Iris Garden
The smell of irises was overwhelming. I hate irises.



Olivia sat firmly in the leather seat of her parent’s rose-colored Mercedes. There was no way she was going to get out of this air-conditioned vehicle to get into the sun and the iris-filled stench that emanated from her Aunt Dahlia’s garden. The brunette glanced around the car, and seeing a plethora of luggage covering the entire back seat, was reminded of the amount of time that she would be staying here. She let out a groan, pulled out her cellphone, and after checking that there were no new texts from her friends, sighed, and waited for her father to get out of the car and drag her into Aunt Dahlia’s house.



“Olivia, please don’t make me have your father get out of the car and drag you into your Aunt Dahlia’s house,” her mother threatened from the passenger’s seat.
“You can’t make me live here for the rest of summer!! I’ll go crazy! I can’t stand the reek of flowers, and everything of hers is completely covered in them.”



“Well, then you should have tried harder in school,” the father pointed out, matter-of-factly. Olivia began to boil as she remembered her unfortunate report card from the school year that just ended – it was embarrassing at how badly she did. Olivia did not want to bicker with her parents, and sat, arms crossed, in the back of the car.



Olivia heard her name being called – the voice was sweet, like white carnations, and distracted her parents from shaming her further. Curious, Olivia peered out the car window to examine who the voice belonged to – it was from an unfamiliar girl with golden hair like chrysanthemums.



Knowing that any other resistance would be futile, Olivia surrendered her position and, as leisurely as possible, got out of the vehicle. She clutched her cellphone, the only thing that would prevent her imminent madness this summer, and stuffed it in the back of her denim jean shorts. The sun’s rays beat down on her skin as the annoyed teenager shoved a pair of aviators onto her messily put-together bun to block out the sudden change of light. Aunt Dahlia introduced the girl as her niece. Her name was Daisy.



Daisy smiled when she was being introduced – the hopeful look in her eye was more powerful than the sun’s rays. Olivia jolted at such enthusiasm that she had never seen in anyone from the city – in fact, it kind of irritated her. She was probably the picture-perfect image of a country-girl, sporting a straw hat that was brimmed with lilacs to compliment the flowing, white sundress she donned. Olivia hesitated on introducing herself, since she was still busy examining Daisy’s interesting suburban style. It seemed that Daisy already knew Olivia, anyway, so what was the point of an introduction?

Although Olivia was still grumpy for her summer, she kissed her parents good-bye and was left with the two country-born ladies. The contrast between her and to Aunt Dahlia and Daisy was doubtless. She groaned, but before she took out her phone, Aunt Dahlia pushed her and Daisy along the dusty trail and through the huge flower garden to the quaint house that Olivia would be living in for the next few months. Olivia winced, the scent of irises completely overriding her.

Daisy, with a happy glint in her eye, was about to say something to Olivia, but the brunette rudely ignored her as both girls were pushed along by Dahlia, who was currently giving a sanguine lecture about how great the summer would be with the three of them.
“Ugh, this sucks…” Olivia hissed under her breath as she kept walking and avoiding the tall branches of tomato plants that weaved throughout the garden like a maze. The grand tour would have continued, but it had started to drizzle and the three women hurried into the shelter of the house.
Olivia was led to Daisy’s grandiose room – the place where she would be sleeping for the next 13 weeks of her life. Olivia grimaced at the thought of such a lackluster summer as she imagined her friends driving to the beach. Daisy sat at the corner of her bed and, tired of the failed attempts of conversation, cracked open a book and propped it open on her lap. Olivia hated reading, and didn’t like Daisy very much – she had no idea how she would survive.
Why doesn’t she understand that I am miserable and just want to be left alone? Olivia wondered to herself as she started to unpack her heaps of clothes. She looked up at Daisy, and saw that gleam in her eye again that was constantly there before a question about Olivia’s life – school, city, friends, personality, anything – was asked. Olivia waved her away.



“I’m too tired – the trip here was really long,” she lied, curling up in her cot on the opposite side of Daisy’s room. It was silent for a few moments, but then boom! sudden thunder motioned for a heavy drizzle to start upon the roof, and was the only sound keeping the two girls from emptiness was the pitter-patter of the droplets.
“Oh, well, I understand!! I’m sure this trip here was really long for you. I’m sorry…” Daisy whispered, dejectedly. “Well, good night!”
At least she’s finally done talking to me! Olivia thought with a thankful sigh. Now I can finally just go on my phone the rest of the night, just like what I did back at home. She reached into her pocket, and discovered that her phone was missing. Olivia knew she was going to have a mental breakdown in 3, 2....
“Oh man!! Where could it be??” Olivia scrambled out of her cot, surprising Daisy, who flipped on the lamp next to her. She saw Olivia flipping through all of the clothes in her luggage, and joined the floor to help her. Although they went through half of her packages, the phone was nowhere to be found. The moderate drizzle from before suddenly became an obnoxious downfall that plopped on the roof. Although Daisy kept rummaging through packages of lace dresses and name-brand blouses, Olivia sat still, miserable. Daisy felt terrible – Olivia looked so pitiful and depressed.
“Perhaps it’s outside!” Daisy said as she leapt up from her seat on the floor. Olivia looked over at her.
“Yeah, well even if it was outside I doubt that it would—“but that was all she could say before Daisy ran out of the room and into the storm.
Shocked, Olivia ran after her into the thundering rain without grabbing an umbrella. She looked around, but it was much too dark to see anything at all. She began to frantically search the garden, calling out Daisy’s name. There was never a reply, asides from a howl of wind. At this point, Olivia felt an immense pang of guilt. She was scared that Daisy got hurt, especially since it was dusky and rainy. She felt terrible for how badly she treated the curious girl who only wanted to become friends. She regretted all of it and wished she would have been a little nicer to her.
As these terrible thoughts whirled around her head, she tripped against something and fell to the ground, covering herself with damp soil. After she regained composure of herself, she realized that it was Daisy!
“Oh my gosh!! Olivia, are you alright??” Daisy asked as she helped pick Olivia up from the ground.
“Daisy!! You’re alright! I thought you got hurt or something!”
“Oh, me? I’ve wandered all over these gardens since I was little girl. I think I can navigate this area with my eyes clothes,” Daisy giggled, as she assisted Olivia in walking. “But it looks like you’ve got a sprained ankle!! So I’ll help you walk back to the house.”
“I didn’t even notice the sprained ankle. But thanks,” Olivia laughed as she willingly allowed Daisy to help her. The girls stumbled back to the house and, with a worried Dahlia, got changed into warm clothes. They were both tired, and faded off to a deep sleep.
Olivia got up in the late afternoon the next morning to the fragrance of irises and the warmth of sunlight –Daisy was nowhere to be found – her bed was already neatly made, and everything that was cluttered from last night was cleaned and organized. Olivia lay in her cot for a while, looking around the room. She glanced to the side, and saw her phone – Daisy had found it! But when she hit the home button, it did not turn on – it had unsurprisingly died, most likely from the rain damage. As she placed her broken phone down, she noticed a note with an iris attached to it. The note read –
“I found your phone at the moment you tripped on me. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work! I guess I didn’t find it quick enough. I don’t know much about phones and the like, so I’m sorry I wasn’t able to fix it. I’m glad that we became friends because of it, though! (I think?)”
Attached was a single iris that glowed a vibrant violet under the sun’s rays. It was an iris, and written underneath the stem was “your friendship means so much to me.”

Essay Question: Recap the instances where nature is exemplified throughout the story. Name a few occasions why nature – whether forces of nature or products of nature – played an important role