Mr and Mrs Periwinkle

By

Patricia Shannon

Mr and Mrs Periwinkle live in an ordinary house in an ordinary street, but they themselves are anything but ordinary. In fact, the people in the neighbourhood think they are rather creepy.

Early every morning, Mrs Periwinkle talks to the birds. She chats along with sparrows, finches, blackbirds and other species that visit her beautiful foliage. While they feast on the treats made available to them, they spill the neighbourhood secrets.

Yes, Mrs Periwinkle keeps well-informed about the comings and goings in the area.

Mr Periwinkle works around the veggie patch every day. If you look closer, you will see him talk to the lettuce, tomatoes, spinach and strawberries. Sometimes he even dances around them, which gives him much pleasure and apparently the veggies too, as they all grow out of proportion!

Mr and Mrs Periwinkle always share a drink together late afternoons, on the porch at the back of the house. It overlooks the colourful garden, filled with bright coloured flower arrangements; red, yellow, purple, orange and blue. During their drink hedgehogs, rabbits, dragonflies, bugs and other flying insects join them. You can hear them all yapping away. The community thinks the Periwinkles are an odd couple, but the truth of the matter is they simply enjoy the little things.

Mr and Mrs Periwinkle thrive in their paradise. They climb up the walls, in and over plants, around fences and decks. They produce small, delicate lavender blue flowers to serve the bees and butterflies and to please the human eye. It is sad people misjudge them, but they resign to their fate.

The End