In the Garden

This piece won first place in the San Antonio Writers' Guild Fall 2023 mini writing contest. The prompts were:

350 words max (Did not need to be a complete story)

"You find something on the table which should not be there."

In the Garden

There was a gnome on the table. Not a plastic gnome waiting to be set in the garden, but a real little man with a bulbous nose and a pointy red hat.

              Bea contemplated walking back out the door, but instead, she threw down her purse and stood there a moment.

              The gnome’s plump little fingers were definitely waving, but that was the only thing amiss. Bea walked closer. Perhaps he was a toy left for her by her best friend. A definite misuse of her key privileges.

              Bea poked a timid finger into the gnome’s belly.

              “I beg your pardon!” He stopped waving and scowled. “Is this how you always greet someone?”

              Bea stumbled backward. Her head swam. “What are you? Why are you on my table?”

              The gnome bowed, catching his red hat as it slipped. “I am Cornelious Cornflower III, and I need your help.”

              Bea scrunched her face in confusion. “What do you need from me?”

              “Do you not own the yard out front?”

              “I rent the yard out front, technically.” Bea peered out the window from the corner of her eye. “But I don’t have any lawn gnomes.”

              “I beg your pardon!” Cornelious stomped his foot, rattling a teacup sitting next to him. “A lawn gnome? I am a garden gnome, thank you very much!”

              Bea didn’t see a difference, but fire in the little gnome’s eyes begged to differ. “I apologize. I have no garden gnomes either.”

              Cornelious huffed, crossing his arms. “None of my people live in your yard, but there is something buried in your garden belonging to my great-grandfather. Something that my people desperately need.”

              “You can dig in my garden,” Bea said.

              “No, I cannot. Not while that vile beast is roaming about.”

              Bea looked to the window and saw her orange tabby, Buttons peering through the window and swishing his tail. No wonder the cat had been so eager to lay in the garden lately.  She asked, “What would we be digging up? What did your great grandfather bury?”

              The little gnome hopped off the table. “His bones.”