The Eucalyptus Plant

The Eucalyptus Plant

By Marilyn James

Leaning her shoulder against the door and pushing to get it open, Briella made a mental note to talk with the apartment manager. As she entered the room, she stopped and glanced at the nearly empty space. It was still several hours before her furniture was to be delivered. The only thing in the apartment was a folding chair and two tall end tables she had brought earlier in the week. On one end table was a framed picture of her and her husband Vashon, on their wedding day. Walking towards the other end table and sighing deeply, she placed the small artificial eucalyptus plant she had purchased.

Briella realized the purchase had been an impulse buy. She had seen the plant with its white vase and thought it would go well with the decor. Since it was artificial, her only responsibility would be to dust it occasionally. However, looking at the plant now, thoughts of her husband flooded her mind. The truth was she had bought the eucalyptus plant because it had reminded her of Vashon.

Briella closed her eyes and recalled all the times she had teased him about his eucalyptus plant. It had been a gift from his widowed father, and he had tenderly cared for the plant, talking to it as he watered or gently pruned it. He had loved the smell of the eucalyptus.

Tears escaped from Briella’s eyes as she recalled that Vashon had been pruning the plant when he suffered a heart attack. It was the sound of the vase crashing that brought Briella out of her room to find him lying on the floor. Within hours he was gone.

It had been just the two of them and they had been married less than three years. Briella’s parents had died six years earlier in an automobile accident. Vashon’s dad had passed away from cancer two years later. And now Vashon. Her grief felt insurmountable.

Briella had stayed in their home for as long as she could. The memories it contained, and her grief seemed to overwhelm her at times. One year after her Vashon’s death she decided it was time to try to move on with her life which meant moving into another space. She wasn’t confident she would ever feel alive again or even love again, but she knew that staying in the home she had shared with Vashon was not the answer.

Despite the door sticking, Briella considered herself lucky to have found this apartment. It was closer to her work and everything else she needed was within walking distance. She immediately began preparing to put their house on the market.

Reflecting on what she had left to do before the realtor listing, she unconsciously began running her fingers across the artificial plant. The leathery feel of it jarred her back into reality. She noticed her tears had fallen onto the leaves of the plant. She quickly brushed the tears from her eyes, picked up her purse and left the apartment.

It has been said that tears move God’s heart. It has also been suggested that there is something about the tears of grief that move even the hardest of hearts. I suppose that one could even argue that tears of grief can even shift something in the universe. But whatever tears of grief could possibly do, whether within the realm of one’s reality or not, they mysteriously did to that artificial eucalyptus plant.

The leaves of the plant touched by the tears suddenly became “aware”. One couldn’t say it became alive because it didn’t. Nothing about the plant itself changed. Everything remained exactly as it was when Briella brought the plant into the apartment and sat it on the table. Nothing changed. Except somehow, some way that plant became “aware”.

How had it become “aware?” It wasn’t aware of anything before this moment. It wasn’t aware of anything before the wetness of the tears that landed on its leaves. But now this artificial plant was aware. It was aware of light. It was aware of time and its passing. It was aware there was no sound in this space. It was aware that it was alone on the table. It was even aware of the emptiness of the room. And in its awareness, it waited.

Briella returned to the apartment after hearing from the movers. They were scheduled to arrive in 15 minutes. She looked around the apartment, picturing where she wanted every piece of furniture placed. Glancing briefly at the artificial plant she decided she had made a mistake purchasing it. It reminded her of Vashon.

The plant was aware that something, or was it someone, had entered the room. The air had shifted somehow. The plant was aware of heaviness which caused a subtle downward movement of its leaves. The question arose again. How was it aware? What was it in the wetness of the tears that caused this phenomenon to occur?

Briella’s eyes returned to the plant. She stood and stared at it until she heard her phone ring. The movers were downstairs.

Once again, the plant was aware of some things or some ones entering the room. The air was constantly changing and shifting with all the movement taking place. The plant was aware of sounds. There were sounds, mostly loud but also different kinds of sounds. It was also aware that some things were sometimes near to it but other times far from it. Finally, the sounds and the movement stopped, and the plant was aware once again of the heaviness.

Briella glanced around the apartment. This would take getting used to. She had moved from her parent’s home to a home with Vashon when they married. She wondered if she could make this apartment feel like a home. Glancing at the plant once again she picked it up.

“Did I make a mistake in buying you, my fake eucalyptus friend? She spoke aloud. “Maybe I should have bought some silk roses. At least they would have looked somewhat like real roses.” She sat the plant back on the table, walked over to the sofa and dropped down onto it.

The plant was once again aware of heaviness. But this time the heaviness felt different. The heaviness now seemed to be a part of it. The plant was aware that it had somehow changed. It didn’t know how it could change. After all, it wasn’t a real plant. But something about the wetness that had come from the eyes of this one in the room had caused it to change. And the plant did something it was not created to do.

From somewhere, maybe from the depths of the universe, came the hint of the smell of eucalyptus. Briella could have missed the faint smell had the air not gently shifted and moved towards her. For a second she thought she could smell the eucalyptus plant. She glanced quickly at the artificial plant sitting on the end table and allowed herself to imagine that just maybe the scent came from the plant.

“Nah, it’s just my imagination.” She said aloud as she continued to stare at the artificial plant. “You know, my little fake friend, I think I will keep you.”

The plant was aware that the heaviness in the room seemed lighter, first from itself and then from the one in the room, as the aroma of the eucalyptus once again wafted into the air.