Camaraderie in the Garden

"Hey Juan, could you pick up some fertilizer while you're out?" Myra asked over shoulder while digging into the soil with her left arm.

"I don't know if the place is open on Sundays." I was referring to the specialty store where I'd bought the wax plant, since it seemed to be the only place that carried high-quality botanical ingredients for cheap. I didn't want to imagine how Myra would react if I brought some low-grade fertilizer from the hardware store back with me.

"Why wouldn't they be?" She stopped what she was doing and raised an eyebrow at me.

"It's a religious thing." I rubbed the back of my neck and looked away. "Some people don't like working on Sundays."

"Oh, that explains why you weren't working last weekend." She nodded knowingly. "Here I thought you were just being lazy." She giggled at me before resuming her work. "I don't need it today; getting some tomorrow will be fine then."

"Right." I turned to leave the apartment when I heard her speak up again.

"Wait, so is this like, something you do every week?" She was still digging into the ground, but one of the worms was lying on top of the soil next to her. 

"Uh... y-yeah." I hesitated to answer. I hadn't exactly been rigorous with my church attendance since I'd left my family. Most Sundays I just spent in my apartment playing games or watching movies, and sometimes I would take on a small job or two. 

"Why?" She wasn't looking at me, so she didn't see how my face turned red when she asked me that question.

"W-well, I was raised in the church and my grandfather used to talk about that kind of stuff all the time." I bit my lip and opened the front door to the apartment. "Anyway, it's not too important right now. I'll see you later, Myra."

"Okay." She absentmindedly waved to me as I exited.

I stood out in the hallway and looked down at my phone. There was an offer a quick job open for me. Normally, I wouldn't think too deeply about this, but what Myra said left me hesitant. She and I were both dealing with each other because of what someone else told us to do. I hadn't initially wanted to deal with Myra, and she hadn't wanted to tend to my garden. 

My phone buzzed again; I put it back into my pocket and leaned against the wall of the hallway.

Despite being told to stay with me, and expressing discontent with that notion, she hadn't left. Beyond that, even though it was probably in my best interest to let her stay, I was under no obligation to talk with her or be nice, just as she had pointed out. My brow furrowed.

If someone told me to do something and I didn't like doing it, that was simple. I'd look for a way out of doing it. 

But what if someone told me to do something, and then I started to enjoy doing it? Not only enjoy doing the basic task, but what if I began to look for things to do outside of the basic task in order to do it better or have more fun while I did it?

"No estoy hecho para este tipo de pensamiento." I muttered to myself as I rubbed my head slowly. 

I didn't want to take on a job today. I wanted to go to church. Even if going would make my mother happy, I didn't mind. If what I did was something another person wanted me to do, I wouldn't care. I started walking down the stairwell towards my truck. As long as what I did was what I wanted to do, that was enough for me.
~~~
By the time the service was over, I was hungry. I briefly considered whether I should head back to the apartment or get some take-out, before I remembered that Myra had probably never had a burger. I drove in my truck to the same place I'd eaten recently and grabbed a couple cheap burgers, before heading back to my place. 

On the way back, my mind wandered to the old stories my grandfather used to tell me about fairies. He said that they were generally very playful and mischievous creatures, who loved to romp through flowerbeds and hide in the trees. I stopped at the last traffic light before my apartment and chuckled. My grandfather was right about fairies, which meant that all the rest of my family was wrong about them; except for me.

I pulled into the parking lot and jogged back up towards my apartment with the bag of burgers in hand. Halfway up the stairs, I bumped into someone by accident and nearly fell over. Thankfully, the man I collided with was fast enough to grab my arm and prevent that.

"Whoa! You're in a hurry aren't ya?" 

"You could say that, Mister?" I struggled for a few moments to remember his name. I'd seen the man before. When I opened my mouth to speak again, he interrupted me.

"Mister? I don't know if I've earned that title yet. Name's Caleb." The man couldn't have been older than twenty two or three, around my age. He stuck out his hand and I awkwardly shook it while still holding the bag. "You're that Juan guy, right? Guillermo?"

"How did you know?"

"Your truck has your name on it, dude." He pointed down to the parking lot where my truck was. I'd completely forgotten that I'd had my truck decorated with my business information. I laughed and shook my head. 

"I forgot about that!" I held the burger bag close and looked up the stairs towards my apartment. "I've got to go; the food's getting cold. Nice meeting you."

"Yeah. Don't be a stranger!" He called out to me as I ran up the stairs. 

When I opened the door to my apartment, I heard a little bit of Myra singing again. I did my best not to interrupt, but once the door shut, she stopped. I shook my head and set the bag down on the table.

"I got you a little something."

"Oh!" She flew off of the old man cactus and towards the table. Her black hair dangled slightly as she approached, and her body was still covered with dirt. I cringed a little as she landed on the table. "I thought you said the-." She took a sniff of the air. "Wait, is that food?"

"Yeah! I figured I'd get you a little something now that you've tried eating." I reached into the bag and pulled out one of the burgers, then set it down in front of her. If both her and the burger were scaled to my size, it would be like me looking at a large table. I realized that the burger might be a little too big for her. 

"What am I supposed to do with this?" She gestured with both hands towards the burger. The wings on her back twitched slightly. 

"See, in my head, I had a little picture of you sitting down and taking bite of the burger." I blushed. "The scale and the proportion were completely forgotten."

She looked at me with a bewildered expression, then frowned at the burger.

"Well, it smells nice." She poked the top bun with her finger. "I guess you could cut me a small piece of it or something."

"That'll have to do." I sighed and grabbed a knife from the kitchen. When I came back to the table, Myra was sitting down. She looked like a little princess waiting for her servant to prepare her meal. The image didn't make me as bothered as I thought it would. I put the knife against the burger's top bun and began slicing down.

"Hold it! Don't cut it like that!"

"Que? How else am I supposed to cut it?"

"Get me a little piece of every part of the burger instead of a thin slice of it."

"Anything else your highness?" I retorted playfully.

She smirked. "Not at the moment, servant!" She snickered. "Just be quick about your duty!"

I nodded and served her a few crumbs from every part of the burger I could chop up. It took a little longer than I wanted it to, but I didn't mind too much. By the time I was finished, my own burger was cold. I sighed and picked it up to put it in the microwave. As I did, Myra took her first few bites of each part of the burger. 

"Mm!" I watched as her orange eyes lit up. "This is delicious!" She grabbed the little piece of cheese and greedily shoved it into her mouth. "Why don't you eat this stuff all the time?"

"It's not cheap or healthy." I replied as I took my own burger out of the microwave and sat down in front of her again. "But it does taste pretty good."

"You said it!" Before I could get halfway through my burger, she had consumed all the scraps I'd laid out for her. She had a content expression and laid down on the table with her arms out. "That was so good! Can you keep that burger around so I can have some more of it later?"

"Sure. Also, you shouldn't lie down right after eating."

"Why not?"

"It'll make you sick, I think. My parents said it was a bad thing to do." I shrugged and took another couple bites of my food. "But it's up to you."

"I think I'll be fine." She waved her hand at me nonchalantly, but sat up. "I've got garden stuff to do though. Thanks for the food!" She smiled and fluttered towards the garden. As she did, I swallowed another bite of my meal.

"Do you want me to help with anything?"

"Help?" She stopped in midair and turned around. "Not really. Most of the stuff I do can only be done by people who are small. Except the watering; you could do that for me. I-I mean, if you want to." She waved her hands in front of herself as she stuttered.

"Sounds good to me." I finished my burger, threw the trash away, and put some water from the kitchen sink into a cup. When I made it to the garden, Myra showed me exactly where to pour the water so that each plant would get the right amount. It was a much more complex process than it had any right to be, but Myra seemed to take pleasure in bossing me around. I thought it was fun, as if I were playing a video game with one of my little cousins while they tried to teach me what to do. 

At the thought of my cousins, I hesitated. Water from the cup splashed a little and ended up spilling onto Myra's head. She swatted at the top of her head and yelped at me.

"What are you doing?!" She turned around and flew up from the pot of the wax plant next to my face. "You think that's funny?" 

I blinked a few times before responding. "It's a little funny, if I'm being honest." I sighed and put the cup of water down and looked out the window at the city of Edinburg where I lived. Even in the bright sunlight, there was something about it that was beautiful. Myra looked out the window with me when she saw where my gaze was directed. The skyscrapers near the center of town, the various small neighborhoods, even the highways all coalesced to make a city that I was very glad to be in. After a minute or two, she spoke up quietly.

"What are you thinking?" 

"I'm thinking that I've got to try and talk with my family again." Even as I said the words, the nostalgic feelings I'd had moments ago instantly dissipated, replaced by the many unpleasant memories that I had courtesy of them. "Not now though. Un día, pero no hoy." 

Myra stood on the soil of the box garden and leaned against the glass window with both her arms crossed, and her head was pressed onto her arms. "What's the deal with that? I thought you liked your family." She snickered. "I mean, the way you talked about eating with them, I was surprised that you were here at all."

"Hmm." I shook my head and looked away from the window disappointedly. "Sometimes I remember the good things and wonder why I left. Then I stop wondering." I turn from the window and look at my phone. There was still another job lined up for today. If I was quick, I could still make it. "I'm going out. I've got a job lined up."

Myra stopped looking out the window. "Wait, I thought you weren't going to work today?"

"I changed my mind. Te veo a las nueve." I walked over to the front door, put on my work boots, fastened my belt, and grabbed my truck keys. 

"Hey. Juan, can you wait up for a second?"

"Fine. Make it quick." 

"Um, so..." She flew from her spot against the window and got closer until she was almost touching my ear. "If you need to talk about stuff, maybe I can help? I mean, I'm not an expert on humans or families or anything like that. But you aren't an expert on fairies, and you listen to me ramble on about... stuff. So, if you want to, maybe you can talk to me?" She sounded hesitant. 

I looked at her; her tiny body, her graceful form, her delicate features. I furrowed my brow and exhaled deeply.

"I, er, appreciate the offer, but not today." I shook my head, stepped out the front door, and muttered under my breath. "No hoy." As the door closed, I heard her say something softly.

"Good luck Juan."