All the way in the back. Past the rows and crowded aisles of colorful and healthy plants. Past the bags of soil and mulch. Over the leaking hose and almost all the way to the fencing and coils of black drain pipe sits “The Rack”, forgotten and often alone. Yellow price stickers announcing that these are “Reduced”, unwanted, rejected, left to finish dying. Wilted and droopy, the once flourishing things cry for air, light and water. Somehow they got left behind and the workers neglected them. Now no one wants them, even at the low prices to which the store manager has doomed them. Until the shopping cart with the lumpy wheel clacks over the wet hose and “She” comes into view. The Child Bride has arrived.

She takes her time and pulls them one by one from their last resting place and holds them up like newborn puppies, “Well look at you.” Even the worst of them sparks a glimmer in her green/hazel eyes. “I need this and these, oh, and a few of those too,” she murmurs. The poor things are placed gently in her cart and soon they are clacking back over the hose, out to the register and on to their new home. Orphans adopted, saved from the big dumpster behind the huge store.

She has her ways. Magic and mystery. The plants settle into their new home among many others now recovering from when they were adopted. Time and care bring them back to beauty and vibrant color. Then one day they get moved into a new pot or a planter and combined with each other, rich soil and a little water when they need it. From “The Rack” to flowing healthy flowers. The Child Bride should be very proud of her orphans, they’re all part of her family now…