Re: Eddie's House: May / Eddie
Sticking around wasn't a problem, and she shook her head. "Because you think too fast. If you slow yourself down, it's not that long of a time at all." It was a rather obscure sort of concept - one that made sense to her own mind, but might not to others. And it was true - if he mentioned the change in her after the fact, her expression would be as flat as it usually was, and even the concept would be brushed aside.
Her next laugh came from the back of her throat, a nasal exhalation. "She knows." Dirt transferred hands, and she set it off to the side, ready for the hole to be filled in again in a moment. It had worked itself under her fingernails as well, but she'd brought along soap and a stiff little brush, and as long as Eddie had an outside faucet, they'd be able to get clean again.
Another nod and another scoop of hands, and she was finally pleased with their work. She reached around him for her basket, uncaring that her palms were layering grime along the reeds of it. From inside she pulled out the plant, laying it carefully next to the hole, and then a folded newspaper envelope that shifted with grit inside. She unfolded it carefully and laid the whole thing (now open and exposing a little pile of... something... at the bottom of the hole. With those same careful hands, she took up the plant again and stood it upright with dirty roots resting deep. The leaves had been stripped from the stems about half-way up (or down, depending on the point of view), and the depth of the hole would cover those bare stalks. The petals were starting to look a little droopy, but she knew that a good watering would help once it was in the ground again.
With a nod of her head as her hands continued to support the plant, she indicated the piles of dirt. "Alright. Fill it back in."