Farkas paused over the hole she'd just dug. It
was about six inches deep and water had already started seeping in, without any
help from her, thank you very much. She sat back on her haunches and waited for
the water to sink back into the soil. A chickadee called off to her left, but chicka'd
only two dees, so it wasn't upset, just chatty. She looked back to the hole and
almost all the water was gone. She picked up the pot and
up ended it over the hole, giving it gentle but firm pats all along the sides
and bottom of the plastic pot to loosen the soil. Any soil that fell through her gloved fingers
fell into the moist hole. She extracted the plant, a bloodroot, and felt the satisfying
suction as the roots came loose from the pot. She sprinkled mycorrhizal fungi all
over the roots, popped it into the hole, and centred it. She heaped the soil around the plant, pressing down gently and making a small
well. She watered again.
Again she sat back on her haunches, and tapped the pot to get the last of the soil out.
He'd gone to high school with her. He'd been an asshole even then. He'd grown into an even larger puckered buttpit when he went into real estate and eventually, opened his own development firm, his only aim in life to make money.
Hard to believe they still hadn't found him yet.
