toronto public library security guards.
that time in 91-92 I was watering plants in offices for greenlife. at one place, some where along king street. I had done some trimming of plants, expected by the plant company, and left the trimmings in the kitchenette.
the next week at that office a negro female was waiting for me. she claims to be the contact person for the office. in front of an all female staff she wants to know why I cut the plant belong to one of them. I apologized to the secretary or whatever she was who's plant I trimmed, and everyone went back to doing what they were doing.
more than a decade later at the reference library as I was walking towards the elevator a female was leaning over the edge of the plantwall holding in one hand a length of philodendron, the same type of plant I had trimmed in the office, and cutters in the other. while standing on one foot and looking at me she cut it with a dramatic gesture that seemed to be meant for me to see. I thought must be some kind of a joke about the incident in the office more than a decade ago and wondered who and why any one would do that. it seemed to me it was being watched by others, possibly the library security.
how this incident could be used in a fiction. a person working for a company that supplies and cares for plants in offices. some of the employees sneak personal plants near the office plants so they will be watered for them. besides watering and dusting leaves the plants are to be trimmed of dying yellowed leaves and vines are to be trimmed of their longest stems to keep them even looking.
at one office the contact person is too busy to take him around the office to see which plants are on the contract and he does a regular trimming of the plants. the next week the contact person complains about him trimming the employees plants, the one they pointed out as being the office plants the company he works for takes care of.
he apologizes to the person who owns the plant and then asks the contact person to take him round and identify the plants on the contract, she's too busy and gives the task to another employee who dosnt know which plants are which.
several weeks later while he is at the library and walking to the elevator a female is leaning over a planter. she is holding a strand of the same plant he had cut at the office and looking right at him with a big smile she cuts the stem from the plant, tucks it in her pocket and runs to the elevator which she enters and takes to ground floor. as he continues on his way to the elevator two of the library security guards pop out from behind the shelf they were hiding behind to watch the incident.
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