The Potted History

Title: The Potted History

Characters:

LIAM (30s): A man in a tailored suit, slightly stressed, holding a small, expensive-looking potted plant.

CLARA (60s): A gardener, dirt on her knees, friendly but direct.

Setting:

A community garden on a sunny afternoon. Various vegetable patches and flowers are visible. Clara is working near a compost heap.

(CLARA is humming, weeding a patch of carrots. LIAM stands awkwardly near the edge of the garden, holding a sophisticated, minimalist pot with a single, architectural green plant in it.)

CLARA: (Not looking up) Nice day for it.

LIAM: (Nervously adjusts his grip on the pot) Yes. Yes, it is. Excuse me, ma'am?

CLARA: Clara.

LIAM: Clara. needs some help. With this.

(He holds the pot out slightly. Clara stands up slowly, wiping her hands on her trousers.)

CLARA: A plastic office plant? (She looks closer) No, real. A ZZ plant. Very hardy. Very expensive. What's wrong with it?

LIAM: Nothing. needs to... plant it. Here.

CLARA: Here? In the community garden? This is a carrot patch, dear.

LIAM: understand that. But was told... was given specific instructions that it needed to go here. In the soil.

CLARA: Who told you that? The ZZ plant doesn't like being planted in the ground. It likes its pot. It likes a warm office and a little bit of water once a month.

LIAM: (Becoming flustered) This isn't just any ZZ plant. This is the office plant. My boss, Mr. Henderson, he brought it in twenty years ago. It has sentimental value. The company is relocating, and the plant needed a final resting place. A natural one.

CLARA: A final resting place? It’s alive, not a goldfish.

LIAM: He wants it 'returned to nature'. He wrote an email. A six-point plan for the relocation of 'Bartholomew.' 's just following the plan.

(He produces his phone and starts scrolling frantically.)

LIAM: Step four: "Liaise with the local gardening expert to ensure optimal soil integration." That's you.

CLARA: (Shakes her head, a smile playing on her lips) Optimal soil integration. You work for a strange man.

LIAM: need this promotion. Please, just tell where to dig the hole.

CLARA: (She takes the pot gently from him) You can't plant it here, Liam. It won't survive the winter. The soil is too wet, and the slugs will have a field day with those waxy leaves.

LIAM: (Panicked) But the email!

CLARA: The email is nonsense. (She points to a small, empty patch near a sunny wall) See that little patch over there? That’s where the herbs used to be. You can put it there. In the pot.

LIAM: Just leave it in the pot? But... nature?

CLARA: Nature doesn't come in a minimalist ceramic pot from a design store. We can bury the pot. That’s a compromise.

LIAM: (Looks relieved) Bury the pot. can email that. That works.

(Clara walks to the patch, Liam following closely behind, looking for a signal on his phone.)

CLARA: (Kneeling down, starting to dig a small hole) You know, a plant isn't history, Liam. The people are the history. The stories. This is just a nice bit of green plastic, basically.

LIAM: It’s a symbol, Clara. A symbol of resilience. It survived twenty years of HR meetings and air conditioning failures.

CLARA: (Chuckles, placing the pot in the ground, burying it up to the rim) Well, let’s see if it can survive the local cat population.

LIAM: (He pulls out his phone, typing furiously) "Mission accomplished. Bartholomew has been successfully integrated into the ecosystem."

CLARA: (Stands up, dusting her hands) You’re a strange lot, you office people. Come back next week. We’ll teach you how to plant a real history. Carrots.

LIAM: (Looks up, slightly bewildered) Carrots?

CLARA: They actually do something when you're done.

(Liam looks at his phone, then at the newly 'planted' pot, and then at Clara. A small, genuine smile appears on his face.)

(FADE TO BLACK.)