After the store closes, Andre sits with the hydrangea and compares its markings against a series of diseases he’s found in one of the planting encyclopedias from the gazebo. Nothing matches perfectly. In no reported case does he find a new plant emerging from another’s husk. At some point he falls asleep to the rumbles of a slow passing freight train and begins to dream of the time a leech latched onto his arm while fishing out a baseball in his grandfather’s pond. He watched it suck at his skin until its body flushed with blood. When he pulled it off, the leech released him without a struggle.
He wakes between two rows of potted plants to find The General inching toward him from the shadows. Andre jolts in surprise, letting the hydrangea fall to the gravel between them. The General draws closer.
The squirrel’s coal eyes stare intently at the plant’s upturned blooms. For a moment, Andre thinks to reach out and grab The General, maybe throw it or snap its neck to finally scatter its army and convince Tyler not to fire him. But he can’t. It’s too fearless, too trusting. Too captivated by the plant’s crescent fruit.
Andre watches as the squirrel furiously sniffs at the plant’s edges. From this distance, he can see for the first time the animal’s ribs visible against its dark fur. He counts four in total. The General chirps and chirps, pleading to him in the darkness, and Andre can’t help but smile. It feels good not to be alone. To be needed so desperately for something within his reach.
Andre plucks one of the fruits and offers it. The General eats it directly from his open palm.
When Andre gets home, Ivan is packing a bag with paramedic textbooks, granola bars, and scarves he’s tied together to create a makeshift tourniquet.
“Papaw fell again. They’re taking him to the ER.”
“Is he going to be okay?”
Andre drops onto his grandfather’s velvet couch, which makes the plastic covering they still haven’t removed squeal. They both know the answer is to wait and see, just like the last ten times he was hospitalized. In those final days before their grandfather moved out, his falls became so expected that the silence at night began to unnerve Andre. Bruises spread across his grandfather’s skin. He no longer went outside to admire his garden, too in pain to even leave his bed. His grandfather’s body was dying slowly and methodically, and though Andre sickened himself thinking it, a part of him was relieved when he no longer had to witness it.
“I’m headed there now. I’ll keep you updated,” Ivan says. “Hell, maybe I can convince a nurse to let me get some practice in on a patient.”
Andre closes his eyes and rubs at a headache that’s knotted a blindfold of pain across his temples. His brother rests a hand on the back of his neck.
“He wouldn’t be mad, you know. About you dropping out.”
“Not now.”
“And once I’m certified, I can start taking you to class if you want to try again,” Ivan said. “You might be ready now after some time away.”
“I don’t want to talk about this.”
“I’m just saying maybe give it another shot. For him, you know?”
“What does that mean?”
“I think you owe it to Papaw instead of just giving up like you did.”
“Screw you.”
He escapes his brother’s grip and opens his eyes. Tears drip down Ivan’s crooked nose.
“Papaw just wants you to do something with your life.”
“He also wants you to be able to pass a fucking standardized test.”
Ivan grabs his bag from the floor and swings it like an ax on his way to the door.
“Well, screw you too, little bro. Enjoy playing in the dirt for the rest of your life.”
Andre tries to sleep after Ivan leaves, but his body hums with adrenaline and anger. Instead, he finds his grandfather’s old headlamp from his running days and heads outside to the garden to begin plucking the dead plants. He anchors his feet into the damp earth and pulls until every browned root system relinquishes its hold. When he’s finished, the pile towers behind him.
He checks his phone for any updates from Ivan, but there’s only a text from Tyler. Emergency at the store.