Confidential Paradise

The wind danced softly, running its hands gently over the entire space. Lightly tracing the fronds of the smaller trees, dancing with the green ceiling far above her head. Tickling at the fields of pink and purple that were hidden away in this tiny little forest, hidden atop an apartment building in Melbourne's south-east.

In the middle of this dark space, was a thirty year old woman, completely lost to the wonder of it all.

It was chance that she had discovered this place. Entirely chance. She knew of rooftop gardens, of course, but this one was something altogether more. Calling this place a garden would be an insult - it was a paradise.

She had been at another apartment building, standing in front of the camera with her microphone, as she spoke about the hard injustices the tenants were facing. Their landlord had jacked up the prices by more than double, and the government just shrugged.

It was from there, after the broadcast, when she'd been leaning on the edge of the building and gazing out across the city in a deep melancholy, that she had spotted this little paradise.

She'd instantly tried to find it.

There had been no doorman, and nobody inside to direct her. An untidy and cheap-feeling building. A non-working elevator, and graffiti'd stairwell... With an absolute paradise atop.

Of course, she hadn't stopped trying to find an owner. She was a reporter. All the same, when she could, she escaped the hustle and bustle.

Audrey carefully set out her picnic rug, making sure it touched only grass, and not a single one of the beautiful flowers. Then, she set out her teapot, and poured out hot water from a well-insulated metal water bottle.

The colours swirled in front of her, giving a brief puff of jasmine to join the scents of this place. Mingling in kindly, as she felt all the tension running out of her shoulders, down her back, and leaving via a tingling of her toes.

***

The wind whipped violently at Audrey's hair, as she tried to keep it tucked out of her eyes.

Behind her a construction yard was in full swing. Dirt and stone crunched and puffed, as Audrey tried to trust the sound manager and speak above it all.

"You can see the people behind me. It would be unfair to call these people protesters, Tom. This was their home. Taken from them by greed, avarice, and nothing but an unforgiving appetite for profits."

There were two rows of people - those who had rented here because it was cheap enough not to twist the knife. Until the tower owner had decided to knock the whole place down.

"I'm told the new apartments will be five star, and cater exclusively to the millionaire club. There'll be a series of restaurants, gyms, and even a shopping mall. None of it open to the public. All built where these people just tried to sleep."

The crowd behind her briefly overwhelmed as they burst into chanting. "No gold for gold diggers! No gold for gold diggers!"

Whoever came up with that... Needed to rethink it.

It was more than just unsympathetic. The CEO acting as a figurehead in this was both a woman, and Asian. Calling her out in that way was sexist, but it probably also came across as racist - considering how Asians were treated here in the mines, a couple hundred years ago.

Probably not the protest's intent, but getting them the public's sympathy might just be beyond Audrey's skills.

A rough and angry hand grabbed her microphone, and Audrey found herself standing next to a bearded man in heavily stained light-green overalls. He didn't take the microphone entirely, just pulling it to speak. "This isn't some investment! They aren't building something new, here. They're taking what little someone had, and grinding it into dust! There's no water for a garden, they're just pouring out concrete to kill the life that had grown here!"

Audrey pulled back the microphone a little, "You're not talking about losing a livelihood, but a life. Tell me more about that."

"There were families here." He said earnestly, looking at her in disbelief, as if it were not a question that needed to be asked. "You're not going to hear the dribble of a soccer ball down their golden halls. You're not going to hear a dozen dinners cooking away at the end of a long day. You won't hear the laughter of children echoing the walls. If they do things they want... You won't hear a single thing at all."

"It'll just be a synthetic thing, then?" She prompted him to try and clench shut the argument that would appeal to so many people.

He nodded grimly, "It'll be a shopping mall. Not a field of dreams."

"You heard him, folks. Millionaires, stealing the dreams of children."

***

Audrey flopped backwards onto her picnic rug, her hair failing to floof outwards, so she had to push it out with her hands. She felt exhausted, after a day of pursuing more soundbites for the building story.

That had been followed up by running the weather, because the forecaster was on parental leave. She really didn't understand a thing about barometry or precipitation, but she had a nice face and a running leg, and so the producers pushed her to the front.

She sighed heavily, closing her eyes and listening to the garden.

Somewhere above she could hear two little tweets, going back and forth. Nervous little twits, calling out before going quiet. Scared little voices. She smiled as she imagined it like two teenagers, asking out on a first date.

Her first date had certainly not been a confident thing.

Audrey had been the one to ask. She'd twirled her hair with one hand as she asked him out to the icecream store that had just opened. Twirled so tightly she'd actually managed to pull a half dozen strands out of her scalp.

She'd been such a shy thing, back in those days. In private, she supposed that she still was. She knew how to speak to people, how to project and stand tall. She could get noticed, whenever she wanted. That had all come from her job, learning it day by day.

She got tired doing it, though. The way she wanted to spend her days was... Exactly like this. Surrounded by flowers, listening to the peace of a bird's day, whilst there was no one to call her name or yell at her. Nothing to tighten her shoulders, or firm her jaw.

The stresses of the people she'd spoken to, their entire upset futures, melted away in this little corner of paradise. Here, she could lie still and enjoy the smallest parts of life.

"What the devil do you think you're doing!?"

Audrey sat up fast enough that her eyes boggled and she had to blink to see that standing right in front of her, was a gardener. He was covered from knee to gumboot'd toe in a thick and black mud. Gardening gloves crusted with more.

His mouth was turned down, and he was looking at her in an incensed rage.

She swallowed, and fell back into her training, even as her heart beat franticly in her ears. "So... I guess this is your place, then."

He nodded, "So what are you doing here, hack?"

Audrey blinked again, taking in his unkempt beard, and stared, "Oh wow. You're... Him? That apartment block is close, I guess."

"I'm not going to ask you, again."

She stood up quickly, and started rolling up her picnic rug. "Sorry, sorry. I just... I found this place? I couldn't find anyone who knew whose it was. It's just... Beautiful. It's perfect. You've done something amazing here."

"I... It isn't perfect." He became uncertain.

Audrey looked up at him curiously, "I... Do know, that you don't own this place. It's being repossessed, but both companies are also being repossessed, so no one really owns it, yet. It's beautiful. I won't come here, again. Not unless you let me. So... Can I... Who is it for? For you?"

He gave a heavy sigh, "Guess I owe you that much. It's for the kids. A place for them to escape. They're growing up in a city that hates them. They don't have a place that's green, and they don't have a place where no one will scream a slur at 'em. They need an escape."

She stared at him for a moment, before bursting into a huge smile, "That... Is amazing! You're amazing."

"You're leaving." He reminded her.

Audrey winced, "I... I'm not going to tell anyone. Really. I just... I wish I could help, sort of."

"I don't deal with hacks." He sneered, and pointed in the direction of the stairwell.

***

Audrey buried a small and guilty feeling of disappointment when she saw that the gardener wasn't with the protestors, that day. Probably trying to build the kids an escape.

She was wearing a nicer dress, today. Mostly because Audrey had a suspicion that her bosses weren't going to be pleased with her report, today. She wouldn't get away with it at all, if this wasn't a live broadcast.

Someone needed to speak up for these people.

The light on the camera flicked, and the man lowered a fist, signalling that they were live. Audrey dropped her smile, and put on her firmest of firm faces. She couldn't quite do grim, but she could let people know that she felt strongly.

"Good morning, Tom." She began, "Except I'm afraid that it isn't. There is nothing good about this morning. The work behind me continues, unabated. Children try and find their fun, chasing each other and tossing a ball or two in brandy, but they aren't unaware. They know that today, they've lost their homes."

The cameraman leaned out a little, staring at her in confusion. She was supposed to be reporting that the builders had said they were willing to sit down and discuss some pitiful compensation.

Everyone knew that was a farce. They'd offer less than a pittance, and at the first sign of baulking, the builders would jump up and run. Claim that negotiations were breaking down because of the people whose lives they were ruining.

"There is little I hate more than the disingenuous P.R. that so many companies depend on, these days." Audrey said firmly, "And I'm afraid that Alberts and Sons have done just that, this morning. As they take away these good peoples homes, probably leaving them without a home at all, ruining the futures of these bundles of so excited potential, these beautiful children, as they do this... Alberts and Sons call themselves the reasonable ones."

The cameraman's knuckles went white as he gripped the camera, but he gave her a signal to keep going. He knew what she was doing now, and he was absolutely for it.

Audrey braced herself, as a blast of sand and dirt came out from behind, the wind whipping it out from the construction and giving a picture of destruction, even as they were building something new.

"You will find these people, just trying to defend their home. Stolen from them, because the world appeals to the very high goal of... Nothing more than profit. And by profit's name, hope has been struck down here, Tom."

***

Audrey felt put out.

She knew she shouldn't. Her bosses had actually been pretty happy with what she'd said and done. Snippets of her report were making the evening news. That was new, and it should have been exciting. She could depend on it being the first rung to lift her up.

All the same, Audrey wasn't feeling anything bright. Instead, she found herself sitting on her couch, wrapped in a blanket, chowing down on double-choc biscuits. Her bottom lip wobbling, as she pretended to watch some drama, giving the excuse for the tears falling down her cheeks.

She wasn't absolutely sure why she was crying. She knew she felt like something had ended. Some gift had been snatched away, and it would never be returned to her.

That was depression.

It always hit you, whether or not there was really a reasonable reason for it. The darkness came from inside you, not necessarily from the world around. All you could do was take the meds, and talk to the docs, and hope things would go your way, this time.

She knew why it had hit her, or at least, the excuse it was using this time. She'd lost that beautiful place, that gorgeous garden. It had been so quiet, so still. A fragment of heaven, lost between the ticking of the clock.

It had never been hers, to begin with, but she still felt a loss... And depression always took any excuse that it could.

When her phone buzzed, and lit up with one of her news colleagues, Audrey sent it straight to voice mail. She absolutely did not want to deal with work, right at this moment. Everyone expected her to be bright, warm, and cosy. She was the rosy-cheeked gal.

The third time it buzzed, she answered, but her dairy-coated throat failed to brighten her sound, and her voice cracked. "You're on with Audrey."

"Aud... Oh. You okay?"

She smiled to try and brighten up, feeling her puffy cheeks, "Absolutely. We did a good thing today, didn't we?"

"Right." He didn't sound like he believed her. "On that... We've got this guy here. He's being a right pain. Won't give his name, but absolutely demands to talk to you."

Audrey blinked, feeling her chest catch, "He wouldn't happen to have a filthy beard, would he?"

"Ugh. Ugly beard. No way I'd ever kiss a guy like that. His hands are pretty gross, too. I'd guess he was a builder, or something?"

She shivered, not wanting to believe it. "Did he... Say why he wants to talk to me? Because, last time we met, he asked me to make sure I never see him, again."

"Is this a dating thing? Did you date this guy?" Her coworker sounded incredulous.

Audrey's cheeks went from puffy to little hot pockets. "N-no... He's from the building site. Helped out the residents... I don't know if he actually lived there, though. Something connected."

"Huh. Right." They replied, "Well, he wants to talk to you."

She bit her lip, and guiltily asked, "Tell him... I'll meet him at the garden."

She might as well get something out of it.

"The... Garden? You sure this isn't a dating thing?"

***

Audrey had pulled her hair into a ponytail. Easy and practical. Easier to hide the mood she'd had, before this spark of hope had ignited. A spark that stubbornly refused to be smothered.

She opened the door at the top of the gungy stairwell hesitantly, not sure if she'd beaten him there, and walked ever so slowly into the garden.

She'd never seen it at night, before.

Probably shouldn't be meeting a stranger in the dark, in a poor part of the city, when no one knew where she was. That was a little spark of fear... Which the hope quickly ate.

The hope, exploding into absolute fire, as she saw the garden. All around the edges of the path, tiny little LED lights that she hadn't noticed were lit up. Little yellow beads, softly lighting the edges and giving the feel of something faen, without stealing the touch of mother nature.

Near the end of one of the paths, by a brand new looking stone waterfall, was a picnic rug. It was a red and black thing, almost like the ones from her childhood. Sitting on that, was a small basket.

And a man.

Audrey approached hesitantly, quietly. Her dainty feet making no sounds, as she looked around at the beauty of the garden. She coughed as she got close, not wanting to surprise him. "It's... Beautiful."

He turned his head, and for the first time, she saw a hint of a smile through his scruffy beard. The man stood up slowly, dusting his hands off habitually, before holding one out to her, "Thankyou."

"You're the gardener. You've proven it." She shook it in a business-like manner.

He seemed concerned for a moment, before waving at the rug. "Not just for the compliment. For looking out for everyone. I guess I was wrong about you. Maybe not all journalists are hacks."

Audrey eased down on her knees, smiling brightly in the space, "You inspired me. I took a risk, saying what I did. But... It was worth it."

"To see the garden again?" He teased.

She blushed, "Well... I did think this would be the last time I get to see it."

"No."

Audrey blinked, "So... Is that you giving me permission? To escape here, again? Won't I get in your way, ruin your kids paradise?"

"I was rather hoping you'd help me make it better." He grunted, "But... If you just need to relax, then sure. You've earned your spot here. Made me think..."

"... Yes?"

"Never met a woman like you." His words stumbled, and the tall and strong figure looked away from petite her, in embarrassment.

"Can't see the garden, without the gardener." Audrey opened the door between them.