compliance.

He thought he saw it. She sighed, and with what seemed like heavy limbs pushed herself to her feet. She took the folder and leafed through it, glancing up at him as she read the boilerplate attached to the check.

She closed the folder, then squinted up at him. "I don't really care for these options."

He opened his mouth to come back with a firm reply, but she cut him off. He was confused; she looked more resigned than the average client, but what she had said didn't follow logic.

"Here, you can hold this." She handed him the folder, and took a step back. "Maybe your replacement will bring a check for forty five hundred. I'll even forget about the sales tax."

His brow furrowed but he took the folder. My replacement, he wondered.

She closed her eyes and traced a little design in the air with her finger. When her eyes opened, she was smiling again, and seemed more confident, less resigned.

In the distance he heard a screeching noise. It wasn't an animal's call, but rather the sound of metal scraping on metal.

"I keep kudzu in those trees by your car. It's a lot of bother keeping it alive through the winter up here in the Poconos, but it comes in handy. Strong stuff; It will fold your car up into a tidy little ball."

He let out a little laugh, and nervously fingered the folder.

She laughed too, only hers was a bit more genuine. "I don't even really need the money for a new tractor. My old International tractor runs just fine. It's really the principle of the thing. That tractor was worth forty-five-hundred and I don't like getting pushed around."

As she said this, the fingers of one hand dipped into a small pocket in her blouse, while the other hand seemed to scrape away a swatch of her skirt, exposing her thigh.

He watched, open mouthed, as the chunk of skirt in one hand crumbled into dirt, exposing a wriggling earthworm. The patch of exposed skin was quickly covered; ragged edges seeming to grow roots. The roots stretched out, joining others, and knitting themselves together, closing the gap.

As the hole finished sealing itself, he looked back up at her. She had mixed some black seeds into the dirt gently, careful not to crush the earth worm.

"Morning Glory, Mr. Colvin. Its my favorite, and not just because we share a name. It grows so fast, and the flowers are so pretty and abundant." She threw the dirt and seeds at his feet.

He watched them arc down, and looked back up at her. "Wha - What is...." He

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