Alma was a plant lady. She gladly called herself that. Some women were cat ladies, or other kinds of ladies, or not ladies at all, but Alma was a self proclaimed plant lady.
She loved her plants. She had 79 of them in her little one bedroom apartment, of all different varieties, and taking care of them was her favourite pastime. She would water them, sing to them, fertilize them, give them plant food, talk to them, spritz them, mist them, cry to them, watch TV with them, prune them, read to them, and even steam them in the shower.
Alma loved all of her plants, but one of them was her favourite, though she never said this out loud. It was a large, majestic monstera, with huge, perforated leaves that reached the ceiling and branched out to take up a full corner of her living room. She tried to give all of her plants equal attention, but she couldn't help turning to the monstera a little more, stroking its leaves while she sang to it. It was just so big, its leaves so thick and green and glossy, she couldn't help but be drawn to it. And the monstera seemed to thrive under her attention.
Alma worked as a receptionist for a construction company, at the main office in a building downtown. She got a lot of attention from men - and some women - she had big breasts, a pretty face and a warm smile, and she knew that that appealed to some people. She didn't dress overly sexy and didn't act overly flirty, but still, people were always asking her for her number or to follow her on social media or to go out for drinks. But she wasn't interested in most people, talking to them was hard and their bodies and faces and smiles didn't matter to her. She didn't give out her number, she wasn't on social media, she didn't drink. She just liked to go to work - well, she went because she had to, where else would she get plant money? - and then go home to her plants. On weekends she would sometimes visit plant nurseries and garden centres and flower stores and she would talk to the people who worked in those places because, like her, they liked plants. But if they gave her more attention than she wanted, she would leave.
Her true joy was being at home, surrounded by her plants. Alma felt energized and revitalized by them. And so she was happy to pour all of her attention into them, especially the monstera.
On a day like any other, Alma had just arrived home from work, and she saw that one of the leaves of the monstera had turned; it used to face the window on the other side of the room - all of the leaves did - but now it faced towards the door. Because she was so in tune with her plants, this was immediately noticeable to her. She walked over and stroked it, murmuring, "Awww, were you waiting for me to get home, dear one? Did you miss me? I missed you," before breaking into one of her favourite songs to accompany her stroking of the leaf. It seemed to her that the plant relished her gentle stroking and singing, it seemed greener and glossier when she was done.
She soon moved into her bedroom and started to remove her clothes, changing from her work outfit into something comfier to wear at home. She had just removed her bra and was doing some light stretching to enjoy the feeling of being released from that cage, when she glanced through the open door to her living room, and saw the monstera. Its corner was near the door to the apartment and across the living room from the door to her bedroom. She noticed it because, as she stood there topless, three of its leaves - including the one she had stroked at the door - had turned to face the open door to her bedroom. It was strange because the leaves didn't usually move so much as they did that day. And never to face anywhere but towards the window. But Alma felt comforted by it. Like it was watching over her. Like it was watching over her and liked what it saw.
She finished removing all of her clothes and stood fully naked in front of her open bedroom door and imagined that the monstera was drinking in the sight of her and getting nourished by it, like it did from the water and the plant food and the fertilizer she gave it regularly. She turned this way and that, so it could see all of her. She wasn't surprised that it looked a bit taller and fuller and the leaves even larger and glossier when she was done. Here she had been depriving her plants of sustenance they so clearly needed, all this time, without realising it!
From that day forward, she stopped wearing clothes in her apartment. And all of the plants flourished, but most noticeably the monstera. It was positively lustrous, and Alma was more drawn to it than ever. And she couldn't get past the idea that it was drawn to her too. More and more of its leaves would be pointed in whatever direction she was in, as though she were the sun and the plant needed her to survive. She loved that, feeling needed, and especially by such a beautiful being as the monstera.