Sunflowers and Sadness

Clint sat on the ground underneath the oak tree.....It was where his parents were buried. His fathers grave held but a simple marker to let someone know not to bury there. His death had been a blessing to many, Clint especially. He was the reason Clint was deaf after all. The man had made their lives a living hell, with the shouting and the drinking and the beatings. He didn't deserve to be remembered.

His mother however....well Clint had made sure she had a beautiful headstone, kept up with the area and always brought her the first sunflowers that bloomed on his farm. She had always like sunflowers the best. She had been a beautiful woman, his mother. She had golden hair and the bluest eyes. She looked like an angel to Clint. Even covered in bruises. She had done her best for them, singing to them when his dad was raging and making cookies with them he had gone to the bar to drink himself stupid.

Clint remembers the wreck that had changed the course of his future. How his dad had swerved into oncoming traffic. He never asked Barney what he remembered, but he remembers that just before they had escaped the car, the look on his mothers face in death. It was so peaceful, like she finally was free. Clint missed her a lot, but he could never have denied her the freedom that death had brought her. Not when his father had been the piece of sh*t that he was.

He finally finished cleaning up her graveside and sat back on his heels as he made her a wreath of sunflowers. He lay it gently on her grave and blew a small kiss to her. "Repose toi maman, que les anges te conduisent."   With that, he finally stood up and after a brief pause, he walked away. This land held too many ghosts, sometimes Clint could see them carrying on. Thankfully he never saw his father, but he wished that just once he could see his mother just one last time....tell her how much he loved her. But angels didn't have reason to visit here. And he knew his mother was an angel that once walked among them. Patron Saint of Sunflowers. Nothing on this cruel cold earth could ever touch her again, and Clint supposed he could live with that.