Weeds for the Queen - C T (pdf ebook reader txt) 📗

It was Christmas eve in the USA when Manuel saw the young couple illuminated by the shrine candles. They had entered the courtyard at a very late hour. The woman had a large bunch of greenery in her hands. Their voices were loud. “You can't bring weeds to the Virgin!” said the man to the woman.

“Why not?” she demanded.

“Weeds are are ugly,” he said.

“We have nothing else to bring,”said the woman.

“Maybe if you had helped me save some money we could have brought her something nice,” said the man.

“Maybe if you hadn't spent so much money on chocolate and coffee we could buy her something nice!” said the woman.

“Me?” protested the man.

The couple was oblivious to Manuel who stood in the shadows. He had built the shrine to the Virgin Mary in the small cement courtyard of the apartment building in the USA where he lived. The apartment house was not as full as it had once been. Some windows were never lit now at night like black eyes in the fight over immigration. Some tenants had been deported to Mexico and would not be returning. Manuel stayed in the shadows as the couple's argument escalated into violence.

“Chocolate and coffee! Chocolate and coffee!” taunted the woman.

“I could have saved more money but you could have worked more hours. Don't give trash to the Virgin!” said the man attempting to restrain the woman.

The woman struggled and pushed the man away. “Leave me alone!” she said. “We work all the time! We are too poor to buy the Virgin roses! And we are stupid.” She placed the greenery at the foot of the shrine. “Weeds for the Queen,” she said. Then she blew out all the candles and fled into the dark street. The young man apologized to the Virgin and quickly followed after the woman.

Manuel emerged from the shadows. Slowly and with unsteady eighty year old hands, he relighted the candles around the shrine until it glowed again like some fallen star. In the light, the greenery looked beautiful to Manuel. White and yellow flowers now adorned the green leaves of the so called weeds.

Manuel's wife called to him from above the courtyard. She came down the stairs with her dog. The tiny dog pranced into the space. “Manuel come in and go to bed! It is very late,” said the old woman. When the wrinkled old woman saw the pale flowers at the feet of the Virgin, she said they were very beautiful.

Text: CT
Publication Date: 08-21-2011

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