Harvest By Eden Royce


The Music Be The Food flash fiction event continues with round five. This time, the song is “Even In Death (2016)” by Evanescence.

Give a listen to the tune and then read the next flash fiction piece, by Eden Royce.

Harvest

My phone tells me it’s a few minutes before midnight. It also tells me there’s plenty of cloud cover, but no precipitation expected.

Perfect.

I finish up my tea, the brew having gone cold while I stared at the wall, watching a leggy black spider traverse the wallpaper to the uppermost corner of the dining room. There, it shuffles around, deciding where to web. Once it begins spinning, I get up.

A platter of cold meats and cheeses is in the fridge. I place it on the dining room table.

Don’t let any bugs get to this, I tell the spider. I’m trusting you.

Then I take my shovel and head to the garden.

The night is warm, the breeze cool enough to make me shiver. I dig under the apple tree you said your grandfather planted. You aren’t deep, there was no need.

We used to plant often, you and I, sometimes clearing huge sections of our land. Corn, pole beans, watermelon…they all need space to grow.

You said you did too.

I swipe the last of the dirt away from the pine box with my fingers. With the shovel, I pry the lid off, the roofing nails making no sound as they emerge from the soft wood. Neither do you when I call your name.

You’ll follow my every instruction, and while that wasn’t your way in life, I’ve accepted that is how it will be now. Things change and we must get used to them. As I once did, you’ll look to me for your every need and I, along with this land, will provide for us.

I lead you into the dining room and direct you to a chair. The head of the table, of course. You were the man of my life. This half death I’ve placed on you doesn’t change that.

I feed you a dinner that somehow smells like you—meat and smoke and milk and mold.

Eat up, I say. You’ll need your strength.

Tomorrow is harvest time.

Read more from Eden at edenroyce.com.