A Man All Covered in Flowers

My daughter is scared

Of a man

All covered in flowers

She’s told me

That she’s seen him

But there’s nobody here

It’s just us on the island

And the ferry only comes in

Once or twice a month

Depending when Cliff

Can get here

The island is small

We’ve gone over

Every inch of it

She and I

We’re so comfortable here

And it’s so--it’s so safe

That the night she shot up in bed

Screaming about the man

Covered in flowers

I got her up

Took our flashlights

And we went walking

Around the island

So she could see

That it was just us

She didn’t seem hesitant

To go walking with me that night

And that should have startled me

Her lack of fear

After such a bad nightmare

But I had so much work

Ahead of me

The next day

We were doing an inventory

Of our supplies

And because of how I process

And handle numbers

I need to give that task

My total focus

That means once I showed my daughter

That we were alone on the island

I put her back to bed

And then I made myself some coffee

And started the count early

But I didn’t think about why

She was so easily coaxed

To go survey our isolation

Like the gods playing

Some sort of joke on me

When I went back to check on her

A few hours later

She was gone

I didn’t panic--at first

She likes to go exploring

So I went looking for her

And it was only when

I saw the rowboat

On the shore

That I began to worry

The boat hadn’t been there

When she and I were looking around

Or I thought it wasn’t

But it was dark

And it’s possible

We didn’t shine our flashlight

On that part of the shore

And inside the rowboat

There were flower petals

Red and purple

And I think
I saw a golden-colored one

But I might be making that up

I went back to the house

And got my rifle

Then I started circling out

In the way my father had taught me

He was the best tracker

In the Pacific Northwest

And when we moved here

He taught me the best way

To approach covering the island

If I needed to

And I tried to remember

Every word he said

It took me until I got

All the way

To the center of the island

Before I found her

She was sitting at the feet

Of a man

But not a man

A bundle of flowers

Shaped into the form of a man

And tied together with straw

So tightly

That it created the illusion

Of muscle made up of flora

My daughter turned to look at me

As I approached

And I could see that

Whatever fear she had

When the man all covered in flowers

Appeared to her in her nightmare

It had vanished in the man’s presence

She smiled at me

And just then

The flower man

Reached down

To pick her up

I aimed my rifle

Not knowing

What would happen

When I fired