Originally posted on the website:

At lunchtime I had to get out of the office. I hopped into my new car and drove off into the sunset. Well… not exactly. But I did hightail it out of there! It’s only Monday and I already felt the need to get away from people at work. Not all of them, of course. There are a few that I’d like to get closer to, but that will only land me in the HR office and the unemployment line.

I ended up going home. There was no particular reason to go there. It just felt safe to do so. I felt like I wasn’t really supposed to be there. But it was alright because it was my home. I may have startled a few elves and gremlins by walking in unexpectedly at midday. But the guinea pigs were happy to see me. I think. I didn’t know what the hell I went there for. So, I had a glass of wine and a handful of those little fish crackers, then headed back to the office.

But before going back, I went out the front door to check the mail. I had parked my new car in the back and came in through the kitchen door. I went out the living room door to the mailbox. In front of the house is a low brick wall surrounding what should be the front yard area but is all concrete. (Talk about easy to mow in the summer!) There, lying on the little wall, in the bright sunshine, was a long-stemmed white rose. Yes, just lying there. I have no idea who laid it there. And I just checked dictionary.com to make sure I was using “lay” and “lie” correctly. But what I really intended was to use the word “laid” in this entry. It seems like the appropriate thing to do after the last “hardcore” entry.

All sexual intent aside, why was this rose lying on my wall? Who laid it there? And why did they leave a white one?

Perhaps it wasn’t intended for me. Nobody lays me these days. I mean, nobody leaves roses for me these days. Maybe some love-struck Don Juan had a dozen of them delivered to his girlfriend of less than a month, not sending roses for fear of appearing to come on too strong. And maybe a strong December gust blew this one rose clear of the bunch and landed it in front of my house. Then some casual fellow who was meandering to the bar on the corner picked it up and laid it on the wall, unthinkingly mindful that the delicate flower did not get trampled on the sidewalk.

Or maybe… the guy walking to the bar just presented white roses to his sister down the street who he hadn’t spoken to in years because she hates his guts due to the fact that he’s an alcoholic bum. He was feeling sappy with the holidays upon us, forewent (foregoed? forlaid?) a bottle or two and splurged on the dozen roses. But as he nervously approached his sister’s door he realized that the florist miscounted and gave him thirteen roses instead of twelve. Since thirteen is an unlucky number, and he needed all the luck he could get to patch things up with his sister, he quickly tossed one out. Then another fellow on his way to the bar picked it off the sidewalk and laid it on my wall.

Or maybe… someone DID intend it for me! What then? What is it all about?

Is someone trying to make peace with me? Then why did they leave it on my wall and not right up on my porch? Were they trying to make peace but not a whole lot of it? Just a quasi-peace?

What if it’s something weird and twisted? There have been a few “incidents” around my house. In the summer, someone snapped off one of my sunflowers and left it lying on the wall. Also, someone picked off one of my tomatoes from my bucket garden, took a big juicy bite out of it and left the gasping carcass on the wall. That was creepy almost along the lines of finding a horse head in my bed. So what if this is another weird incident? I believe that ancient Druidic folklore describes the leaving a single white rose as a sign of intent to sacrifice a male virgin on New Year’s Eve. Since it’s been so long since I’ve lain (lien? lion?) with womankind, maybe I’m giving off a virgin vibe! What can I do? Who can I ask for help? Who would ever believe me?

Or maybe… it’s from an alcoholic brother that I didn’t know I had! And maybe his real intent is not to make peace but to symbolize that I am an asshole of a brother for not knowing that he didn’t exist and he really wanted to leave a big black rose but couldn’t find one this time of the year because it’s Christmas and everyone and their brothers are sending big black roses to each other. THAT is probably what this is all about.

So… in honor of my long lost, alcoholic brother to whom I have been an asshole, I emptied a bottle of Pepsi, filled it with some water, shoved the rose in it and set it on my porch where the neighbors can all see it and ask, “What the hell is that white rose doing there?”