Chapter 2
That evening, it rained like crazy. Each time lightning flashed or thunder rumbled, my father looked up from his dinner and smiled.
"Good," he muttered, "Thunderstorms are good for plants."
"Why?" I asked.
"It helps convert atmospheric nitrogen into nitric acid, which plants can use easier," I often forgot that my father was just as smart as, if not smarter than, me. Part of the reason he pushed me so hard to go to college was because he wanted a different life for me, what he thought was a better life. One where I wouldn't be confined to the four sunny walls of the flower shop, one where I could go far - one that he had been forced to give up. When my grandfather died, my father dropped out of school to take over the shop. He had been studying botany as well.
He continued eating with great gusto, chatting with my mother as he shoveled an impressive volume of rice into his mouth. I watched the spectacle with a mixture of vague horror and nausea.
"Shikamaru," he said, interrupting my trance, "how did the delivery go?"
"Fine," I replied with a shrug, "They're kinda weird. The younger one has purple tattoos all over his face and I'm pretty sure the artist is bipolar or something, but they seem alright."
"That's good," my father murmured, "What kind of flowers did you use?"
"Purple hydrangeas, orchids, and white roses for contrast."
"Smart."
He nodded his approval and let the subject drop, favoring his rice and tofu above conversation. My mother reprimanded him for eating too quickly, a rebuke which he ignored entirely. I looked down at my half-eaten rice with disinterest, wondering if I would get in more trouble for not finishing my dinner or for joining my father and wolfing it down at lightning speed. In the end, I chose the latter and gripped my chopsticks with firm resolve. Tipping back my bowl, I forced the food down my throat as though I had never eaten and would never be able to again, much to my mother's chagrin.
"What has gotten into you two tonight?" she asked with exasperation, a horrified look on her face.
I slammed my empty bowl onto the table.
"May I be excused?"
The rain pelted my windows, making me wonder if a raindrop could ever fall with enough force to shatter glass. Looking away from the storm outside, I tried to focus on my biology textbook. The lamp on my desk reflected off the pages and made all of the colors seem like they could melt away at any time. My eyes drifted in and out of focus, blurring the ink even more. The rain was just so damn comforting.
My head dipped and I jolted awake with a start. I shook my head and turned off the lamp, deciding that getting some sleep would do me good. Taking down my ponytail, I climbed into bed and buried myself in blankets. My room was drafty.
Shadows bustled across my ceiling, looking almost as if they were in a hurry to be somewhere. I thought about shadow cities and what they would be like, what kind of jobs shadow people would be late for. How would public transportation operate? Would their currency be stable? Thoughts like this came to me when I looked at clouds as well, and any other time that I allowed my mind to wander freely.
I forced my thoughts back to evolutionary biology, struggling to review what I had studied that day. Types of speciation, differences between plant types, taxa, so many taxa, too many taxa to bear right now, when the pillows are so soft and the bed is so warm…
It was fruitless to try to review, exhaustion having made its home inside of me, and I gave up any attempt at coherent thought. My mind roamed freely again, thinking about shadow society and destructive rain drops and lightning flowers that grew in the dark.
But try as I might to think of other things, my brain kept returning to those four blonde pigtails bouncing in the wind.
