Short Stories: Lucy Visting Amanita B

It’s been several days since Lucy last visited her new friend Chloe. Lucy promised Chloe that the next time she stopped by, she would have the samples from her friend ready. Though Lucy hadn’t gotten around to getting the samples. She had been busy with her modeling work and had forgotten about them. Today Lucy remembered her new friend and was missing their connection. So, she decided to pay Amanita B a visit to get Chloe her plant samples.

Amanita B was a longtime friend. They have known each other since they were kids. Amanita B was always fascinated with nature and always gave interesting facts about plants. One special thing about Amanita B is that she never got sick. Amanita B was the hardiest person Lucy had ever met. Her secret abilities allowed her to eat all kinds of plants, even poisonous ones, without feeling ill. Then she would journal her findings while using her body as a test subject and develop herbal uses or antidotes for even the most poisonous plants. Lucy had always admired Amanita B, she was so pretty and knowledgeable, she aspired to be just like her one day.

Upon her arrival, Lucy found Amanita B sick in bed. “Oh no! What is wrong?” Lucy asks Amanita B. 

“I think I ate something that might have made me sick. I don't feel too well today.”

“I’m sorry. I should have called before coming.” Lucy found it shocking that Amanita B was sick. She was extremely concerned. “If there is any way I can help please let me know.”

Amanita B takes up Lucy's offer, saying “I have some ingredients on my desk, if you could take the mortar and pestle and grind up the herbs. The recipe is in the open book near the herbs. I feel very weak and can’t get up, will you do that for me?”

“Of course! How could I leave a friend feeling sick. But first, it looks as if you are running a fever. Let me get you a damp cloth.” So, Lucy runs into the kitchen to get a towel to wet so she can give it to Amanita B. She comes back into the room with the wet towel and places it on Amanita B’s forehead. “How does that feel?” Lucy asks.

“Great, thanks,” Amanita B could barely muster the words.

“I'll get to work on the medicine. Don't you worry, soon enough you’ll be back on your feet!”

“Thank you.” She says weakly.

Lucy heads to Amanita B’s desk. Her house is a very low light environment, with only candles lighting up the space. Amanita B always loved the rustic feel of forest living. Most of the light came in through the windows, so the house was only well lit during the day. Her work space was always darker than the rest of the house because Amanita B said that sunlight can damage some of her specimens. She picks up the recipe book and reads the ingredients. Lucy is grateful that Amanita B also included pictures in her notebook. That makes it easier to identify the herbs. Lucy isn't all too familiar with plants but she loves to learn. Hmm… berry blossom, it's a pink droopy looking flower. She finds the ingredient on the table next to two other dried herbs. I wonder how much to put in the motor. I should ask Amanita B. But first let me read what else we need. She continues to read and identify the plants. Choco root, Arabol Leaf, and Zip Root. Lucy notices that one of the ingredients is missing as she cannot find it on the table. I need to go tell Amanita B. She quickly goes to the room Amanita B is resting in. She notices Amanita is begging to drift into sleep. “Amanita! Sorry to disturb you but we don't have any Zip Root.”

Amanita opens her sleepy eyes, “oh yes, I forgot I ran out of Zip Root the other day.” She turns her head to face Lucy directly, “If you could be a doll and forage for some.”

“No problem, anything to help you out! Just tell me where to go.” Lucy approaches closer to Amanita B so she wouldn't miss her directions. 

“Near the river by the house you can find more Zip Root, but you need to be careful. They call it Zip Root because on the stem of the plant there are prickly thorns that resemble the teeth of a zipper. So, before grabbing it with your bare hands, take some gardening gloves from my office space.”

“Okay, good to know!”

“Take the notebook with you to help identify the right plant. If you need more information, you can look it up in the back of the notebook.”

So Lucy gets ready to go out to find the Zip Root. She makes sure to bring all that she needs, gloves, snips, the notebook and a bag to hold the missing ingredient. She puts everything into her purse and heads to the river. Luckily it’s a short distance from the house so she doesn’t need to go far. She just loves exploring the backwoods with the guidance of Amanita B. Amanita B has mapped out the whole area and can recall any location like it’s the back of her hand. 

As Lucy nears the river, she notices a plethora of plants growing by the riverside. “This might take longer than I expected,” she thinks out loud. There were many kinds of plants intermingling in the brush. Some were tall, receiving the most light, and others stood low to the ground, benefitting from the shade that the taller plants created. All the plants were healthy and grew in harmony. I wonder if Amanita B has anything to do with this. Lucy spends thirty minutes looking for the right plant, digging through bushes and looking at each plant carefully. She was surprised that the Zip Root was difficult to find. Lucy expected the plant to be large and bush-like. Instead, it was more of a single stem plant growing in sporadic locations, that is why she had a harder time looking for it. Now that she has the plant she can go back to Amanita B's place and finish making the medicine.

When Lucy arrived back at the house she quickly got to work and grounded all the herbs together following the instructions on the book. She noticed at the bottom of the page there was an asterisk with the words ‘Blessed is the herbs of the earth, a gift from the creator.’ She mumbled these words to herself. Lucy didn't know what it meant, she thought maybe Amanita B was into poetry. So, she brushed it off for now and delivered the medicine to Amanita B who was still resting in bed. Amanita B took the medicine and drank it. The herbs must have been bitter because Amanita B’s eyes shot open and she sat straight up.

“I feel so much better Lucy! Thanks a million!” She gets out of bed ironing the wrinkles out of her skirt with her hands. “I must get back to work!” She heads toward her work space.

“I’m glad you are feeling so much better.” Lucy pauses for a moment, “I know you just recovered but I actually came today to see if you can check out these plant samples that I got from a friend recently.” Lucy pulls out a small bag with the many plants Chloe gave her.

“Of course! It’s not a bother Lucy.” Amanita B takes the bag and sifts through its contents, “wow how amazing! There are so many new species of plants I’ve never seen before. Where did you get these?”

“I made a friend across the foggy border in a village called Nueva Esperanza. She has been working to rebuild what her community once had. But because of pollution and disaster these weird plants started to grow and she currently hasn’t found a good use for them. So I told her that I knew someone who may help out.”

Amanita B thinks, “hmmm. Sounds interesting. I would like to have a closer look at the environment before proceeding with the project. Do you think you can take me some time?”

“Of course!” Lucy claps her hands together in excitement.

“For now I will jot these plants down in my journal and do a couple simple experiments.” Amanita B begins to write in her journal the descriptions of the plant and drawing the samples in her notebook. Leaving space at the bottom of the journal page for other notes she needs to obtain. Lucy sat in the office observing Amanita B while she did some tests on the plants. Lucy spent her whole evening at Amanita B’s house, discussing her findings about the plant. They chatted over a new herbal tea blend that Amanita B put together. Lucy always enjoys her time with Amanita B, she just doesn’t have time to visit very often.

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It has been about a year since I last updated the Muffin Milk universe story. I needed a well-deserved break to get the brain working again. I have introduced a new character named after the destroying angel mushroom, Amanita bisporigera. Which is a deadly poisonous mushroom, and you shouldn't eat it! You can check out my blog on deadly mushrooms for more kinds of poisonous mushrooms to avoid. Thanks for reading! Don't forget to follow the story. Want more short stories? Click on the short stories tab in the blog menu.

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