Lives That Were Forced Upon Me

Has anybody ever experienced the feeling of being forced to look after babies which did not belong to you? Babies, which you were completely not interested in looking after?

Well, that is the feeling I have ever since EidulFitr '14 when I was forcefully given house plants to look after. My brother, unexpectedly decided that this would be the first year he started giving gifts to everybody on Eid, and he got mama a house plant!

Everybody, I would like to introduce to the world, Mr. Phil!

Obviously I named him! How on earth was I to look after him?

Even though it was for mama, I ended up  (somehow .. And God only knows how) with the job of keeping this alive!

Not only Mr. Phil but also Bobo Bonsai (the little green Bonsai tree).

My brother said he had bought Bobo first but because it was too little he got mama a bigger plant. Now, let me make it clear that I have nothing against flowers or plants or anything nature ... But that does not mean I look after them!! I may be crafty and have cool hobbies but gardening is NOT one of them!

Bobo Bonsai is pretty innocent but very boring; I have to water it every single day but it is not going to grow or show any change at all. More than a month from the first day, today it is exactly the same as when it was first forced upon me.

Mr. Phil though is EVIL! His flowers give Abbie and I that creepy look of being watched. To me, the flowers look demonic!! Which is why I named him EVIL PHIL!

Mr. Evil Phil seemed slightly more exciting than Bobo Bonsai (it wasn't exciting, I just forced myself to believe that to feel better). It came with three buds that were supposed to open up into more flowers. The instructions said that the plant had to be fed 3 ice cubes once a week. The first time I fed it ice cubes, a bud opened up. For the first time I was excited and actually not hating the plants .. but after that, no show! The rest of the two buds never blossomed; I religiously fed it ice cubes and made sure it got enough light, but nothing happened. Infact, I woke up one day to find a bud change its color from white to purple; it imploded, dried up, and shed off without blossoming. A few days later the second (last) bud followed in its footsteps and shed off too.

My brother said that the plant was supposed to last more than a month, and the flowers that came did survive too .. It has finally lived its demented life and almost all of the flowers have shed off today! I can't wait for the few that are left to go away too so I can get rid of Mr. Evil Phil!!! But Bobo Bonsai will remain ...

- S. Ali