Story entry 26 - Unfamiliar Flora

Constance had been friends with Clementine for twenty years now. Although they were quite close and shared many hopes, dreams, wishes, memories, and even secrets, Constance never told Clementine that she was a Suvian. She always hid her true appearance from Clementine. Few suvians ever risked telling a human their true nature, and even fewer ever let the facade slip away and show their true appearance. They wandered through the Flower Mart that had been a tradition of theirs that started on the day they met at the same fair all those years ago. Rain or shine they had gone and enjoyed the day wandering through the various stalls, attending contests (the Grand Hat Contest was Clementine’s favorite and she had almost won twice), enjoying the live music and the various foods to offer. They loved ever moment of it and attended both Friday and Saturday.
As the suvian population grew in Baltimore, so did the variety of plants and creatures they had brought with them when some of their kind came to live on the surface so long ago. This was the first year that Constance had seen some at the Flower Mart.
“That is quite a peculiar plant.” Clementine noted as she studied it. Was the breeze moving the plant or had she seen it move on its own?
“It looks like is is related to the Venus Flytrap.”
“I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“I think have seen it at the farmers market a few times.” Constance said in an attempt to normalize the peculiar potted plant.
“Yeah.” Clementine thought. “Maybe. That plant stand from the Eastern Shore. I may’ve seen it there.”
They continued to walk around and enjoy the day, but Constance continued to think about the plant that she knew well. It was related to the Venus Flytrap, but it could grow to be quite big in the right environment. Some could even get big enough to eat a bird. Constance also knew that if cooked right, it was quite tasty.
As the evening grew to and end and the good friends said goodbye Constance put on a happy face and pretended that she hadn’t been distracted since she saw the flytrap plant. They hugged each other and Clementine got into her car happy and tired. Ready to go home and put her feet up. Constance made her way back to the vendor and bought the flytrap plant. The vendor was a suvian too and they gave each other a knowing wink. It made Constance sad. Hidden in plain sight. It was convenient, but it also felt somehow deceitful to her good friend. All these years and she knew that Clementine didn’t truly know her. Constance cut a stalk off the plant and prepared a small snack for herself. As she diced and simmered and folded the treat into corn tortilla, she wondered if her friendship would be over if one day she had the courage to truly be herself in front of her dearest friend.

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