a matter of opinion

  i was taken out today by my parents to a lovely garden. lush droves of orange, blue, yellow, and pink flowers hoarded the field. we chatted calmly about plastic things and the state of grandfather's legs; they had never been very dependable. mother sauntered at the head of our group, dictating our direction and most of the conversations. i was too intoxicated by the aromatic sights and comfortably hot temperature to care. father's head seemed to have drifted off somewhere before the jasmine and after the lilies. his silent agreement was in tune with his vapid smile which was as sickly twisted as the vines invading every space they could touch. a low hum of insects traversed the sky and filled the gaps in our conversations. moist air ensured the time of day and every step on the crowd of grass was as buoyant as our concerns. mother wished she could steal but one charming flower. it would make such a beautiful addition to her dinning room.

  as she knelt down to inspect a rather flamboyant orchid, a single black and yellow wrapped wasp emerged from its petals. i watched it dart heedlessly around mother's head as she crouched and aimlessly defended herself by raising her arms and standing perfectly still. father and i watched as mother imitated a shop mannequin with no real cause for intervention. she neither expressed a desire for nor seemed to need it. then, five more wasps poured out from the bulb. as their predecessor, they swirled around mother lazily posing no immediate threat, but instead, seemed to be sizing her up. at this point father had walked up behind mother and began thwarting the pests. they seemed unphased and continued their inane flying. i glanced at the host plant to witness the advent of more wasps emerging. but there were none. instead, a neighboring tulip began to shiver. it shook for a time, and then spawned vertically a black split hoof. the beast's leg extended as far up as it could go and then bent down to settle on the ground. next came the head of what was now apparently a chocolate-brown stallion. the flower swelled and stretched as if made of rubber to accommodate the birth of its erroneous offspring. its body slithered out front limbs, head, body, then finally hind limbs until it stood fully upright in the midst of the bed of flowers. father gasped. mother unconsciously lowered her arms and dilated her pupils. the group of wasps still meandered in the immediate air around us. soon, we saw a rose begin to quake. then a mum, and a hyacinth. from a nearby poppy stemmed a full grown swine. a group of irises hatched seven white mice who scurried around the increasing amount of creatures' legs. giraffes, rhinoceroses, wolves, hawks, bears, and serpents paraded around the grounds in front of our eyes. blurs of stripes and whiskers encompassed us as we watched the once expansive plot of gardens being desecrated by the parade of frenzied animalia. an elephant approximately fifty yards east swayed its trunk in the air and let out an alarming screech. a pair of tigers were digging their fangs and claws into its rough hide. blood streamed down its body as it collapsed and its eyes rolled back into its head. a boisterous monkey came to join the feast as did a nearby penguin and three dart frogs. various sized shreds of flesh and membrane splattered heedlessly towards us. more beasts came to partake in the gorging.

  "well", father submitted, "today is as good as any to visit the zoo".