The Universe's Mixer

It had taken Rose a bit of time to find a supermarket in her neighborhood. Out of habit, she took the turns that would have led her to the grocer she used to use, but in this place, of course, there was no store there. Instead there had been an art gallery. Which might not be there if she went back. That was very difficult to get used to, and Rose still wasn’t convinced she wasn’t dreaming.

But as a pragmatic (at least in her own mind) farm girl, on the off chance that this wasn’t a dream, there were certain realities that needed to be dealt with. She was still in search of a job, though she was doing her volunteer work. But since she still wasn’t getting Charlie’s pension, Rose needed to find a way to make some money before she ran through all of her savings. ( Also, she needed a roommate or two. )

Rose still wasn’t sure what exactly was going on. Some days, she thought maybe she was having early signs of dementia. Some days, she thought it was a dream. Whatever it was, it had turned her life upside down. Wherever she was, at least she still had her house, even if she didn’t have her roommates. Or her neighborhood. Or her job, because the counseling center and hospital were not the ones she remembered. On the days she could actually find them. She was starting to believe what the odd young man had said; maybe they moved. ( Which brought her back to the idea of losing some of her faculties. )

Somehow, Ivy had managed to find a few rare saplings in the City over the past few weeks. With her help, they'd grown and flourished fairly quickly. They were in a carefully guarded section of her garden, and she visited them often.

Today, however, she was tending to some of her roses when she caught a little hint of trepidation from the trees. A few seconds later, she heard the sound of... was that barking?

It had better not be Harley's hyenas, she thought to herself as she straightened up from where she'd been kneeling by the rosebush and turned to rush over to the grove of trees.

Rose had been in the kitchen for a good part of the morning, working on treats that she wanted to pass out at the hospital where she volunteered. It was better that she made the spaarhouven krispies when her roommates weren’t about, because they smelled awful in the making, and Blanch always complained about that. But really, that’s who you knew they were done. Just about when you thought you were going to vomit from the smell, they were finished!

Of course, they didn’t taste that good either if you didn’t eat them right. If you didn’t plug your nose and could still smell them, they were fairly wretched. But if you pinched your nose shut and closed your eyes, they tasted like strawberry cheesecake and chocolate ice cream. Spaarhouven krispies were one of Rose’s favorite treats as a little girl, and she just loved to share things that were so good with people who needed a little pick-me-up.

And the hospital administrator had told her she couldn’t bring gougenfluter anymore. ( Not after that last incident. )