? Is it totally terrible?"

"It's just fine," Lizzie assured her. She went into one of the large cupboards and pulled out what looked like a stick with some root on one end and handed it to Victoria. "Now, plant this, root down, into your pot. It will take a several days to weeks, but the stick will start to grow new shootsand become a lovely tree."

Veronica looked wide-eyed to the stick Lizzie handled her, with eagerness and curiosity, this one being the very first plant of her very own she has started. "Alright.", she took the stick, and carefully planted it inside the pot, "Am I doing this right? I hope it will be a pretty-looking mini tree. I don't want people laughing at my tree.", she said with an honest wish.

"It will be beautiful," Lizzie assured her. "All you have to do is water it twice a week--just enough for the soil to be damp--and replace the food stick once a month." While she talked, Lizzie went to a drawer and pulled out a bag of food spikes. Then she got a bottom for the pot for the water to drain into and handed them both to Veronica. "Put one food sitck in now, near the side of the pot. Then we'll give it a little water and you should be fine. The little tray is for the excess water to run into."

The girl listened carefully to the woman's words, then picked up the so-called 'food stick', and placed it inside the pot, not sure if she was doing it right. "My mom will be totally surprised by this.", she smiled, rather thinking out loud than actually commenting, "She'll think I was replaced by a Changeling or a Romulan spy altered to look like Veronica."

Lizzie grinned appreciatively. "I think it's good to surprise people from time to time. It's no fun to do the same thing all the time." She pulled out a PADD and loaded on information on how to take care of the tree, then handed it to Veronica. "Keep this as a reference. It should also be in the computer database." She paused for a moment. "Now, follow the instructions and it should grow into a lovely tree. Don't overwater it. And, if for any reason it doesn't do well, we can always try again. Every now and then, for no reason at all, a plant will fail."

Veronica looked curiously at the PADD the arboretum lady handled her. Looking at the title, and the index of contents, she quickly decided it'll be her favourite book from now on, and that she'll be reading it all the time until she's finished it up... at least twice... or three times...

"Oh, I see...", she then reacted a bit less enthusiastically when Lizzie mentioned her that plants sometimes fail without any reason. But then, with the most stubborn and determined expression possible, she decided it won't. "My tree won't fail. It'll be the most beautiful most gorgeous most wonderful tree in the universe.", she proclaimed, like if she were speaking a Holy Scripture, "Alright... Maybe not in the universe, only in this galaxy.", she then admitted with a bit of sincerity in her voice, then, decided give a random warm hug to the woman who opened this new whole world for her. "Thank you, weird arboretum lady. Thank you."

Lizzy smiled warmly. "Any time. And you know what? I believe you. I think your plant is going to be beautiful."

Veronica smiled, and holding her future tree in her hand like one would hold a child, she made her way back to her quarters, promising herself to be the best mother she could ever be.

____
OFF

Veronica Kiley
Alexandra Alves' daughter

Lieutenant JG Elizabeth "Lizzie" Jackson
Botanist

 

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