Landscaping

by Tapanga Koe

About the Author: Short story author Tapanga Koe has published works in anthologies such as They Have to Take You In (edited by Ursula Pflug, Hidden Book Press, 2014) and That Not Forgotten (edited by Bruce Kauffman, Hidden Brook Press, 2012). She lives in rural Ontario, Canada.

Excerpt

Teri stubbed out her cigarette in the ashtray of her Lincoln Town Car. A spring torrent slapped the windshield, and the slick highway glistened under her high-beams. She flipped on her blinker and turned down the dirt road to her summer home.

Her mind was, as always, on the gardening to-dos. This year, her theme was Van Gogh, in purple, orange and blue; she had to unwrap the cedars; sweep the garden path; oil the backhoe … the list was endless.

Halfway down her drive, beyond the line of the burlap-wrapped cedars, a fire blazed. Flames dared to dance within inches of her arbour’s roof. Her wooden swing seemed to be the fire’s primary source of fuel; adding insult to injury, particle board leaned against the arbour’s side, forming a crude shelter.

“Goddamn it,” she muttered, stopping the car.

A man crawled out of the lean-to and walked over to stand in the glare of her headlights. Teri squinted, but sheets of rain obscured his features and plastered his uneven bangs to his forehead. From beneath his tattered jacket hung a pink nightgown, its little hearts and stars soaked and muddied. Pilfered, no doubt, from some unsuspecting granny’s clothesline.

It could be Johnny, but Teri couldn’t be sure.

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