Short Fiction Inspired by & Review of Demeter Fragrance Library Pruning Shears
“I do not like it.”
Snick, snick, snick! went the
pruning shears in Mrs. Lureen Ann LaClette’s gloved hand.
“Well, Momma, you don’t have to like it,” Ruby said with a sigh.
“Because it’s happening whether you like it or not.”
Snick, snick, snick! was the
response.
“I just do not see how he can do this to me,” Lureen heaved
dramatically, wiping nonexistent sweat from her brow with the back of her
glove.
“He’s not doing it to you, Momma.
He loves her. He wants us to meet her. I
think…,” Ruby hesitated. “I think he’s gonna marry her.”
Lureen whirled around mid-
snick!
“He will do no such thing!” She panted.
Turning back to the rose bush, she freed the fallen stem she’d left
hanging half-trimmed with another loud
snick! and placed it in the top of the
large basket on her arm before moving to the next bush.
“Momma, what exactly is your objection to her, anyway?” Ruby asked
hesitantly, fearing the next thing to get deadheaded in the garden would be
her.
“She’s just…” Lureen spluttered as she went at the next bush with the
shears like an angry badger after a piece of good wood. “She’s not like us.”
“Meaning…”
Lureen looked at her daughter in exasperation. “We do not know this
girl. She is not from around her. Who
are her parents? What do they do? You know she’s not even Baptist? Your brother
is bringing home a Catholic girl, Ruby Mae. A Catholic.” Lureen spit this last bit like the very word left a foul
taste in her mouth, attacking the bush renewed vengeance.
“First of all, she’s not Catholic.
She’s Lutheran.”
“As if, that makes a difference,” Lureen muttered.
“Well,” Ruby said evenly, “I suspect it does to the Lutherans.” Lureen shot Ruby a traitorous look, but Ruby ignored
her. “Secondly, of course she’s not from around here. He went to school over a thousand miles
away. Did you really expect that when he
met someone they would come from a family down the block?”
“I don’t know what I expected,” her mother huffed, moving across the
broad walk to the next section of the garden where she began to maim her fourth
flower
bed of the afternoon.
Lureen
Ann LaClette’s prize winning roses were legendary in Meridian, Mississippi, and
her garden was her pride and joy, having won every floral and landscaping
distinction in the state, including an unprecedented three straight titles as Reine de
Roses from the Ladies Auxiliary of the Lauderdale County Beautification Society. The fact that Lureen had cut more flowers in
one afternoon than she probably did in the previous month was a true testament
to how much Jonah’s announcement he was bringing a guest home to meet the
family had shaken her, and Lureen Ann LaClette was not a woman whose feathers
were easily ruffled. Lureen prided
herself on being as perfect a representation of good Southern breeding as her
roses, and she’d raised Ruby and Jonah to follow in her elegant footsteps.
Ruby suspected
she knew what was really bothering her mother, but she didn’t want to be the
one to bring it up, so she quietly watch as her mother went on massacring the
rose bushes. Perching primly on the edge
of the wrought iron bench nearby, Ruby examined her nails and waited. She knew eventually Lureen would work
herself up into a tizzy and confess all, no matter how indelicate, and it was
better that happen before Jonah and his girlfriend arrived. In fact, Ruby felt
confident that in approximately three-two-one—
“And,” her mother
spun around to face Ruby, pruning shears waving wildly, “she’s going to be an
architect!”
Ruby stifled a
smile. “What’s wrong with that?”
“What kind of
girl wants to be an architect?” Lureen demanded, pointing the shears at Ruby
for emphasis. “And not wants, dreams!
Jonah said she’d always dreamed of
being an architect! What kind of little girl dreams of being an architect
instead of a princess or a ballerina?”
“One that wants
to build things?” Ruby asked blandly and her mother narrowed her eyes in
response. “So she wants to be an
architect. Momma, who cares? She’s educated and she’ll have a good job. “
“Which means I’ll
never get any grandchildren.”
Ruby rolled her
eyes. “Momma, that is the craziest thing you have said yet.”
“No,
it is not,” Lureen threw down the shears in a huff, and they stuck in the
ground blade down perilously close to her shoe.
Lureen didn’t notice. “Girls with career don’t want to be mothers.
They’re making their husbands stay home. I saw it on The View.”
“Don’t
you think you should wait until you meet her before you decide if she’s good
enough to be the mother of your grandchildren?”
“I
don’t have to meet her, Ruby Mae,” Lureen wailed, hand pressed over her heart
in true Scarlett O’Hara fashion. “A mother just knows.”
Lureen
flung herself down on the bench next to Ruby as if the weight of her burden
were too much to bear any longer. “I
just don’t know,” she heaved wearily, looking at Ruby from the corner of her
eye to make sure her daughter was watching, “what I did to deserve this.” Lureen rolled her eyes heavenward as if
accusing God himself of personal betrayal.
“Momma,”
Ruby said, trying to hide her exasperation, “why don’t you just say what’s
really bothering you?” Lureen responded with an innocent, questioning look.
“You don’t like where she grew up, do you?”
“Ruby Mae!” Her mother said, glancing around
as if someone might hear them. “How can
you say such a thing?”
“Because
it’s the truth and you know it!” Ruby said pointedly.
“Alright,
fine,” Lureen replied. “You’re right.
I’m sorry. I know it’s old-fashioned, but that is how I was raised. I just never expected that when your brother
finally brought someone home to meet the family he’d be bringing – a Yankee.”
Lureen whispered this last bit as though it was a dirty word and deadly disease
all in one.
“Jesus
Christ, Momma—"
“Ruby
Mae LaClette!” If Lureen could make herself pass out for dramatic effect, this
would have been the moment.
“I’m
sorry, Momma. I’m sorry. I apologize, Lord, for taking your name in
vein,” Ruby said grumpily, but her mother continued to look thoroughly
scandalized. “It is two thousand and eleven.
Two THOUSAND and eleven. Being
born north of the Mason-Dixon line is not a crime. It never was.
I love you, but if that is what is really bothering you, you have to get
over it.” Ruby looked at her watch. “By my count, you’ve got about ten
minutes.”
Ruby
stood up to leave, feeling she’d done her part to spare her brother and his
girlfriend the brunt of her mother’s theatrics, for which Ruby felt her brother
owed her greatly.
“That’s
not the reason,” her mother said softly, and Ruby looked down in surprise. Lureen Ann LaClette, who had not cried even at her own mother’s funeral two months earlier, had tears in her
eyes.
“Then
what is it?” Ruby narrowed her eyes, expecting her mother to come up with some last
ditch crazy reason to dislike a girl Ruby suspected was probably very nice if
Jonah thought enough of her to bring her all the way from Chicago.
“What did I do wrong?” Her mother sniffed,
gazing forlornly at her gloved hands.
“If that’s the kind of girl your brother wants to spend his life with,
then what must he think of me?”
Of
all the possible ways Ruby had expected Lureen to make this all about her, this
had not been anywhere on the list. “What do you mean, Momma? Jonah loves you.
We both do.”
“I
know that, Ruby Mae,” her mother said as Ruby took her seat on the bench
again. “I know you love me. I just worry your brother may not…like me
very much. Or maybe his friend won’t.”
Ruby opened her mouth to protest, and Lureen shook her head as she pulled off
her gloves wearily. “I didn’t go to college. I never worked. I never left this house, except to take you
and Jonah to school and your lessons."
“And
we appreciate it, Momma,” Ruby said, taking her mother’s hand in her smaller
ones.
“I
know, Baby,” Lureen patted Ruby’s hand.
“I know you do. But I’ve spent my
whole life being a wife and a mother.
I’m proud of the job I did raising you kids with your daddy gone for
work all the time. But I’m an old woman
now. You kids are grown. And all I’ve got to
show for my life is this big empty house and my roses.” Lureen looked down at
the basket, only now registering with horror the amount of stems she’d
cut.
“Momma,”
Ruby said, squeezing her mother’s hand to draw her attention away from the
flowers. One crisis at a time, Ruby
thought. “Just because Jonah may someday marry a girl who wants to work and
have a career doesn’t mean we don’t realize how lucky we are to have had a
mother as dedicated as you. And we're not for sure that Jonah’s marrying her.”
“He’s
bringing her home,” Lureen said plaintively and Ruby sighed in response. “I just don’t know what I could possibly have
to say to a girl like that, Ruby Mae.”
“Just
be nice, Momma.” Ruby patted her mother’s hand. “That’s all Jonah wants.”
“I’ll
try,” Lureen said with all the enthusiasm of a kid on the way to the dentist.
“Momma?”
a male voice called from inside the house.
“You out here?”
“Well,
try harder,” Ruby hissed to her mother, standing. “Because here they come.”
A
tall athletic boy strode into the middle of the garden, followed by an equally
tall, willowy girl with long brown hair walking uncertainly behind him. She carried her large purse
carefully with both hands, as though trying to protect the contents
from being squashed or damaged.
“Jonah!”
Ruby exclaimed, throwing her arms around her brother to cover her mother’s
slowness to greet them. “And you must be
Emily. I’m Ruby, Jonah’s beautiful and talented sister. I’m sure he’s told you
all about me.”
Jonah
smirked. “About how you can’t carry a tune in a bucket and constantly trip over your
own two feet?”
Ruby
slugged him good-naturedly in the shoulder. “Lies,” she whispered to Emily.
“Hey
Momma,” Jonah said, stepping around Emily to hug his mother.
“Oh,
my baby boy’s come home!” Lureen cawed, hugging him tight in her thick arms and
swinging them both back and forth. Jonah extracted himself from the prolonged
hug, and took a step back.
“Momma,” he placed a hand on the small of the girl’s
back and pushed her forward, “this is Emily Smythe-Owens.”
“It
is nice to meet you, Mrs. LaClette,” Emily said, shyly extending her hand.
Lureen
hesitated, and Ruby gave her mother a sharp look, then looked pointedly at
Emily’s hand.
Lureen
seized it with an energy that was just a little too rich to be genuine. “It’s
nice to meet you…Emily. I hope you’ll
enjoy staying with us.” Ruby frowned behind Jonah’s back, but Jonah didn’t seem
to notice.
“Momma,
do you have any empty pots?” Jonah asked. “And some soil?”
Lureen
shot him a perplex look. “Of course, Sugar.
What size do you need?” Lureen turned toward the small storage shed in
the corner of the sprawling yard where she stored various gardening implements
and supplies.
“Something small,” Emily said, reaching
into her large purse and pulling out a crepe myrtle clipping, which had a plastic baggie
full of water rubber-banded tightly to the bottom. “I want to pot this clipping
and see if I can get it to root. We
don’t have crepe myrtles at home and it’s hard to get it to grow in our climate,
but I’m hoping I can get it big enough to transplant in a pot back at school and then give it to my mother for the holidays.”
If
Ruby was stunned, you could have knocked Lureen over with a feather. “Do you like flowers, Emily?” Ruby asked with
eager interest.
“Of
course she does!” Jonah hooted. “What would you expect from someone who’s
studying to be a landscape architect?”
“A
landscape architect?” Ruby raised an
eyebrow at her mother, who looked equally surprised.
Emily
nodded. “I've loved plants and flowers since I was a little girl. I’m hoping to design public
parks and botanical gardens someday like Beatrix Farrand.” Emily squinted in
the direction of one of the rose beds. “Are those hybrid teas? I don’t think I
recognize all these varieties.”
Jonah
smiled at the girl, and his eyes glowed with affection. “My momma has the best
roses in all of Mississippi.” He turned toward Lureen, and look he gave her was
equally admiring. “Don’t you, Momma?”
Lureen
Ann LeClette glowed positively pink with pride. “I don’t know about all that,”
she demurred with obviously false modesty.
“Would
you mind giving me a tour?” Emily asked.
“Darlin’,
it would be my pleasure,” Lureen said sincerely as she took Emily by the arm
and began leading her around the enormous backyard.
Ruby
collapsed onto the bench in relief as soon as their backs were turned.
“What’s
your problem?” Jonah inquired, taking the seat next to her.
“Never
mind,” Ruby said to her brother as she threw her arm across her face. Going
twelve rounds with her mother always wore Ruby out. “Turned out to be nothing.”
Jonah chuckled, stretching his arm across the
back of the bench behind her, the picture of relaxation. “That’s your problem,
Ruby. You can make a mountain out of a
mole hill.”
Ruby
dropped her arm from her face and fumed at Jonah, who took that as the sign
to make his exit. “Don’t worry about it.
It’s not your fault.” He said as he headed off toward the corner of the
yard where his mother and girlfriend were deep in conversation. “You’re just
like Momma.”
Finally, I chose Starflower, "[c]andy flower, dreamy and steamy, almond cherry and lemon and foodie seeds and chocolate make tuberose the star of Mexico, an edible, sexy delight." Almond cherry, dreamy and steamy, is right. While there are moments the notes blend together in an almost maple syrupy mishmash of sweetness, the next moment they seem to separate out again so you can experience all the different aspects, which keeps this interesting to sniff at for hours. The chocolate here seems like a by product of the mixture of almonds and cherries, with strips of candied lemon rind on top. It's the foodiest of the five, and of course, deeply enjoyed by me. 
The many meanings that cluster around rose – friendship, passion, love – are fulfilled in L’Emblem Rouge. It incorporates the full scentual and spiritual significance of the rose. Sensual rose set in soft woods, balsam and amber. A modern classic with a timely message.
Une Rose Chypree, on me, is a hot sticky (but lovely) mess of cinnamon, labdanum, and patchouli. L’Emblem Rouge has more sweet foodie citrus and wood. "Lightly spiced" is a good description because the spice aspect is gentle and less aggressive than Une Rose Chypree. Now while I love and admire Une Rose Chypree as I do most Tauer Scents, the truth is the gentleness of L’Emblem Rouge makes it infinitely more wearable by the average person. It's a strong, bold, and yet surprisingly accessible scent. Given my choice between a bottle of the each, I would have a difficult time choosing, but think I'd probably go for L’Emblem Rouge.
The concept of the veil of ignorance is a simple one: wherever souls come from, the part of you that is your consciousness was born into a particular time and place. That makes some of us inherently safer, healthier, and better off from the moment of inception by sheer dumb luck. That privilege isn't something that was earned, and it could have easily been someone else far less fortunate in your shoes and you in theirs. So imagine, for one moment, that just before your personal die was cast, you had the opportunity to distribute wealth and access and resources and education. Maybe you wouldn't make it exactly equal everywhere, but you'd probably at least ensure that the minimal needs of every person next to be born were met because you could not know which of those people would be you.
Open to all readers anywhere. To enter please post below by: 12:01AM, Friday, September 23, 2011 Pacific Standard Time.
Lureen whirled around mid-snick!
“He will do no such thing!” She panted.
Turning back to the rose bush, she freed the fallen stem she’d left
hanging half-trimmed with another loud snick! and placed it in the top of the
large basket on her arm before moving to the next bush. 
“What kind of
girl wants to be an architect?” Lureen demanded, pointing the shears at Ruby
for emphasis. “And not wants, dreams!
Jonah said she’d always dreamed of
being an architect! What kind of little girl dreams of being an architect
instead of a princess or a ballerina?”
Ruby
stood up to leave, feeling she’d done her part to spare her brother and his
girlfriend the brunt of her mother’s theatrics, for which Ruby felt her brother
owed her greatly. 
“Momma,”
Ruby said, squeezing her mother’s hand to draw her attention away from the
flowers. One crisis at a time, Ruby
thought. “Just because Jonah may someday marry a girl who wants to work and
have a career doesn’t mean we don’t realize how lucky we are to have had a
mother as dedicated as you. And we're not for sure that Jonah’s marrying her.”
Lureen
shot him a perplex look. “Of course, Sugar.
What size do you need?” Lureen turned toward the small storage shed in
the corner of the sprawling yard where she stored various gardening implements
and supplies.
“Would
you mind giving me a tour?” Emily asked.
After that, the opportunities for getting skin to skin with a stranger declined exponentially. It wasn’t something I was looking for, and definitely wasn’t worth spending my nights getting sweaty in meat market bars. I went to school, I went to synagogue, I went home. Lather, rinse, repeat, ad nauseum, ad infinitum. Several years out of college and through my first year of law school, I had good grades, lots of friends, and I’d never been kissed. Not once. Not ever. The longer it went on, the worse it got. How do you tell someone over dinner on a first date that if they expect the night to end on the doorstep in a warm embrace, it will be a new experience for at least one of us? Take it from me: when you’re twenty-seven, it’s not a conversation that goes well.
“She likes you,” Cooper said just behind my ear. Any other time I would have been nervous to have a man standing that close, but I was so enamored with the horse I barely acknowledged him.
