Of Unwanted
Roots
by Kristina
England
The metal
scale broke on impact.
Marybeth
stared at the black blob that was once a number.
“Why did
you do that?” she said, whirling around to
face Matt.
Matt stuck his
hand in his pocket and pulled out a dandelion.
“A
dandelion is a weed, right?” he said.
“Yes,”
Marybeth said, rolling her eyes. She could feel
another one of his lessons coming on. Big
brothers… they always thought they had
something more important to say than the rest of
humanity.
Matt twirled
the stem in his hand; the yellow petals fluttered.
He stopped, took his finger and bent the stalk in
half. Then he crumbled the flower between the
palms of his hand.
“We all
think we have weeds. We all think we need to
prune. But sometimes you spend so much time
trying to cut out what you think is bad, you lose
what’s good as well. Do you get my point?”
“Are you
asking me to quit my diet so I can go grab a
burger with you?”
“Well,
now that you mention it, I’ve had a
hankering for a mushroom and cheddar cheese
burger with a side of fries.”
“That
does sound good. But why break the scale?”
“Sometimes
you need to put on a show to get the audience to
pay attention.”
“Gauging
the fact that I almost wet my pants, I’d say
you accomplished your goal,” Marybeth said,
nudging his arm. “And you know what? Big
brothers aren’t so bad after all.”
“Who said
big brothers were bad?”
“Um…
how ‘bout we go grab that burger?”
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