What was he doing at the garden center?
It had been a long day, perhaps something deep in his subconscious told him to do this to relax. Plants were calming, weren’t they?
Five minutes later he was leaving with a live plant. There was something irresistible about those flowers.
It was funny what the checkout clerk said. These plants had been selling like hotcakes since they arrived and yet the stock hadn’t been depleted.
Perhaps he’d do better with these than most plants he’d tried.
In the huge silver spaceship, the beings were happy. Their invasion was going as planned.
***
word count = 100
Friday Fictioneers is hosted by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields. This week’s prompt is here and uses a photo by @ Trish Nankeville . If you want to join or see other stories, go to the inlinkz linkup.
Trent's World (the Blog) 
Wooo….I love this! Shades of Little Shop of Horrors, but your take is superb! This story has room to expand, nicely done!
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Thanks! I was thinking along the lines of Little Shop of Horrors, but with cuter plants – sort of like vegetable versions of Star Trek’s tribbles.
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Definitely!
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Somehow I missed this! Gotta love aliens :-)
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Great idea, find the achilles heel of those pesky humans and set the invasion plans accordingly. I like the similarity to the Trojan Horse strategy. Mind you some people will forget to water the plants––they always forget.
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The spread quick, like weeds, actually, so they hope they have enough in place for the invasion before some start succumbing to dehydration from those absentminded humans’ not watering them…
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:D A bit heavy-handed there at the end. :D
I definitely think plants would work as a takeover.
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Beautiful, irresistible flowers that replicate at alarming speeds? These aliens know us too well ;)
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At least that solved the mystery of the never-depleted inventory.
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If you are going to take over an inhabited planet, you need to be able to multiply pretty rapidly….
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I love alien looking flowers!
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They are cool flowers. They have to be aliens, right?
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I agree! Total Little Shop Of Horrors vibes! 😁
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Yep. Though they are cute, perhaps even irresistible, so a bit of that tribble vibe as well…
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The flower invasion. Well planned and executed. Fun story, Trent.
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Find a weakness and exploit it… Thanks.
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:-) Very Machiavellian.
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I think you have to be if you want to take over a planet…
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Agree.
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Great take on the prompt. It got a little creepy when the supply never diminished; went to terrifying in the last two sentences.
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Thanks. Just another day at the garden center… or is it?
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Trojan flowers, I love it. I also like the play on tribbles in your title. Creative!
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Yes, Trojan Flowers. Glad you caught the title – I mentioned tribbles in the comments a few times, but never mentioned the title. I was wondering if anyone would catch it. Thanks!
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You’re very welcome. I wish I had time to read everyone’s comments on every story but this week’s real time has made that nigh impossible.
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I don’t have time to read comments either. I know some do and I was half expecting one of them to connect tribbles and the title, It’s even better that you caught it without that hint.
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Excellent. Their unusual appearance seems to have struck an ‘alien’ chord with people.
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Thanks. I don’t know why, but “aliens” was my second thought – my first was “virus”, but I decided not to go there.
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I like the way you unfolded this story with a sci-fi ending.
Reminded me of the movie Little Shop of Horrors when everyone wants to buy flowers. I enjoyed this, Trent. Nicely done …
Isadora 😎
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Thanks, Isadora. I was thinking of a mix between Tribbles (irresistible creatures in Star Trek that multiply very rapidly) and Audrey II, the plant in The Little Shop of Horrors :)
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I know about Audrey ll. Little shop of Horrors is one of my favotire movies. My gradnson is now hooked because of me. LOL
It’s the reason I named my story Spikey Audrey. Have a good weekend … Isadora 😎
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It was a great movie :)
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Ha! Fun story, and cool plants!
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Thnaks. They are cool plants, but I was thinking of a combination of Tribbles and Audrey II… lol
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Ha! I noticed the similarity to Tribbles, for sure.
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So irresistible…
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buyer beware!
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Yes, though I think all of the buyers’ neighbors will need to beware as well!
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True! Talk about invasives.
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Yes, a real alien species.
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They gave me a similar thought as well, definitely something foreboding about them. Nicely done Trent
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There is something foreboding about those flowers…. Thanks.
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Oh no!
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By the time we figure it out, it will be too late.
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True!
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There really could be some truth in it. Who said how aliens should look like? Maybe they are wearing orange hairs. Lol Or they are shaped like flowers. Best wishes, Michael
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There is no way to know how they would look or what tools they might employ…
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Reblogged this on NEW BLOG HERE >> https:/BOOKS.ESLARN-NET.DE.
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Dear Trent,
There must be something about those flowers. Frightening. Nicely imagined.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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They are irresistible and everyone wants to bring one home. Soon they will be everywhere… Thanks.
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