The Flower of Love

The Flower of Love
The gravel was starting to dig into her skin; she could feel the sharp pain of each individual jagged rock in her sore knees. Sweat was beginning to pool in the hollows of her body creating small salty shallow pools. The dead limbs of the large Agapanthus bush, she was huddling behind, were stuck in patches to her wet body. The only solace for Caitlyn was that the large bush safely covered her trembling form from the view of any passing cars. She had chosen this particular flowering plant, because her grandmother had once told her that the agapanthus was also known as “The Flower of Love”, and “Love” was what Caitlyn wanted to be surrounded by as she struggled to give birth to her first Child.
***
Agatha was her name, similar to the bush that protected her hours ago when her baby first came into her world. It was there at that particular bush that Caitlyn was now struggling to feed Agatha for the first time. The baby was cradled in Caitlyn’s shaking arms. Caitlyn held the baby close to her bare breast but her body was shaking so badly she could not hold the baby still.
“Come on Agatha, Come On”
Agatha wasn’t responding. She couldn’t latch on to the offered meal that Caitlyn was trying to provide. Caitlyn began to rock. Her body swayed back and forth while the shaking continued. She cooed to Agatha, patting her forehead and cheeks. Caitlyn put the sweatshirt she had discarded earlier to feed Agatha back on.
“Quiet, Quiet Agatha, Quiet Agatha” She sang her voice shaking, high and strained.
“Don’t worry Agatha, don’t worry. I’m your mommy. I’ll protect you. I’ll always protect you.” Caitlyn Continued to rock the baby back and forth her shaking body arching over the small figure in her arms attempting to provide more warmth to her little baby
“You are my Love Agatha. You Love mommy don’t you Agatha. You will always love Mommy forever. I know it.” Caitlyn once again took off her sweat stained grey sweatshirt exposing her bruised and scared arms to the warm night air. She wrapped Agatha up in the sweatshirt taking careful care to cover every inch of exposed skin but leaving a small opening at the babies head.
“There you go my Agatha, my love, now you are all warm. Mommy needs to get better to get food for you. Mommy needs her medicine. I’ll get my medicine and then I’ll come back. I’ll come back for my Agatha.”
Shaking, Caitlyn nestled Agatha in the thick fronds of the flower of love and went out in search for her medicine.

***
She found Jackson.
Jackson ; who caused the bruises on Caitlyn’s arms, who kept her addicted to the cocaine that he personally injected in her veins every week, who forced her to sell her body on the streets nightly, and was the reason she left her Grandmother’s comfortable house in Cambria and came to Fresno. He was also the reason that 15 year old Caitlyn had a small baby lying in an agapanthus bush only a few feet away.
“Bitch where have you been” Jackson yelled as he stomped the last few feet that separated them and gave her a tremendous slap that had Caitlyn spitting out blood and stumbling back a few feet.
“I’m sorry Jackson, I’m sorry. I …. I was…..” Caitlyn looked over her trembling shoulder her eyes attempting to focus on the large Agapanthus bush. “I wasn’t doing nothing.”
“You’re a stupid bitch aren’t you? Serves me right, bringing back a bitch as stupid as you”. Jackson’s hand came flying down at Caitlyn again. She tried dodging his strike but was unable to focus on the quick movement. The slap struck her right across the face and sent pin prickling pain shooting through her round cheek.
“You look different bitch. Did you finally have that damn baby? I hope you got rid of it like I told you. I don’t have time for one of my girls to take care of a damn baby.”
“It’s gone Jackson, It’s gone, I promise.”
“It better be. Now come here bitch. you know you want this” Jackson pulled out the familiar needle that held a liquid that she was even more familiar with. Caitlyn’s trembling worsened, her eyes widening in need. She needed the liquid that Jackson offered. She wanted it. Her body shook with the need for it. She took a step towards Jackson then three things happened at once.
The overpowering smell of Agapanthus rushed into her nose filling up her nostrils and her lungs with the flowery scent; the wind picked up speed whipping her tangled hair around her face, and finally through the howling of the wind Caitlyn heard the small cry of a scared baby. Caitlyn spun around toward the agapanthus bush her eyes searching the dense foliage for Agatha, but the bush was too thik, and hid any sign of the small child. With Caitlyn’s back turned, Jackson uses the opportunity to slam the needle into her arm. He was able to get about half the liquid in the needle into her vein when Caitlyn, shocked, spun back around, causing Jackson to drop the needle.
“God damn it Bitch that is worth a lot of fucking money!” Jackson grabbed Caitlyn by the hair and threw her to the floor just in front of the broken syringe.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry” Caitlyn whispers over and over as she bends to pick up the broken pieces of the syringe.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry” She whispers again. Tears flowing freely down her face.
“Now I have to give you another shot you bitch!” Jackson pulled another full syringe out of his back pocket and hands it to Caitlyn.
“You know what to do with it you worthless whore.” Jackson loomed over Caitlyn his large frame blocking out the light from the near bye Street lamp.

****
Officer Steve Tran was ecstatic. After years of he and his wife trying to conceive a child, they had finally become pregnant. His wife Trina was giggling enthusiastically over the phone as Steve attempted to hold in his growing need to whoop and holler out loud for joy.
“That’s great Trin. I’m so happy.” Steve held the phone possessively to his ear, using both hands. His mouth spread into a wide grin.
“I just found out. I took a pregnancy test and there was a plus sign.” Steve could hear trina’s small voice shake with excitement. Her breath was coming out quickly now. The sound of her happy laughs and quick breath emanated from Steve’s small cell phone and filled his patrol car.
“Oh I hope it’s a boy, or a girl, or… oh I just hope it’s healthy.” Steve took one hand off of the phone that he had clutched to his ear. Using his free hand he put the key into the cruisers ignition and with a quick turn the engine roared to life. Steve maneuvered the car onto the dark empty street.
“Trina baby, I have to get back to work. I’ll be home tonight at ten. Why don’t you start thinking about baby names, and we can talk about them tonight.”
“Ok Stevie”, Trina breathed over the phone.
“I love you baby.”
“I love you too honey”, Steve rumbled, his voice deep with emotion. “See you tonight.”
Steve hung up the phone reluctantly, his fingers trembling slightly. He placed the small device back into his pocket, and then focused his attention back onto the dark streets.
He was driving though an area of town famous for its prostitution and drug sales. It was necessary for him to keep up a constant guard in such a bad neighborhood, but his mind was beginning to wander to the conversation he would have later that night with his wife at home.
Boy Names, Boy Names, how about Dorian if it’s a boy, or Christian, or Leo. If we have a girl, Stephanie, Rachel, or Kristy would be nice. What if we’re having twins? What if they aren’t healthy? I bet I can convert the office into a nursery; baby blue paint, or pink, or purple, or maybe just yellow, yeah yellow works. I wonder when the baby is due? If Trin is a month pregnant when was the baby conceived? Maybe it was at the hotel in Cayucos, yep I bet that was it; I thought Trin looked different after that. I wonder… Wait what is that?
Steve was driving next to one of the abandoned warehouses in downtown Fresno. The Warehouse to the right of his car was old and in need of a paint job. The large window panes toward the roof of the warehouse were mostly broken. Jagged holes could be seen in the damaged panes, where street urchins more than likely threw a brick or large rock. On the opposite side of the street large agapanthus bushes were over grown due to the lack of trimming and maintenance. The flowery bushes let off a pleasant sweet aroma that seemed out of place in the dilapidated state of this downtown area.
Steve was focused on the alleyway behind the warehouse. He thought he had seen someone leaning against the wall. His eyes tried to see past the darkness that the alley seemed to be enveloped in, but the glare from the in car computer and the dashboard instruments threw off his night vision. Steve switched on his spotlight and swung it around to illuminate the alley.
Grass grew out of the cracked portions of the concrete, which seemed to sprout down the middle of the narrow lane. A large green garbage bin set to one side of the alley and soggy cardboard boxes set all around it. The garbage bin was covered in white graffiti. Steve could not make out which gang was being represented in the scrolling lettering, but he was not interested in getting any closer, as a strong rotting smell was wafting from the open lid of the green bin. Abandoned tires dotted the long passage, and clumps of grass seemed to grow out of the middle of each of these.
Steve’s eyes focused on the spot where he thought he saw someone leaning earlier, but he saw no one. He swung the search light from side to side searching for any signs of life. After a few more minutes of searching he chalked his sighting down to excited nerves.
Steve turned off his search light then started down the road once more. He did not hear the cry of a baby over the loud rumbling of the police cruiser, but he did smile as a gust of wind blew through his cracked window and brought the sweet smell of the flowering agapanthus bush.
****
Caitlyn took in a long shuddering breath, turning her face away from the smell of rotting garbage that came from the large green garbage bin that she was currently hiding behind. Oh God that was a close one, she thought as the curious patrol car turned off its search light then rumbled along the darkened street.
The drug was still in her veins, having only been a few hours since Jackson injected her. Her vision was blurred and her head kept lolling onto her chest. It was becoming harder for her to breathe. Each breath was a struggle. Her lungs forced each gulp of oxygen into her body then forced it back out. She felt like she was breathing under water. The shakes that usually subsided after getting injected each week were back and were stronger than before. Her body convulsed into itself and Caitlyn grabbed her sore knees and pulled them up to her chest.
When the patrol car stopped abruptly in front of the narrow alley, Caitlyn was able to stumble from her old spot leaning against the wall, to the other side of the large green bin, where she was now crouched. Her back rested along the cracked wall of the abandoned warehouse, but her constant shaking caused the rough wall to scratch her tender back.
Caitlyn needed to get back to Agatha, but it seemed like the short walk from the alley to the flowering bush across the street was hundreds of miles away. Caitlyn struggled to her feet, her back scrapping along the rough wall as she slowly stood straight. She used the dirty garbage bin to support herself as she put one foot in front of the other. Her feet shuffled along the cracked concrete trying to find the smoother patches of ground to walk on. When she had made it all the way around the garbage bin she used the wall of the warehouse to support herself. When she approached the asphalt of the long black street, Caitlyn who could no longer stand, crawled along the pavement towards the foliage on the other side.
She made it across. She crawled towards Agatha, her body shaking, and her vision becoming darker. She could hear Agatha whimpering softly in the large bush, and she wanted to hold her. When her arms could no longer support her upper body she fell to the floor. With her small baby crying in the flower of love, Caitlyn stretched her bruised arms out towards the large agapanthus bush.
“It’s ok my love, I’m here, Mommies here.” Caitlyn’s voice was barely a whisper, but Agatha heard her and she stopped crying. Caitlyn smiled and laid her head down on one of her bruised arms.
****
“I’m not pregnant Steve.” Trina’s voice was shaking again, but not with the excitement that filled Steve with joy yesterday.
“What do you mean Trin? Didn’t the pregnancy test have a plus sign?”
“Yeah it did, but it was wrong. It happens sometimes.” Trina was crying now softly.
“Are you sure Trin, I mean how do you know?”
“I got my period Steve! We aren’t pregnant!” Steve had to pull the cell phone away from his ear as Trina’s voice rose with emotion, and then culminated in a series of soft sobs and hiccups that had Steve’s heart breaking.
He had to pause before saying something. He was parked in the same neighborhood that he stopped in yesterday when Trina first called him. The Alley and the abandoned warehouse were to his right. The bright day revealed what his spotlight hinted at last night. Right outside his driver’s side door were the large agapanthus bushes. The flowery scent of them rushed in threw his open drivers side window, but offered no comfort to his breaking heart.
“I’m so sorry Trina. We will try again Baby. We will keep trying. We can adopt if you want to Sweetie. We’ll be fine.”
“I know Steve. I’m just really disappointed. I am ready for a baby. I want to love it and teach it.” Steve could hear Trina’s sigh over the phone.
“It’s Ok Baby, I understand. I’m going to take off work early today and I’ll come right home. We can talk about everything. I love you Trin.”
“I love you too Steve. See you when you get home.”
“See you in a few minutes Hun. I need to call the watch commander to get this approved, but he’s a nice guy, so it shouldn’t be a problem.”
“OK Steve. Tell Dale I said hi.”
“Ok Baby I will. See you in a few.”
Steve hung up the cell phone and took a deep breath. The sweet agapanthus bush smell rushed into his nose and comforted him a little. Trina wasn’t the only one that was really disappointed. He was ready to be a father. He loved children.
Opening up his cell phone, he began to type in the Watch commander’s number, when he heard a small cry, a baby’s cry. The little sound was coming from his left. It seemed to emanate from one of the larger agapanthus bushes toward the back of the poorly landscaped area. Steve opened up the car door slowly trying not to frighten whoever was hiding in the dense bushes. Leaving the car door open, Steve removed his gun from his holster. He crept toward the flowering agapanthus bush with his gun drawn.
“Fresno Police department, show yourself.”
Only the small sound of a baby’s cry was his answer. Steve continued to creep forward, leaving his gun drawn, as he did not know what he would be confronting. He was stopped only a few feet from the large agapanthus bush by a pair of bruised white legs.
It was a young woman; her body white and bruised, her arms littered with track marks. She wore a pair of old dirty shorts, and a torn T-shirt. Her long hair was matted and dirty and it stuck to her bare arms. Both arms were stretched out in front of her towards the large agapanthus bush. When Steve reached down to check her pulse, he was not surprised to find that she did not have one. As Steve straightened, another soft baby’s cry emanated from the large bush. He stepped over the dead woman’s body and took a closer look into the bush. A small figure could be seen nestled in the middle of the flowering agapanthus. The baby was wrapped up in an old dirty sweatshirt with only its face bare. Steve reached down into the bush and picked up the small wiggling baby.
He nestled the baby closer to his chest and slowly unwrapped the sweatshirt to see if it was hurt. It’s a little girl, Steve smiled as he looked down at the small figure in his arms. With its arms freed from the sweatshirt the baby stretched her two little hands up over her head. Steve brushed back the little girl’s soft hair with one of his roughened palms. Steve smiled, as the baby’s little hand found his index finger and held on. The strong scent of the flower of love swirled around the cop and the little girl in his arms.
“You are beautiful”, Steve whispered to the small child, his arms tightening possessively around her.