The Yellow Flower

I have always liked flowers. They're very lovely. However, I can't smell them unless they're very strong. Actually, I can smell very little, and as for skunk, I can't smell it at all. So, this does lead to some hilarity. When I was little, we used to live near a big pond, where I used to play. It was a nice, deep pond, shaded by trees that were reflected in its murky depths. I used to hunt for frogs, tadpoles, and minnows under the boughs of hemlocks, and cedars. I'd sit on the little, rotting dock, and watch as the cedar and hemlock needles swirled around the posts holding up the dock as I crouched waiting for a bullfrog tadpole to come close enough for me to grab. Many tadpoles wisely stayed out of reach as they nibbled on the algae covered posts. Frustrating things. I did catch some when I was little and raised them in a terrarium to froghood. Surprisingly, no matter how big or small the tadpoles were, they always came out looking like normal frogs, not the monstrous giants I expected. Along the banks of the pond, near the muddy edges, I found some plants with big green leaves and some large yellow blossoms which looked a little like yellow calla lillies. I thought they were quite lovely and I picked one for my mum. I took it home to mum where I proudly presented it to her. And then...my brother exclaimed very loudly that my flower stank and that I had to take it out of the house. And then I discovered just what flower I had picked. I had picked...a skunk cabbage. Yes, I had picked a flower that smelled like a skunk and had brought it into the house and given it to my mother and stared at her hoping she would be delighted with it. My mother had the grace to thank me for the flower before tossing it out. I still have no idea what skunk smells like. Go figure.

These, in case you were wondering, are NOT skunk cabbage. These are callla lillies.

 Shockingly enough, I can't smell them, either, but my Mum and I are BOTH allergic to them. So, Skunk Cabbage or Calla Lilly, the story would never have ended well.