“You must talk to the plants,” said Ms. Beatrice, “it makes them happy. Especially the tomatoes.” And with that she handed Violet her gold front-door key and a fifty-dollar bill. A fifty!

Violet felt funny talking to plants. What would you say to them? She liked the feel of the genie-lamp watering can as she poured water blue with Miracle-Gro into each plant. She liked the colors of the ceramic pots—aqua, orange, red, yellow, and green.

In Ms. Beatrice’s house, leaning stacks of books covered every table. An ashtray of abalone sat on the wide armrest of the couch under a fringey lamp with a pull cord. Some people’s lives just seemed to have more living color.

Vi found a purple ribbon that had slipped off an orange pot with a white orchid, which she was only supposed to water once a week with an ice cube—an ice cube!—and she tied it to her brown hair with a bow.

“You are beautiful,” she said, as if to herself, as if to the spider plants that hung from floor to ceiling in macrame hangers. But what to say to the little, rough-leafed tomato plants with their pungey smell and tiny orange, red, and green orbs, which she always pulled off her mother’s salads, along with the slices of raw onion?

“If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all,” her Aunt Pru used to say.

So, she stayed quiet, sliding around the wooden floor in her library socks because Ms. Beatrice’s house was shoe-free, with a rack by the door overflowing with sandals, slippers, boots, and one pair of high heels.

Then Vi got an idea. She sank into the giant orange beanbag chair that almost swallowed her and pulled off her socks. The smooth wooden floor felt good on bare feet. She inhaled deeply of the jasmine aroma that filled the room, placed the socks on her hands, and named her two sock puppets Syla and Lyla, who as it turned out loved tomatoes, fond of their roundness, their clusters, and even their aroma.

“What beautiful vines you are,” said Syla.

“What beautiful fruit you bear,” said Lyla.

Through the window Violet saw her mother calling from their porch.

“Well, it’s time to say goodbye for now,” said Vi to the sweet tomato plants who seemed to stretch higher, whose leaves appeared to bow shyly and wave.

Vi looked at Syla and Lyla and laughed. “Our little secret,“ she said as she pulled her socks onto her feet, felt the folded fifty next to the gold key in her pocket, and gently inhaled the secret magic so alive and abundant inside the house and life of the marvelous Ms. Beatrice.

Guy Biederman

is the author of six books, including Translated from the Original: One-Inch Punch Fiction (Nomadic Press, 2022) and Nova Nights (Nomadic Press, 2021), both of which were acquired by Black Lawrence Press in June 2023; Edible Grace (KYSO Flash Press, 2019); and Soundings & Fathoms (Finishing Line Press).

His stories have appeared in many journals such as Bull, Carve, The Disappointed Housewife, The Ekphrastic Review, Flash Frontier, Flashback Fiction, great weather for Media, KYSO Flash, MacQueen’s Quinterly, Riddled with Arrows, and Exposition Review, where he was twice a Flash 405 winner. His story “Coyotes, Pelicans, & Prisoners” appears in Best Microfiction 2024 (nominated by Six Sentences). His work has recently received a Publisher’s Choice Award and an Editor’s Choice Award, and has been nominated for Best of The Net.

A former peace corps volunteer, gardener, and college creative-writing instructor, Guy lives on a houseboat with his wife, and walks the planks daily.

Author’s website: https://www.guybiederman.com/

Author’s blog: This Day Afloat: Reflections of Life on the Water

More on the Web: By, About, and Beyond

⚡ Meow of Now, a tribute to Pierre, beloved companion and writing buddy; in Issue 23 of MacQueen’s Quinterly aka MacQ (April 2024)

⚡ Precious Artifact Repairs, microfiction by Guy Biederman in MacQ-22 (February 2024); nominated by MacQ for Best Microfiction 2025

⚡ Quite, a prose poem by Biederman selected as winner of the “Triple-Q” Writing Challenge in Issue 11 of MacQ (January 2022); to hear him read this piece, see Recordings at his website.

⚡ Edible Grace: An e-Collection of 12 Micro-Prose in MacQ’s predecessor, KYSO Flash (Issue 12, Summer 2019); click on Next Page at bottom left of each piece to access the next one.

Edible Grace is also available in print and offers bonus content, including six additional micro-prose and five more photographs by the author, plus a pen-and-ink drawing by Tula Biederman.

⚡ The Lion Has Lost His Roar, a tribute to Little Bud (aka Cap’n Orange), from the Edible Grace e-collection described above