Perhaps Some Change

I got a Venus fly-trap on Friday. I set it up in my living room. I was so excited at the prospect of it devouring flies. I waited for the feast to begin. Flies buzzed around the fly-trap. One landed right inside the mouth. I was shaking in anticipation. But the fly-trap didn’t eat it. The fly flew away.

I said to the Venus fly-trap, “What’s wrong?”

The fly-trap said, “What do you mean?”

I said, “How come you didn’t eat the fly?”

The fly-trap said, “I don’t care for flies.”

I said, “What do you mean? It’s in your name. It’s what you do.”

The fly-trap said, “Your name is Brooks, but you’re not actually a flowing stream of water.”

I said, “This is very disappointing. What is it then that you eat?”

The fly-trap said, “I prefer sunlight and water.”

I was so angry that I wanted to throw the Venus fly-trap out my window to the street below which I’d done last week with a sunflower that wanted to live in the darkness of my closet. But like my girlfriend is always saying, “You out to really develop a sense of compassion.”

So I said, “Okay.” I put the fly-trap near the window where the sunlight falls. I watered the plant. Then I sat and waited to see if my heart would grow.