Fiction

The Chrysanthemums

The story opens with a panoramic view of the Salinas Valley in winter. The focus narrows and finally settles on Elisa Allen, cutting down the spent stalks of chrysanthemums, in the garden on her husband’s ranch. Elisa is thirty-five, lean and strong, and she approaches her gardening with great energy.[1] Her husband, Henry, comes from across the yard, where he had been arranging the sale of the thirty steers. Then he offers to take Elisa to town so they can celebrate the sale. He praises her skill with flowers, and she congratulates him on doing well in the negotiations for the steer. They seem to be a well-matched couple, though their way of talking together is formal and serious. While talking about their plan to go out, Henry jokingly asks Elisa if she would like to see a fight. With disinterest, Elisa refuses and says she wouldn't like it. They agree on dinner and a movie instead. Elisa decides to finish her transplanting before they get ready to leave for town

Oct 24, 2018 | 16 min read
John Steinbeck
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AJ Vosse

Oct 29, 2018

Longing for the past or, maybe the future... wishing to be somewhere else or someone different... regrets...

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