English Ivy

I stretch to the sun, angling my broad leaves toward it, drinking in the late afternoon rays. The cat comes to stretch out on my sunny windowsill, extending her legs in front of her as far as they can go before tucking them neatly underneath her. The sun is warm, and she likes it. Sometimes, the cat will rub her face against my leaves, brushing her whiskers with my stems and petioles. Her cat hairs get stuck all over my leaves and soil.

Sometimes the Waterer cleans some of the hairs away, plucking them off one by one and shaking her head. 

“Dumb cat,” she says.

She doesn’t know our feline-flora relationship.

On some days, the Waterer comes along and pokes her finger into my soil, squishing some of the dark earth between her finger and thumb and saying things about how wet it is. Sometimes she leaves and comes back with water, drenching my dry soil and watching the water drain all the way to the bottom of my terra cotta pot. But sometimes she does nothing, plucking away cat hairs and shaking her head.

A few days ago, the Waterer brought another plant to sit beside me in the window. In between me and the blue-green succulent to my right. This new plant is taller and broader with skinny, waxy leaves. She is lovely in her glazed blue pot, the color of the sky. In her soil is a tiny brown bird, glazed like her pot, and facing away from the window. I often lean out toward the glass, pressing my leaves against it to show the little bird how to look at the sun, but it doesn’t move. 

Someday, when my leaves spill over my pot and down the wall out of the sunlight’s reach, I will have a bird of my own in my soil, drinking my water and watching over the rim of my pot. Someday, I will have a glazed blue pot, the color of the sky.

About the Author Sophia Therriault

Sophia Therriault placed 5th in the Napkin Microfiction contest in May 2021 with her winning micro piece English Ivy. Sophia won a $50 cash prize.

Sophia Therriault lives in Missoula, Montana with one dog, two humans, one cat, and 22 of her closest houseplants. She is attending the University of Montana where she will receive her bachelor’s in psychology and English. Pre-COVID, Sophia attended school at The Evergreen State College where she studied creative writing, cognitive studies, audio recording, and fine art. In 2019, Sophia released her first album, Bruises, as part of a two-person duo called Red Dress.