Martha Flowers’

white pineys
Most of the white pineys you see around come from the county home and Martha Flowers was the one what planted them there. That was probably when she worked there. The older one, the boy was still at home but working steady most of the time. The girl was still in high school.
Then, all of a sudden it seemed, she was all alone and maybe forgetting things? Oh yes, the girl wasn’t coming over as often now because she had children of her own and a husband to cook for. The boy was driving truck and hardly saw his own family let alone her. Pretty soon he up and moved them to some place in Indiana with the grandkids. She was still at the county home, volunteering, her gloves on, planting all those white pineys.
She planted them just deep enough, just barely burying them. First year slow, second year grow, and
third year show. She especially liked to see them through the county home windows. White pineys blooming in mid spring.
The county home wasn’t sure whether they could take her when there was no one else, being as her father was part Chinese. After all that time working there and all that time volunteering, she might as well move in just so she’d be closer to her pineys. They figured from the way she looked a little, but especially the way she said pineys came from China. Something about the way she said it.