Lily had been looking forward to starting school. Her new mum and dad had told her how good it would be. She would learn how to get strong roots, learn how to grow big and tall and most importantly she would learn how to flower.
The teacher was called Rose. She was tall and bushy. Although she had prickly thorns, she also had wonderful red flowers and she smelt gorgeous. She met Lily at the door and held leaves with her as they entered the class room.
All the other young plants had been to school before. Lily hadn’t. Her birth mum had never taken her. Now she was living with her adopted parents everything was different.
Rose showed her to a patch of ground where she could settle herself comfortable into the moist soil. It was hard to concentrate on what the teacher was saying. The plants next to her kept rustling and whispering.
‘Look at her leaves,’ said a purple begonia plant. ‘They’re so plain.’
‘Yeah. Who wants boring green leaves like that?’
‘And she’s got no trunk,’ said a young dragon tree proudly showing off its mottled bark and the red edges on its sword shaped leaves.
‘I bet she can’t even flower,’ said the begonia and gentle shook herself to make her own pink flowers shimmer.
The next morning Lily didn’t want to go to school. She hated her leaves, she wanted a trunk and she knew she would never be able to produce beautiful flowers like the begonia. She shouted and screamed and threw dirt all over the place. Her mum held her until she calmed down and then took her to school even though they would be very late.
Lily waited until her mum left and then she started making changes to herself. She cut most of her leaves off until there were only a few left. She trimmed all her stems until there was only one remaining and then she pulled in her few leaves so that it looked like she had a trunk. She couldn’t do anything to make flowers appear but at least no one could tease her about her boring leaves and no one could say that she didn’t have a trunk.
The teacher looked surprised when she collected Lilly from the corridor. She asked Lily if she was unwell.
‘No. I am very well. Do you like my trunk?’ said Lily.
‘I didn’t think lily plants had trunks,” said the teacher.
They entered the classroom and the other young plants all laughed. The teacher told them to stop laughing but it was too late. Lily rushed back into the corridor. She couldn’t understand what had happened. She had no boring leaves and she had a trunk. Why didn’t they like her?
Lily’s mum came back to school and picked her up. She didn’t take her home. She took her to a nearby park. She didn’t say anything but Lily could see she was disappointed.
Lily usually played in the park for hours. She had always liked the feel of the wind on her leaves as she swung on the swing or whirled on the roundabout. But with so few leaves left she couldn’t feel the wind.
‘I want to show you something,’ said mum. ‘Come with me.’
Mum led Lily into a massive greenhouse. Inside was warm and moist and the sun shone brightly through the large glass windows. They went along the aisle and suddenly Lily stopped.
In front of her were the most beautiful flowers she had ever seen. Each flower was huge and each one had the most amazing colours. There were white ones and orange ones and yellow ones and pink ones with purple dots.
She started to walk closer but suddenly she stopped again. There was the most incredible smell. It was coming from the flowers.
‘They are all lilies,’ said her mum. ‘All lilies like you. And like you they have plain green leaves. Like you they do not have trunks, and like you they can make the most beautiful flowers in the world. You don’t need to be like the other young plants. You just need to be yourself.’
Lily cried. She was scared that she had hurt herself so much that she would never be a beautiful Lily. But her mum told her she would soon grow again and then she would have enough strength to produce her flowers.
Lily needed strong roots to get enough energy. She needed lots of warm sunshine. She needed lots of refreshing water. She needed help and encouragement to produce new leaves and new stems and eventually she was able to produce one single flower bud.
The other young plants were amazed to see Lily’s beautiful flower. She didn’t have enough energy to keep it for long but her mum told her that she had done her best and that was enough. She now needed to rest and next year she would be able to produce many more flowers.