Existence Continued

And take the day before. I was at my mum's. She was planting out some new lobelias and petunias that she'd bought. I was watching her.

She was planting the lobelias in a wide shallow bowl. She made six indentations in the dirt with a trowel. This was the first time it occurred to me to ask if I could help.

I didn't ask. She squeezed the lobelias from the plastic punnet one by one and set them in the holes. Then she pressed the earth around them tightly till they stood up by themselves.

She made six more holes for six petunias. She'd been bent over that bowl for quite some time. She's eighty three. This was the second time it occurred to me to ask if I could help.

I didn't ask, but stood over her drinking my cup of tea. Hers was inside somewhere getting cold. I wondered if she'd started feeling dizzy.

She pressed the six petunias into place. There was one more punnet of petunias left to plant. She'd already made four holes in the centre of the bowl, before it occurred to me that I might ask if I could help. I didn't ask. There, that's all there's room for, she said, pressing in four of the last six plants. She straightened up.

That does look nice, I said. Yes, she said, now let's just hope it rains. Would you mind getting that watering can from over there. There might still be some water in it, and you could water them in.