Minus the Spine

Just giving AGNI Online a read and came across this lovely, lilting story, Water Garden by Louise Jarvis Flynn. Family dynamics are thrown against modern walls in this story about a mother trying to please both her hippied-out adult daughter and very different second husband. Centrally, it’s also about what parts of a shared history are held on to and what parts surrendered. The writing is very acute and scenes are touching; some smiles here too: “He’s a tulip man, and I can live with that.”