The Garden Gnome

Robin’s elderly mother, Carol, became very sick, so she packed up her life and moved back home to take care of her. Robin tried to get her brother David and sister Maddie to come and help her, but they refused. They felt their lives and family were too important to give up to help their mother. Since her father passed away from Cancer three years ago and she and her siblings moved away and started their own families, Carol was all alone in a great big house she refused to give up. 

Robin arrived at the house two days after the phone call came that her mother was sick. As she walked up to the front door, she noticed her mother’s yard had a bunch of garden gnomes, pink flamingos, small woodland animals, and other lawn ornaments. She carefully knocked on the door and her mother answered the door. “ROBIN! I AM GLAD YOU CAME HOME!!” Carol screamed. 

“Mom, I thought you were dying,” Robin said

“Oh no. I only said that so you would come and visit me. I have seen none of you kids in over a year.” Carol said as she touched Robin’s face.

“Mom, all you have to do is ask and I would have come out for a visit,” Robin said

“Yeah, you would have, but you would have stayed for a couple of days and then leave again,” Carol said

Robin headed inside, but couldn’t help but to glance back at the gnomes in the garden. 

After they headed inside, they headed towards the kitchen “can I get you some tea, my dear?” Carol asked

“Um, no Mom. Just some coffee, please. By the way, when did you get those gnomes in your garden.” Robin asked.

“I think about a year ago. Aren’t they cute? I just love them. They make my outside so welcoming.” Carol delightfully said.

“Well mom, they are very creepy. Maybe you should get rid of them.” Robin said.

“Oh no, I can’t they make me smile. I go trim my garden and smile because they are so cheery.” Carol said with a gigantic smile on her face.

“Alright, mom. Where am I sleeping? I am getting a little tired and I want to take a nap before dinner. If that’s alright?” Robin 

The two women walked up to the bedrooms and Carol said, “I left your room the way you had it before you moved.” 

“Why Mom?” Robin asked

“I knew you would come back home eventually,” Carol said as she touched Robin’s face.

Robin walked into her room, put her bags down, and opened the window. The room was very stuffy like it hadn’t been aired out in years. As she opened the window, she saw more garden gnomes sitting underneath her window. She mumbled “creepy” to herself and walked away from the window. 

After unpacking her belongings, Robin lay down and took a nap. As she was napping, she heard a quiet laugh. She lifted her head, but no one was there. She put her head back on the pillow and fell back asleep. 

A couple of hours later, Carol woke her up so that the two could have dinner together. There was no conversation until Robin finally said, “Hey Mom, do you ever hear laughing when there is no one in the room.”

“Yes, I do. All the time, it’s my little gnome friends they like to play tricks on each other and us in the middle of the night.” Carol said as she carefully cut her meat. 

“Are you serious? I think it was some of the neighbor kids playing a trick or playing a couple of yards over.” Robin said as she tried to finish her dinner. 

“I am serious. Robin.” Carol said.

The two stayed silent the rest of the night and each went to bed, not saying a word to one another. 

Throughout the night, Robin once again heard laughing, but this time it was coming from inside the room with her. Robin opened one eye and quickly glanced around the room. She noticed something zipping around the room. She sat up straight and saw one gnome sitting on her dresser; it smiled at her and then zipped out the window. Robin jumped out of bed and closed the window. She ran back to bed and, like a child, covered her head with the blanket and hoped it was all a dream.

The next morning, Robin walked down the stairs and heard her mother in the kitchen. She was cooking a breakfast that could feed fifty people. “Mom, why are you cooking so much food?” Robin asked.

“I am cooking for us and the gnomes. They need to eat too,” Carol said as she flipped a pancake. 

“Mom, they don’t need to eat,” Robin said

“Yes, they do, Robin,” Carol said

“They are ceramic garden gnomes. They don’t eat.” Robin said.

“Are you sure about that, Robin? Didn’t one come into your room last night?” Carol said, 

Robin stared at Carol but said nothing to her. Carol finished cooking, piled the food onto a platter, and left it outside for the gnomes to eat.

After breakfast, Robin got dressed and headed into town without her mother. Robin wanted to figure out what was going on with her mother; she was hoping it was something like a brain tumor or something wrong with her head to think that the gnomes were alive and eating. Robin first visited her mother’s doctor’s office. She wanted to see if there was anything wrong with Carol. The doctor couldn’t tell her much, but he said she is in good health and doesn’t have any mental issues. Robin left the office very frustrated. She wanted to know what was wrong with her mother. Robin walked around the town and realized she was being watched by the other people in town. She checked out some shops and saw what she had missed in town. 

When night came, Robin walked home. She didn’t know what crazy thing her mother had in store for her when she arrived. Was her mother going to be cooking dinner for the gnomes? Was she running a bath for them? Robin carefully walked into the house and when she got in, her mother was waiting for her on the couch. “Did you enjoy talking to my, doctor, today?” Carol said.

“How did you know?” Robin asked

“He called me and said MY DAUGHTER WAS ASKING ABOUT MY SANITY!!” Carol yelled. 

“Well, mom some things are ABSOLUTELY CRAZY! I needed to talk to a doctor because I needed some answers.” Robin said.

“I don’t want to see you tonight. GO TO YOUR ROOM.” Carol shouted.

Robin stormed off to her bedroom and thought about leaving in the morning because she couldn’t take her mother’s delusions. She started packing her bags; she left her job and friends behind to come home and watch her mother feed plastic garden gnomes. Robin continued to pack her bags and decided she could finish in the morning. She decided she was going to leave around lunchtime so she could miss all rush hour traffic. Robin went to bed and fell asleep.

The night went on without a problem, but it wasn’t long before noises woke her up. She once again heard laughing and things being knocked around her room. She waited and saw if one jumped on the bed and then she would try to grab it. A couple of minutes after the noises started, she felt something crawling on her bed. She waited until it came a little closer when she grabbed it. She grabbed one gnome and pulled it close to her face. Robin stared at its face and realized it looked very familiar to her. “Dad?” Robin asked.

The gnome winked at her and tried to bite her face. Robin screamed and threw the gnome out the window. She got up and ran out of the bedroom. She pounded on her mother’s door and screamed and when her mother opened the door, she asked, “Robin, what is wrong?” 

“The gnome LOOKS LIKE DAD!!” Robin screamed 

“No, baby, it just doesn’t look like your father. It is your father. I should know I made him that way.” Carol said with an enormous smile on her face. 

“What?” Robin said

“I made him that way. Come on, walk with me.” Carol said as she grabbed Robin’s arm.

The two women walked outside and walked onto the front lawn. Carol grabbed the gnome that Robin tossed out of her bedroom and placed it in the center of the lawn. “Now Hugh, you have been a bad boy scaring Robin like that. See, Robin, your father was cheating on me with our neighbor Nancy for about a year and I found out. So instead of being the talk of the town and having everyone know, my husband of over 30 years was cheating on me. I went to the Spiritual Shop in town and she taught me some black magic and I turned him and Nancy into gnomes and told everyone he died, including you and your siblings. Robin, everyone out here wronged me.” Carol said.

Robin tried to back away from her mother, but Carol had a good grip on her daughter’s arm. “Let me go, mom. I think I am going to leave tonight. I need to go home.”

“See Robin, you can’t leave now, you know too much,” Carol said

Robin ran back into the house, but Carol quickly ran after her. “Transformus Gnomus!” Carol yelled and pointed at Robin. 

Robin quickly turned into a Garden Gnome, but instead of being put in the garden like her father, Robin was put on the mantel over the fireplace. 

The only thing Robin could do was stare out of a hard plastic shell and think to herself, I am not a gnome. 

“I AM NOT A GNOME! I AM NOT A GNOME.” Robin screamed from inside her padded room. 

The doctor walked out of the room to greet Carol and Hugh. 

“Today’s delusion is that she is a gnome and Carol you turned her into one.” The Doctor said.

“I don’t even own gnomes. They are kind of creepy and she knows that.” Carol said.

“I don’t understand why this happened to her. Was it something we did?” Hugh asked as he gripped Carol’s hand tightly. 

“Well, this started when her son and husband died in the car crash and it just progressed. I don’t know if she will ever be the same, but we will try our best.” The doctor said.

Carol and Hugh cried on each other’s shoulders. They could hear Robin’s screams become louder and louder. “I AM NOT A GNOME!”