The Girl stopped by her mother's house today. Like every mother and daughter who ever lived, the Girl and her mother both fiercely love one another and fiercely hate one another. The two emotions intertwine until they are indistinguishable from one another. Fathers and sons either love one another or hate one another. The Girl envies their decisiveness.

Today, the Girl just needed to be near her mom. Her mother was in the yard hosing down baby furniture when She pulled up. She didn't say what was wrong. Her mother didn't ask. The Girl went into her mother's pantry and found the candy orange slices, hidden in a jar, on the top shelf, behind the flour canister, just where they always were. The sticky candies hurt her teeth and made her feel mildly nauseated, but they instantly improved her mood.

She rejoined her mother in the yard. Sitting on the front steps She watched in silence as her mom gathered up the toys which had been strewn about by the kids she babysat. She tried to remove the orange goo from her teeth with her tongue. This occupied her for a while. Her mother continued to clean in silence.

"Come here, Girl," her mother called from behind the house. She went to see what was happening. Her mom was standing beside the stump of an old oak. The Girl remembered the tree from her childhood. She always leaned against this tree when counting for hide-and-seek. It was "base." She realized, with a pang of guilt (one-one thousand, two-one thousand), that She hadn't noticed when it was removed. Her attention drifted back to her mom. She pointed to a paperwhite that had bloomed among the stump's useless roots. "You know, these are the first signs of spring. I have seen them come up through the snow."

The Girl pictured the whole world covered in white interupted only by this brave little shock of deep green, bowing under the weight of its pale yellow head. She wasn't so sad anymore.

The Girl helped her mother finish her chores. As they worked her mom pointed out different stalks and stubs and described the blooms they would soon sport. She told the Girl the Latin name for the flowers and all their aliases. She explained which were good to eat and which were deadly, which preferred the sun and which the shade. The Girl learned which plants were pollinated by bees and butterflies and which by the wind. She discovered that cornflowers stink and that clover taste sweet.

By the time the yard was clean The Girl was ready to go. She thanked her mom for the candy and her mom thanked her for the help. Too many things stood in the way of them saying anything else. "You can stop by whenever you want." "Thanks mom."

As the Girl drove home, She realized that She was happy.