Chapter 30 - The Garden
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Spring arrived with a fierce, brilliant intensity, washing away the bitter cold and turning the city entirely green. I spent my Sunday morning in the small, private garden behind my apartment building. I had purchased the ground-floor unit specifically for this patch of dirt.
I wore old jeans and a faded t-shirt, kneeling on a thick foam pad to protect my knees. I was aggressively digging up a stubborn patch of invasive weeds to make room for a new row of hydrangeas.
The physical labor was intense. I drove the heavy steel trowel into the packed earth, pulling and tearing at the deep, tangled roots. Sweat beaded on my forehead, and my breathing grew heavy.
My lower back throbbed with a dull, rhythmic ache, a constant reminder of the titanium rods fused to my spine. But it was not the sharp, terrifying pain of injury. It was the deeply satisfying, earned fatigue of a body being actively used for a purpose.
Evelyn walked out the back door, carrying a pitcher of iced lemonade and two glasses. She stopped on the patio, watching me wrestle a massive root system out of the dirt.
“You are going to completely exhaust yourself,” she warned lightly, though the old panic was entirely absent from her voice.
“I am just showing the weeds exactly who owns this yard,” I laughed, tossing the massive clump of roots into a heavy plastic yard bag.
I stood up slowly, placing my hands on my hips and stretching my back backward. My spine popped loudly, settling into a comfortable alignment. I walked over to the patio and took a glass of lemonade, wiping the dirt from my forehead with the back of my hand.
“You look incredibly strong,” Evelyn said softly, handing me a napkin.
May you like
I looked down at my hands, covered in dark soil, calloused from the heavy tools. I was no longer the fragile, broken woman lying in a dark bedroom, terrified to move. I was rebuilding my environment, pulling the rot out by the roots, and planting exactly what I wanted to see grow.
“I am strong,” I agreed, taking a long drink of the cold lemonade.
