It was a gift and a surprise. A tendril appeared from between my orchid’s thick green leaves. Soon it was a stem. Before long, blossoms budded and hung like unripe fruit. 

I was overjoyed.

Never before had I coaxed an orchid to bloom. 

I checked every one for progress. Then I noticed the flowers withering, unopened. On closer inspection I found the sticky white mites that plague my plants. 

I hurried the orchid into the kitchen and dampened a cloth. 

Gingerly I wiped them off. But each sticky colony seemed to beget another on my orchid’s stem. I grew frustrated. 

In my fury, the flower snapped. 

The world is filled with beasts and pests whose bottomless appetites devour beauty so ravenously that even gentle hands seeking to save become destroyers.

Reporter and writer. I cover energy, climate change and geopolitics. Contact me via my website www.alexanderckaufman.com and subscribe to kaufman.substack.com.