[Published in "Fast Forward: The Mix Tape, A Collection of Flash Fiction, Volume Three".
http://fastforwardpress.org/vols.html
http://www.amazon.com/Mix-Tape-Nancy-Stohlman/dp/0981785220 ]
----------
The first time I saw green shoots growing out of my skin, I pruned them with a pair of scissors, went to sleep, and though no more about it.
But by the next morning, they were back. So I watered them under the tap. The flowers started to grow. They grew so fast that I could see it happening. I went out into the garden. The flowers grew up, above the fence, above the streetlights, above my house. They grew past the clouds, up into the sky where you couldn't see them any more.
That afternoon, a young man came along and asked if he could climb my stalks, up to the flowers. He said he wanted to see what was up there. I said okay.
In the next few days, lots more people climbed my stalks. I watched them disappear, one by one, through the clouds.
I kind of wanted to go up there too, but I couldn't because they were my flowers and you can't climb yourself. There'd be nothing to hold on to.