Defiance

Jean chopped the banana peel up small. Hiding it in her hand so the children wouldn’t see, she picked up her pruning shears and went into the back yard. They were too young yet to trust with her secret. She walked around her prize rose, a hybrid Musk in Lilac Pink. Squatting down she pretended to examine a branch and scattered the banana peel across the base, tossing dirt over the pieces.

She clipped one stem and came back into the house. “Can I smell, Mama?” Kaitlin begged, from the breakfast table.

“Of course, darling.” She put the rose bloom, only half open, in front of her 6 year old’s face.

“Me too, Mom.” He son normally didn’t care about the roses but at 7, he was still at the age where he didn’t want to miss out on anything his sister had.

She held the rose for him. He gave it a perfunctory sniff, then ego satisfied, went back to his cereal.

John, her husband came into the kitchen, straightening his tie. His eyebrows went up. As she filled a narrow vase and clipped the end of the stem under running water he whispered, “You’re going to get us in trouble.”

Jean glanced at the kids. They had their eyes on the government approved morning commercial disguised as a cartoon. “They didn’t see anything.”

He positioned himself so the kids couldn’t read his lips. “I understand, babe, I do. But you know they’ll take the kids and put them in the state orphanage and send us both to jail if we get caught recycling.”

She put the stem in the vase and turned it until it could stand up. “I know. But I get so sick of the mandatory consumption and waste.”

He put his arm around her shoulder and kissed her on the top of her head. “I understand. I’ll go to the meeting tonight. Maybe we can think of a way to overthrow the corporations.”

Jean put the vase on the counter where she could see and smell it while she washed the dishes. “I hope so.”

The End

350 Words

Find more of the Forward Motion Flash Friday Group here:http://www.fmwriters.com/flash.html