On A Bed Of Roses

Chapter 3 - Poisonous

That weekend Felix came over and indeed they made their homework. He was a little annoyed that Felix kept asking questions about the assignments, why couldn't he just let him work in peace, but when he realised that this was a way to show off his knowledge, it became it little less annoying. After just a few hours they were all done for the next week.

"Wow, everything's done already?" Felix asked. "That saves you a ton of time, doesn't it?

"Well we still have those tests we have to learn for, so not everything is done."

An amused grin spread across Felix's face. "No wonder you get such good grades, you never take a break, do you?

"I...I just need to get good grades, that's all"

"Need to or want to?" Felix looked at him a little suspicious.

"If I want to stay as good as Marina, I need good grades." He was getting frustrated with Felix, he didn't want to spend all his free time studying, but if he was ever going to get some attention he needed, yes needed, to be better or at least as good as Marina.

"Isn't that taking your regular sibling rivalry a little too far?"

"That's none of your business," he snapped back at him, getting tired of this interrogation. Felix looked a little shocked at his sudden reaction, but decided it be for the best to just let it go.

"Well, since we're done, why don't you show me that garden?"

"Yeah sure, let's go."

Glad that he didn't have to explain why he needed to beat Marina, he led the way downstairs to the garden. Even though the house was large enough on its own, Felix still seemed a little surprised that it also had such a large garden.

"You weren't kidding, this does look like a tiny paradise." Felix looked around, taking in all the beautiful flowers and plants. They walked over to the middle of the garden, where there was a table with four chairs around it. He had hoped that someday they might have dinner right there, but so far his parents hadn't liked eating outside. "Too much bugs," they had said. He set down their glasses of water on the table and took a seat, while Felix seemed determined to touch every plant in the garden. When he made his way over to his rosebush he stopped him. It was a delicate plant and he cared about it the most, just to be sure he didn't want Felix touching it.

He mentioned that he had a patch with edible plants and flowers and of course Felix wanted to taste all of them. With every new plant he had asked: "Is this one edible too?" When he said that everything in the wooden planter was edible, he stopped asking it about every plant. He walked over to the table for a moment to get his water.

"Are you sure this one is edible?" Felix asked. "My mouth kind of burns."

"What did you eat?" he asked a little panicked.

"Well this green and white one." Felix held up a leaf from his Dieffenbachia.

"Fuck, that one is poisonous!" he exclaimed. "We have to get you to a hospital."

Felix's eyes went wide when he heard that he'd eaten a poisonous plant. He saw his panic and tried to explain that only his tongue and throat would slowly swell up, if they got to a hospital in time it could easily be treated. Reassuringly he added that only in rare cases does the mouth swell up so much someone can't breathe anymore and die. However the good intended advice didn't really help at all.

"Well don't just stand there than, let's get to a hospital!" Felix screamed in pure panic after hearing that he could die.

He hurried inside to get his parents. He quickly explained what happened and his father rushed into the garden to get Felix, while his mother got the car. They got to the hospital as fast as they could and handed Felix over to a doctor after telling what he had eaten.

"Alastair, how could you let this happen?!" his mother exclaimed frustrated.

"I...I didn't do anything."

"No, that's the problem."

"What...what could I have done? Felix ate the plant!" he didn't understand why his mother was angry at him, he hadn't done anything wrong!

"Felix ate the plant, because you said he could."

"No, I said he could eat the plants that were in the wooden planter! The Dieffenbachia was not in the wooden planter!"

His mother sighed deeply and rubbed her eyes, "Well it must have been otherwise Felix wouldn't have tried eating it."

Were they really blaming this on him? He had turned around for a second and now it was his fault? No this was not his fault, Felix had eaten the plant, he couldn't have predicted that he would eat a poisonous plant. It's not even such a deadly plant, it's very treatable. But maybe he had planted it too close to the edible plants? He would apologize to Felix anyway, he had led him to the garden, but he was going to take all the blame.

After getting the call that her son was in the hospital, Felix's mother had joined them in the waiting room. He had apologized to her and she had thanked him for apologizing, but also told him that Felix always does these kinds of stupid things.

"He still gets me worried, but I think this was probably not your fault Alastair. Felix just 'likes to live dangerously'. His words not mine" she said with a smile on her face.

This reaction surprised him so much after his own mother had blamed the whole thing on him immediately. He didn't know what to say, so he just smiled at her.

After receiving a mix of analgesics and antihistamines, Felix was doing a little better and got to go home with his mother. He apologized to Felix as well, but he smiled like nothing had happened and said that they should do this again some time. Felix laughed at his own sarcasm as he and his mom walked over to their car. He waved them off and got into the car with his parents. The ride home was awfully silent. He made a mental note to himself to replant the Dieffenbachia somewhere else when he got home.