Paul McCartney

The old man knew exactly what he should give his beloved wife for their fiftieth wedding anniversary. She had told him over and over again how beautiful this rose named after a former Beatle was. Together they had watched a program on television about English gardens and they showed this rose as one of a few new species of plants. It took him only a few phonecalls to learn that he would have to drive to Truro to get one for the garden.

Together with their neighbours he found an excuse for not taking her along on a ride with the car. The two men were supposed to buy a new drill for the neighbour. Both women were not interested in this at all and so he could get what he wanted and keep it as a surprise. After the purchase he came home and put the little rosebush in the garage on a spot where she certainly would not look. The two men told her that the price for the drill had been too high and that the neighbour had decided not to buy it.

The next morning while she was having a shower, he sneaked out to the garage and put the rosebush in the kitchen. She had been a bit silent, probably thinking that he had forgotten that this was their wedding anniversary. She had been in good spirits, even a bit over the top and he had to chuckle how she could not really hide her disappointment from him. When she came out of the bathroom in her bathrobe, he asked her to follow him to the kitchen. And there it was: the Paul McCartney rose.

"Happy Anniversary, Darling", he said with a big smile.
"Oh Fred, what a lovely gift! I thought you forgot all about it."
He laughed: "I forget a lot nowadays, but not that I'm married to you, my Love."
After breakfast they went to the front garden to search for a nice spot where it could be planted, because she decided that she wanted everybody to see the lovely rose. She showed him what the best spot was and he planted it for her.

The rosebush grew steadily thanks to the good care from the old lady, but the bigger it got the health of the old man deteriorated. After a few years he died and she was on her own.
She would still make the joke to people they had made together. Whenever people asked where they lived, she would answer: "It's the house with Paul McCartney in front of the house."
People would look at her questioningly and she would explain. Sometimes she would add that it was the greatest gift he had ever given to her except for her wedding ring.

The years were getting harder and harder to get through for her on her own and she died only a few years later while Paul McCartney was in full bloom.
She had always loved gardening and that was quite obvious when you looked at it.
The daughter and her family came over for the funeral and to take care of the house and the garden, having to decide what should happen to it. It would feel like sacrilege to let the garden be ruined and so they did what they could to maintain it with a bit of help from the neighbours.

Most of the garden did okay, but the Paul McCartney rosebush suffered. You could almost see it getting worse in front of your eyes. Like it had no wish to go on anymore.
After a few days it died. The family let it be for a few days. After the estate agent advised to get the garden in topshape to give the house more kerb appeal for selling it, they knew they had to get it out of the ground and get rid of it.
Later one of the neighbours asked about the rosebush and got the answer that Paul McCartney had been disposed of in the bin. The house was sold only a few weeks later.
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