Flowers: A Short Story of Love and Death by Darnell “Saki” Dickerson
George, a high school senior, has some problems. He wrestles with graduation, girl troubles, and his love for sunflowers.
As a loser fast on his way to hell, two years ago Chloë said yes to a date and everything went right ever since. Still is terrific, too. He just bought her a ring. Local college for George, nearby state university for her. But now his girl has changed her mind. Chloë is going to Berkley. He is staying home in Nowhere Town. And this soon-to-be roommate Gio of hers is gonna steal George’s girl. Jealousy blooms, just like a sunflower.
An argument on graduation day between high school sweethearts goes so very wrong, but George gets back his girl. She is like another of the beautiful sunflowers he has preserved, you could even say idolized, in the cellar.
The Horror of Sunflowers
Time for Lita to confess. I have never liked sunflowers. As a kid, they were too big. Bugs loved them. Birds loved them. But they creeped me out. This makes sunflowers the perfect subject for a horror short story if you want to scare the bejesus out of Lita.
It is refreshing to read a teen angst story from the young man’s point of view. George struggles to keep the one good thing in his life, and overcome his bad parental role models. We taste life’s sour betrayal from his point of view. And poor Chloë. Sometimes, breaking up is impossible to do.
In Flowers, we see teen love at its worst. The story hints at George’s sexual encounters, not show us blow-by-blow glory. His desperation saddened me, and my curiosity about the mechanics revolted me. Ah, the lengths a young man goes to get laid. The story needs a couple of minor formatting nits corrected. In two places I would suggest sentence-level wordsmithing. My compliments go to Darnell “Saki” Dickerson for scaring the crap out of me, rousing my sympathy for a teen’s struggle, and reminding me of evil sunflowers.
Flowers: A Short Story of Love and Death on Goodreads
Lita Burke 