Riding his bike hands-free along the country road, he was past it before he could realize what it was that he had seen. A green plastic garbage bag filled with something had been tossed in the ditch from a passing car. He wondered what it might be. Clothes? Something he could sell or maybe keep for himself? He’d found lost tools many times that had bounced from the trailers of careless tradesmen. “Probably just garbage” thought Jerry trying to dampen his expectations. Setting his bike aside on the gravel he strode into the ditch and opened the bag. A plant. More exactly a shrub. But what kind, he wondered.

Jerry had been involved in lawn maintenance for several years and he loved working the soil and planting things to enliven a yard or a public park. Over the years, the many knocks of his childhood life had led him to self medicate with whatever the street could provide. still, he kept his work on track for a good while, but then his mom fell ill. He stayed with her for the many months until she finally let go. They were the best times he had had with his mom. The loss of his mom however was more than he could handle and he found solace with those companions of misery on the city’s streets. Eventually he found his way through the courts to land at Kate’s Rest.

Tenderly he planted his shrub in the front garden caring for it, talking to it, making it feel at home. And then, today, the excitement. It had a blossom, bright and golden yellow like the morning sun of summer that would give him hope in his shadow days on the streets. Jerry was pleased. And like the hibiscus, Jerry too had blossomed with the knowledge that he had helped another to find a home at Kate’s Rest.