It was not too much to ask, a simple chore, really. Her neighbor, Prof. Masterson, a kind elderly woman who had always been a good friend, asked Emily to tend to her house while she was away at a botanical exposition. The professor had fallen all over Emily with praise but there really was no reason. Emily was happy to do it and the chores involved were quite trivial. She was engaged to collect the mail and water the plants inside the house and the adjoining arboretum. It could hardly take more than 20 minutes and Emily had always been fond of the old lady, she was more than happy to oblige when she was asked.
The instructions were to water the plants only and not to dwell in the greenhouse too long. She had even reemphasized that last point just before she left for the airport. "Just water the plants in the arboretum and leave as quickly as possible, dear," the professor had told her. "I'll explain it all to you some day, but for now, remaining too long in there might prove... disruptive to your constitution."
Emily had no idea exactly what constitutional disruption implied. She certainly did not expect to be exploited by aggressive rhubarb or corruptive asparagus. She was sure it was only some precaution about allergies or skin rashes and paid no more mind to it. She saw the entire chore as a mere detour from her daily routine, something she could polish off quickly when she got home from work.
Emily was a widowed professional in her early 30s. Physically fit with an attractive figure, she was a brunette, more attractive than most, but she kept her looks concealed behind glasses and a toned-down wardrobe. She lived alone and had preferred a muted social life after the death of her husband but was well liked by the company she kept. Being a bit of a bookworm, she simply enjoyed being alone and had consequently devoted her life more to her career than to social or romantic pursuits.
The people in the cul-de-sac enjoyed her as a respectable and dependable neighbor who kept her property neat and attractive and caused no disturbances or detractions. She was the perfect go-to person for housesitting or monitoring and she was called upon often for this kind of favor. It made her proud to be respected as such.
It was Saturday afternoon and in spite of Prof. Masterson's concise warnings, Emily had her heart set on curling up with a good book in the warm sunlight of that arboretum. She had noticed a chaise lounge-chair right by the door into the house so she surmised it could not be dangerous in there. She would finish up the chores, roll the lounge chair into the sunlight, and enjoy her book all afternoon.
As she unlocked the front door and entered her neighbor's house, she could hardly wait to finish up the work and settle down for relaxing escapism. She set down the book she was reading, a thoroughly smutty romance novel, on the kitchen counter and then filled the water can at the sink. She attacked all the plants upstairs first and then worked her way through the ground floor. There was a wide variety of exotic plants, which Emily figured was probably typical for a plant biology professor. She tried to remember all the specific instructions she was given for each plant and was careful not to make a mess but she was anxious to get this out of the way and get into her book. She finished faster than she expected and returned the can to the sink.
That taken care of, Emily collected her book from the counter and made her way through the study to tend to the plants in the greenhouse. Opening the sliding door, she stepped into the humid warmth and felt it close around her before she shut the door into the house. She shut her eyes and tilted back her head to enjoy the sun on her face. She inhaled the fresh earthy scents of the ferns, vines, and trees about her and knew this would be the perfect place to curl up with a good book and heal her senses with full effects of nature.
First, she had to tend to her chores. She set her book on the lounge chair and picked up the water can from where she found it by the door. Emily put the water can under the spigot and turned it on while her eyes scanned the enclosed garden and took note of the circuit she needed to take to finish this job. She was anxious to finish and filled the can to the top so she could get all the watering done in one trip. The can was heavy so she applied it to the big trees first to get the bulk of the load emptied fast. Next came the vines around the edges and last but not least, the big, odd-looking plant in the sunny corner of the room. She got close to the center stalk and dumped the can to flow around the plant's base the way the professor had shown her. She emptied the can and then stood back to look at the thing in its whole.
"Hi'ya, hansom," she said and granted it a sweet smile. She figured it had to be some kind of tropical plant because of its lush foliage; some deep jungle because she had never seen anything like it. It had big, broad leaves in a thick clump around its base. Arrayed within this clump were five 6-inch long buds with purple petals closed tight around them. The most dominating feature of the plant was a long pinkish-purple stalk that grew up out of its center that was about 3 to 4 inches thick and rose to about 8 feet tall. At the top of the stalk was a huge pink bulb about the size of a large melon with thick, shiny, pink petals.