“You know, most people don’t do that,” the farmer remarked off handedly as he tilled his vegetables.
“What?” the girl asked, genuinely curious, as always.
The farmer stood up straight, wiped his brow with his red kerchief and locked eyes with the girl. “Walk around with a flower in their mouth,” he replied, nodding to the phenomena.
This gave the girl pause, she tried to look down at the flower but her eyes got all crossed and made her dizzy. She looked up at the farmer and asked tentatively, “Why?”
He gave a long sigh and continued with his tilling, “‘Cause it’s strange, that’s why.”
“Oh…” She thought for a while, her bare toes stabbing idly at the dirt as she balanced on the other foot. “But it’s not strange that people don’t have flowers in their mouths?”
The old farmer snorted, “That’s right.”
The girl considered this further and said, “What do you call it when a girl has a flower in her mouth and yet is able to speak without it falling out?”
The farmer grinned and looked up at her, “Bad story-telling.”
photo by alois
text by kindelingboy