Story: Everyone's Garden

Amanda lived in a dull, grey apartment block. A small garden surrounded it, but it was overgrown with weeds. It made the building look even uglier.

No one took care of the garden, because it was no one’s responsibility. So the thorns grew and grew, and the garden looked worse and worse. It made Amanda hate living there.

One day, Amanda couldn’t stand it anymore. She woke up early, put on her gloves, and started chopping and digging. She cleared away the weeds and dug out their roots. It was hard work. At eight o’clock she had to stop, put away her tools, and go to work.

Amanda continued working on the garden early in the morning, every day. It was weeks before the last weed was finally removed. Then she planted flowers, vines and berry bushes.

The flowers bloomed, summer arrived, and the fruits grew. The garden looked gorgeous. The whole building was transformed: it actually looked inviting. It made Amanda look forward to coming home after work.

At the weekend, Amanda strolled through her new garden. She brushed the leaves with her fingertips. She smelled the fresh scent of the flowers. She felt the soft grass beneath her feet, warmed by the sun.

Many of the fruits were ripe. Amanda picked a strawberry and ate it. It was sweet, juicy and fragrant. She savoured the taste.

“Oi!” came an angry voice. “Those are mine!”

It was one of the people who lived in the apartment block. She was leaning out of her window.

“Yours?” Amanda asked, bewildered.

“That’s right,” the neighbour snapped. “You’re standing in my part of the garden. Get out of there!”

“Your part of the garden?”

“Yes, her part!” came another voice. A man was leaning out of another window. “It’s all quite clear in the official documents. And I also saw you in my part of the garden earlier, eating my blueberries! This behaviour is very antisocial. You have no right to trespass and steal our fruit.”

Amanda was deeply upset. She stormed off.

Some years later, Amanda was living in a different part of the city. She had almost forgotten about her old apartment and the garden she had made. By pure chance, she was driving through her old neighbourhood, and she passed by the old apartment block.

“Isn’t that where you used to live, honey?” her husband asked.

Amanda chuckled. “Yes, I think you’re right,” she said.

Her husband peered more closely, looking all around the building. “What a horrible tangle of weeds.”