8 Comments
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Kelly Xan's avatar

YAAAY! Hopepunk triumphs here! I love the twist on this traditionally tragic story concept. Well done!

Graeme Brandham's avatar

Im so glad, sometimes when these challenges come up, I feel like it really wants me to be gritty and dark. That just isn’t me, so instead I kept it quite tongue in cheek. Im sure I mentioned somewhere that the twist was inspired by the way my parents generation use chemical weedkillers on everything, as if they never heard of gardening in line with nature.

Kelly Xan's avatar

I 100% agree. Dark stories can be very thought-provoking and cathartic, but sometimes when they are within a sea of dark stories, it feels less potent. This was an absolute delight. And the weedkiller jab was perfect 🤣. It was a good commentary on how violence is not always the only solution.

Graeme Brandham's avatar

If I return to this character one day, let's keep our fingers crossed he sticks to his more adaptable ways. 😁

Gregory Blair's avatar

I loved that! Creative problem solving for the win!

Graeme Brandham's avatar

I know right! I was inspired by my parents approach to gardening which is essentially to kill anything that they didn’t put there themselves.

Mind of Matt's avatar

If I could see into people’s futures like that I have no idea what I’d do. Who’s to say the gardener isn’t going to eventually pull the wrong weed and make a worse outcome?

Graeme Brandham's avatar

Its a terrifying thought isn’t it. I think as a short story it kinda gets away with it, but if I dug into the concept, I suspect I would come up against so many paradoxes that trying to untangle it would make any persons head spin.