Wednesday, February 26, 2025

Resist the Invasion

I noticed her right away.

The woman was blond, in her late 40s, and looked for all the world like a former neighbor, but she was also standing in a patch of brambles with a ratty ball cap and frayed backpack, scanning the ground in an unexpected way. I decided to avoid eye contact and walk on by with Lucy.

"Tracey?" she said, and I stopped and turned around.

"I thought that might be you!" I said, "But then I also thought, Why would she be doing that?" I laughed, and she did, too.

"I'm looking for evil, invasive honeysuckle," she told me, "so I can cut it down and yank it out!"

"That sounds therapeutic," I commented. "Especially in these fraught times."

"Oh, it is," she answered. "It really, really is."

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