Blossom-zine - Spring 2022
Follow The Flowers Written by Samantha Denny Illustrated by Cynthia Lee
Ever since the storm that had torn up Whalelight and sent people rushing indoors to hide from the massive chunks of ice raining down on them, it seemed like the whole world was going mad. The storm had vanished just as soon as it had swept through the town, but it left the town in such a state at the town hall meeting that night, and the stories people brought of other sudden weather events in other places didn’t help the panic. That day had started out so nicely too; Astrid had picked up Thomas from his family’s clock store after getting their usual order from the bakery, and they had headed to have a picnic at Marie’s house. Now here they were, trying to get to Silverburgh in search of answers. Astrid frowned when she noticed a small cluster of chrysanthemums gathered at the base of one of the trees on the side of the road. Thomas was feeding Ranger, their draft horse, some oats for a snack where they had stopped on the side to give Ranger a break from pulling their cart. Astrid glanced over her shoulder and saw Marie standing at the back of the cart, fussing with something she couldn’t see while Whisper, her goshawk, sat perched on the edge. She knew that she ought not to read too much into things like clusters of chrysanthemums, but after the stories of strange weather events like the ice storm back home and the things they had seen on the road, the sudden appearance of flowers that meant death and mourning felt too ominous to overlook. Carefully, Astrid approached the cluster of flowers, her frown deepening when she saw more dotting the undergrowth behind the tree. “Marie! Thomas! Come look at this!” she called, moving back to the side of the road, and her friends both looked up. “What is it?” Thomas called back, brushing his hands off on his trousers as he and Marie made their way over. “Something wrong?” “I’m not sure,” Astrid confessed, looking back at the chrysanthemums. “I’m worried about the chrysanthemums, they’re everywhere here, but I haven’t seen that many on the road until now.” “Do you think they mean something?” Marie asked. Whisper landed on her shoulder as they looked at the flowers cutting through the dark undergrowth. Poets and Writers Coalition SJSU
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