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The Marigolds

The Road You Take

By Jeff JohnsonPublished 3 years ago 10 min read
2
Artwork Via MyPaint by Jeff Johnson Copyright 2021

Satire/Comedy

The sunrises, the early morning light dances around the room, while the TV blares Ed and Rose sit watching with painful focus any noise evokes piercing screams, "Will you stop that!" Rose turns to her husband, looking at him, almost snarling, "ok, honey." Ed says with his nostrils flared, "Love you, dear."

Rose sits, pulls up her blanket, and opens up her TV dinner stand, carefully placing her computer on it. Her husband remastered her chair, and she had carefully picked the cloth to cover it choosing a fabric coated with Marigold's yellow-orange made of dense Herculon and smelled almost as bad as the flower. She loved her seat; however, it was her work of art, and she made sure everyone that visited saw it.

Today they were set to have a special guest the Mayor was due to visit. He sent a letter earlier in the week requesting a visit. They were both excited by the prospects of this visit. Rose says, "Ed, what do you think the Mayor wants?" Ed sits for a while, "I don't know, dear." again, almost snarling at his beloved wife.

He turns back to the Television; the announcer says, "Health reports say, you have to wear your face shields to protect you against this new virus going around." Ed rocking back and forth in his seat, says, "When will it end!" Rose shouts from the kitchen, "When will what end, honey?" But sounding deeply angry.

He shouts back, "This Virus! Dear." She stands in the kitchen making finger sandwiches, making sure each sandwich is a perfect size. She details each sandwich with care. Then she notices a different bright reflection on the wall moving as if something gleaming had pulled into her driveway. "Ed dear, we have company." He shouts! "What! Who?" It's the Mayor!

"Oh, let me get up." As he springs to his feet, smiling a friendly, kind smile. The doorbell rings, Ed rushes to the door. The Mayor is a tall, charming man with gorgeous blue eyes and a gentle face, "Good day to you folks!" Ed says, "Hello, Mayor! Come in!" Rose says, "Come in, have a seat." The Mayor sits down and says, "Marigolds, my mother use to grow Marigolds." Rose responds, "I love Marigolds. They get rid of bugs." The Mayor says, "Yes, they do, that smell Whew!"

Ed says, "Mayor, what can we do for you?" The Mayor adjusts his clothing and says, "Oh yeah, I came to let you all know that we are going to be rerouting traffic for the next few months." Ed says, "Months?" Rose says, "Why so long?" The Mayor says, "Well, it takes us a long time to pay for stuff tax dollars are short in a small town." Ed says, "Ok, Which road do we need to take?" The Mayor then elaborates, you go down to Sage Drive and turn right, avoid Sage Drive go down two streets to Grifter Lane." Ed interrupts, "Isn't that where your gas station is?" The Mayor replies, "Yes, yes it is. You want to go down that road to town until we get everything lined out." Ed and Rose both "Sure, Mayor, we don't mind a bit." Rose then asks, "Would you like a sandwich, Mayor?" He responds, "No, I have to watch what I eat." Rose, feeling obviously diminished, looks down at her plate of food and says, "ok."

The Mayor walks out the door and drives off. The following day, Ed and Rose have to go to the store and follow the Mayor's advice. Ed says, "You know that extended our drive two miles. Rose says, "I thought it was farther than that." Days pass they continue to travel that same route. Finally, they find themselves in a difficult situation. Ed, having forgotten to get gas, and just beyond the Mayors gas station, they ran out of gas. Rose snarled at her husband, "Ed, the house is not that far. I'm walking home." There in the genuinely horrible moments, happened. Rose nears this house. The yard has several beds of Marigolds, and in the yard, there are two large dogs. Having seen the dogs on several occasions, she knew they were not dangerous but, at the same time, did not want an encounter with them. She nears the house, and in front, where a large bed of Marigolds grew, she crouched down and tried to sneak past the dogs.

Ed grabbed the gas can and was off in the opposite direction to get gas for the truck. He walked several of his friends past him by waving and shouting, "Hello Ed!" But no one stopped. Finally, he arrived at the gas station. He begins to dig for his wallet and cannot find it. "Oh great, I left it in the truck." He goes to the store owner, "Do you mind if I get some gas and then bring you the money back?" The store manager shouts, "You can this time but don't ever let this happen again!" Ed stands there shocked that someone he had done business with so often would treat him so poorly.

Rose tiptoes through the edge of the flower bed. That's when the two Great Danes discovered her. They then turn her into a plaything, barking and nipping then punching her with both paws. Rose finds herself face first in the Marigolds and musters up enough breath to scream, there in scaring the dogs and alerting the owners. They come running, "Oh dear Rose! We are so sorry." Both men help get her to her feet." Tom says, "Rose let us take you home, dear." Leonard Tom's husband says, "Oh, we will buy you new clothes." Rose says, "No, I am not hurt. Don't tell Ed I love dogs. Ha Ha!" They drop her off at her house. Disheveled and disoriented, she shuffles into the house.

Ed gets his gas and begins his walk back. That's when it begins to rain. Ed feels the effects of it and starts to walk faster as he grows angrier. Tom and Leonard see Ed on the road and stop to help. "Here, Ed, get in with us. We'll take you to your truck and help you." Ed gets in dripping wet. "Sorry, guys, I'm getting your truck wet," Leonard says, "No, that's fine, don't think twice about it." Ed says, "My poor wife had to walk home." Tom interrupts, "No, we took her home" Ed replies, "Oh, that's awesome. You guys are great." Tom says, "Well, not so great she met Daisey and Laura, our Great Danes." Ed started laughing. "I bet that ended well." Tom turns on the radio, and the Mayor is saying, "Stay away from Sage Drive. We'll be doing road work there for days." Tom says, "He's been saying that for days. I drove there, and there's nothing."

Ed's face turns bright red, "You mean to tell me that nothing is going on that street after I had to go through all this?" Tom says, "Yep."

Ed sits quietly. Leonard says, "Ed, are you ok? You are bright red." Ed says, "No, I am mad." Tom says, "Uh oh." They pull into the area where Ed's truck is parked. Ed gets out and "Thank you, guys. I owe you one." They both, in harmony, say, "Think nothing of it." then look at each other and say "Jinx" and start laughing.

Ed gets in, starts his truck, and then goes to pay for his gas. The clerk says, "Oh, this lady paid for your stuff." The clerk smiled. Ed then gets angrier and says, "I wish I had known that I wouldn't have made an extra trip here." He then gets in his truck, goes to the next gas station, and fills up his gas tank. He gets in his truck and drives home still soaking wet.

When he opens the door, there stands his wife, with a Marigold in her hair. "Ed, what took you so long! I was worried to death!" Ed promptly rushes to the bathroom and changes his clothes.

Then proceeds to tell his wife what happened. She responds, "Oh dear, that sounds like what happened to me. As she begins, Ed interrupts and says, "Tom picked me up and took me to my truck, so I already know," as he plucked the last Marigold out of her hair. Tomorrow is the Town Hall meeting, and we're going to talk to the Mayor.

The next day, Ed gets up, gets his coffee, Rose makes tea, grabs her Marigold quilt watch TV until it's time for the Town Hall. They get up and quietly get into the truck and drive to the meeting. People begin to show up and walk in single file; sitting down, Karen looked around and asked, "Are those seats six feet apart?" Ed says, "Probably not. You should measure them." Rose then begins to chuckle, making her face look like a life support bladder with her mask on while it heaves in and out. The meeting starts finally "All Rise." Ed and Rose look at each other curiously.

The council members show up, and then the Mayor smiles at Ed and Rose. Both turn their heads and look away. Rose snarled.

After a considerable time, it comes time for community questions and concerns, and Ed is ready. He stands up and says, "I want to know why the Mayor is telling people that they should avoid Sage Dr and should travel Grifter Lane when it's farther, and it takes it by his gas station? That is a conflict of interest!" Ed says in a demanding tone. Harriet, one of the council members, says, "I think that's just good business." Rose sits there bewildered. The rules clearly say to be Mayor. You cannot self-promote or use the community to your benefit. Rose sits there fuming mad, looking at her phone while reading the bylaws.

The Council applauds the Mayor to Ed and Rose's disdain. They sit appalled and dishearted, Ed and Rose shuffle out of the Town Hall. They arrive home, and Rose is the first in the house. "This is awful, Ed!" Rose says with a deeply disappointed tone. Ed says, "I know, it's just flat out wrong." Rose asks, "So, what do we do?" Ed answers, "I have no idea." Ed says, "I don't know." She says, "I think I have an idea. Maybe it's time our Mayor meets Daisey and Laura." Ed looks at his wife with a huge grin, "Maybe you are right, dear."

The next few days, they watch closely and find out that the Mayor jogs along the road he closed. Ed being crafty with a chain saw, cuts a tree that morning that completely blocks Sage Dr. The Mayor then has to divert his morning run and travel down Grifter Lane. Rose calls Tom and Leonard, "Hey guys can I get you to do me a favor?" Tom says, "Sure," before hanging up. Leonard looks at Tom. "What's that look for?" Tom says, "You won't believe what Rose and Ed want us to do!" The Mayor then comes into sight as Tom opens the door.

Before the Mayor knows what hit him, he's down in the Marigold bed with Daisey and Laura looking down on him, barking. Daisey delivers the first punching blow with her long paws to the chest as if giving him CPR. Laura begins to Bark the Mayor cringes.

Tom and Leonard come to the rescue laughing. Leonard plucked a few Marigolds out of the Mayor's hair and laughed. The Mayor says I had no idea those dogs were that big. Tom says, "Yeah, Rose met them this week. She had fun with them too. They are harmless." Leonard says, "Not harmless. Their tails are weapons and those paws."

The moral of the story, if someone gives you the wrong directions and insists you only follow their advice, do you think you should trust them?

Satire
2

About the Creator

Jeff Johnson

I am that late bloomer that decided to follow his passion late in life. I live for stories that are out of bounds, unusual, and beyond normal limits. I thrive on comedies, horror stories, and stories that tug at your heart.

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