Dopecentury XLVII --- The Garden
This short fiction is part of Dopecentury, an experimental project where I attempt to channel the aural aesthetics of Dopesmoker into written text. (Dopesmoker is the legendary stoner-doom metal masterpiece by the band Sleep, of which it is said: "the monotony rarely becomes tedious.") My plan is to listen to the single hour-long track of Dopesmoker while writing each of these "Dopecentury" entries. And repeat that 100 times. See the Dopecentury project page for more details.
/do you think it will rain today?/ she asked her aunt that morning
/hopefully. it would certainly benefit the garden/
/the garden can rot; I am going dancing this evening/
/when were you last in the garden?/ the aunt asked
/it has been weeks. weeks and weeks./ replied the niece
/why do you avoid the garden?/ asked the aunt /the garden is a treasure of this old house./
/a treasure it might be; but it is so lonely; behind that old stone wall; with the moss and the lichen/
/but verdant and full of life/
/but walled off from the city/
/with that thick old oak in the center; its arms spread like rafters above/
/always in the shade; always damp/ pointed out the niece
/but thick and green and thriving; at your age I spent most of my time in that garden/
/because they kept you behind the walls of the house; because you knew he knew to find you in the garden; you spent your time there in case he came looking for you/ she teased her aunt
the aunt said with a laugh /well, maybe some truth to that; but also the garden was quite lovely then/
/and no more?/
/it grows over, with no one to care for it; when were you last in the garden? the grass grows high, the tree limbs droop and need pruning, the bushes are becoming brambles, the thorns grow over the paths, the moss eats at the stone of the walls/
/and you wonder why I prefer to go out into the city and dance/
/some day you may prefer to stay home in the garden behind the wall/ said the aunt
/then why don't you care fort the garden? do you not prefer to stay home in the garden behind the wall? do you not prefer to be safely cloistered than face the wilds of the city streets?/
/perhaps I do. but that garden is no longer for me/
/then for whom?/
/well, I hope for you, someday/
/but it could be for you today!/ said the niece, find exasperation
/you know I can't go there. you know what happened there./
/but that was so long ago!/
/when were you last in the garden? it is most pleasant in the late afternoon, when light the color citrus fruits filters down through the leaves of the thick old tree, and the shadows chase across the crumbling old bricks of the path, and the greenery seems to brighten in thankfulness for the sunlight that makes its way down, and the damp has been driven back by the warm air of the day, and the whole garden seems to puff up in a kind of thick green pride. but even at that time, at its most pleasant, the thorns still claw, and the shadows still dominate, and the sounds of the day and the street and the city seem far away and distant out over that thick old stone wall. and to stand there in the quiet of the garden is to feel the feelings of the garden. I would almost say it is to hear the thoughts of the garden, but that is of course ridiculous./
/and how does the garden feel?/
/to me, to me, at me, the garden quite clearly feels some terrible antipathy./
/but what have you ever done to the garden?/
/you know what happened there./ said the aunt
/but it was so long ago!/
/the garden remembers./
/you may be right. you may be right about everything. I do not want to go to that garden now. I want to go out in the city, and go dancing. but you may be right, and someday I will need that garden. but I cannot make peace with it, you are the one who has to make peace with it. you need to spend time in the garden. you need to spend time in the garden for us both./ said the niece
the aunt shook her head. /you may be right/
/do you think it will rain this evening?/ asked the niece
/it may. it might./ the aunt contemplated /when you come back from your dancing tonight, if you want me, you will find me in the garden. unless it's pouring down with rain./