Slightly More Happens - May Mischief

Summary

Nothing Much Happens: Bedtime Stories to Help You Sleep

Host: Kathryn Nicolai
Episode: Slightly More Happens – May Mischief
Date: May 11, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this extended, gently meandering episode, host Kathryn Nicolai offers a trio of interconnected stories centered on the restorative joys of spring, the intoxicating scent of lilacs, and the simple, meaningful mischief of their would-be “thieves” and owners. Woven with gentle humor and heartfelt moments, the episode explores nostalgia, transformation, and community, all rooted in love for seasonal blooms and the quiet connections they nurture—in gardens, at markets, and among neighbors (or gentle trespassers).

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Key Themes & Discussion Points

The Lilac Thief: Gentle Mischief and Springtime Rituals

• Early in the episode, Kathryn introduces listeners to the recurring character of the “lilac thief,” a gentle rogue whose annual tradition involves seeking out lilac blooms for herself (and others), sometimes requiring careful, unnoticed “borrowing”:
  • The thief reminisces about childhood memories of lilacs and the irresistible urge to carry their scent through the year.
  • She describes her considerate approach to “lilac heists,” planning remote locations and making small bouquets to share.
  • An enchanting, conspiratorial moment unfolds when she is recognized by a fellow “thief” at a café, forging instant camaraderie over their shared love for lilacs.
  • Notable quote: “I am a lilac thief. I don’t strike at random. My crimes aren’t ham-fisted or even much noticed. I’m a subtle thief...master criminal that I was.” (12:55)

The Lilac Grower: Coming Full Circle

• The story shifts to the perspective of someone older—once a lilac thief, now a cultivator and sharer of abundance:
  • The grower reflects on buying one of those once-abandoned, lilac-rich farms, breathing new life into the property and its gardens.
  • A chance encounter with the former owner—herself a witness to harmless larceny—leads to stories of family, history, and ultimately, a transfer of stewardship.
  • The restoration of the home mirrors the restorative joy found in sharing beauty with others: baskets of lilacs, a community stand marked with warmth.
  • Notable quote: “One day you’re young, driving through the countryside, surreptitiously swiping stems of lilacs...and the next you’re a bit older, and you’ve bought one of those abandoned farms yourself, and you’re growing enough lilacs for the whole county.” (15:25; 54:00)

The Lilac Booth: From Trespasser to Community Builder

• The final story brings the cycle to fruition—a once-solitary “thief” now presides over abundance, hosting a lilac booth at the farmer’s market as a fundraiser for local green spaces:
  • Volunteers, friends, and strangers gather to cut blooms, assemble bouquets, and support the community.
  • Vivid sensory details paint a picture of country life at the end of April and beginning of May—“a lungful of the sweetest smelling air these acres hold.”
  • Kathryn frames the tale as a testament to the serendipitous paths life can take—a left turn down a dirt road leading to a new calling, and old, secret joys becoming gifts for many.
  • Notable quote: “A flower that blooms only once a year, and then just for a week or two, teaches you that time is precious, that things must be enjoyed or lost.” (39:12; 80:42)

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Episode Structure & Timestamps

1. Setting the Scene & Breathing Exercises

• [06:00]–[06:39]: Calm, grounding instructions—deep breathing, letting go, setting the mood for restful listening.

2. The Lilac Thief

• [06:39]–[15:20]: Childhood lilac memories, gentle trespassing, café encounter with a fellow thief.
  • Notable moment: Passing a bouquet to another former thief. (14:20)

3. The Lilac Grower

• [15:20]–[29:06]: Growing older, buying the abandoned farm, meeting the home’s former owner, restoring the house, planting new lilacs for the community.
  • Notable moment: Creating a “free lilacs” stand and welcoming gentle trespassers. (26:35; 66:10)

4. The Lilac Booth

• [29:06]–[43:13]: Preparing for the farmer’s market, community involvement, reimagining the role from thief to sharer.
  • Notable moment: “It’s strange how a casual left turn down a dirt road...had led me to this new life.” (29:56; 68:44)

5. Story Retelling, Slower for Sleep

• [43:13]–[82:00]: Kathryn retells the stories in a slowed, dreamier cadence, returning to the key motifs and infusing everything with a calm, reassuring tone.

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Memorable Quotes & Gentle Humor

• “I packed a kit into my car—wicker basket, garden gloves, twine, and a small set of pruning shears…Master criminal that I was.”

  • (12:55)

• “Asked a voice from behind me, ‘Did you steal those lilacs?’...Takes one to know one, he said.”

  • (13:58–14:20)

• “Gentle trespassers will not be prosecuted.”

  • (26:50; 66:25)

• “There’s nothing like them, is there?” — “I agreed that there wasn’t.”

  • (18:24; 53:02)

• “A flower that blooms only once a year...teaches you that time is precious, that things must be enjoyed or lost.”

  • (39:12; 80:42)

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Tone & Style

• Gentle, whimsical, and lightly humorous—stories told with warmth, appreciation for small beauties, and a relaxing rhythm.
• Deep nostalgia, comfort, and the subtle mischievousness of acts rooted in love.
• Frequent, painterly sensory details emphasizing scent, texture, and atmosphere—perfect for guiding the listener towards rest.

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Conclusion

This special “slightly more happens” episode offers an extended, richly woven tapestry of lilac-scented spring days, the secret joys of gentle mischief, and the community that grows from sharing. Full of warmth and quiet humor, Kathryn Nicolai’s stories gently demonstrate how ordinary moments can be both magical and grounding—and how kindness, tradition, and a little bit of floral “crime” can transform a life, a home, and a whole village.

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“Sweet dreams.”

Transcript

[Kathryn Nicolai]

Get more Nothing Much Happens with bonus

[Narrator]

episodes, extra long stories and ad free listening, all while supporting the show you love. Subscribe now.

[Kathryn Nicolai]

Hi, I'm Kathryn Nicolai and if you're looking for something gentle to listen to that isn't news or true crime or self improvement, I made this for you. Stories from the Village of Nothing Much is like easy listening, but for fiction. Cozy, warm, calm stories about ordinary moments

[Narrator]

that feel a little magical.

[Kathryn Nicolai]

They're grounding soothing and quietly uplifting without being cheesy, relaxing without putting you to sleep, and just dreamy enough to remind you that there's still sweetness in everyday life. Perfect for your commute while you're tidying

[Narrator]

up or when you want a little

[Kathryn Nicolai]

escape that feels simple and good. Search for Stories from the Village of Nothing Much Wherever you listen,

[Lilac Grower]

this longer

[Kathryn Nicolai]

episode is made possible by our sponsors. You'll hear a few ads at the beginning and then we will settle in together. When I started building this show and my shop, it really felt like I had to figure everything out on my own. And there are so many pieces it can get overwhelming fast. That's why having the right tools matter. And for a lot of businesses, that partner is Shopify. Shopify helps you run everything in one place, from your storefront to payments to getting your work out into the world without needing a whole team behind you. And as you grow, it's there for the bigger pieces too, like inventory, shipping and support when you need it. Start your business today with the industry's best business partner, Shopify. Sign up for your $1 per month trial today at shopify.com nothingmuch go to shopify.com nothingmuch that's shopify.com nothingmuch.

[Narrator]

Welcome to a special longer episode of Bedtime Stories for Everyone in which slightly more happens. You feel good and then you fall asleep.

[Kathryn Nicolai]

I'm Kathryn Nicolai.

[Narrator]

I write and read all the stories you hear on Nothing Much Happens.

[Kathryn Nicolai]

Audio engineering is by Bob Wittersheim.

[Narrator]

We give to a different charity each week and this week we are giving to Elephant Havens.

[Kathryn Nicolai]

They protect, preserve and hand rear young African elephant orphans. Learn more about them in our show notes.

[Narrator]

Many of you have asked for longer

[Kathryn Nicolai]

episodes and we are delivering once a month.

[Narrator]

We'll give you a two to three

[Kathryn Nicolai]

story episode here on the free feed and a five to six story episode over on our premium feed. In fact, on Premium we regularly publish episodes that are over nine hours long and we're always adding more.

[Narrator]

So if that sounds helpful or joyful to you, you can subscribe for about

[Kathryn Nicolai]

10 cents a day. Learn more at nothingmuchhappens.com

[Narrator]

Just as with our regular episodes, these stories are simply a soft place to occupy your mind.

[Kathryn Nicolai]

To keep it steady and allow you to drift off.

[Narrator]

All you need to do is listen. I'll tell the stories twice and I'll go a little slower the second time through. If you wake later in the night, don't hesitate to just start them over. Our stories tonight feature a fan favorite character who has been known to get up to some gentle floral related trouble. We'll come along for a lilac heist

[Kathryn Nicolai]

in the countryside, then spend some time

[Narrator]

restoring an old house and finally visiting

[Kathryn Nicolai]

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[Narrator]

now settle in. Be at ease.

[Lilac Grower]

The day was what it was and

[Narrator]

now we are here. Nothing to do. No plans to make or hold onto. Just deep, restorative sleep. Take a deep breath in through your nose. Let it out your mouth.

[Lilac Grower]

Nice.

[Lilac Thief]

One more.

[Narrator]

Breathe in

[Kathryn Nicolai]

and out.

[Lilac Thief]

Good. The Lilac Thief There are only a few days of the spring when you can step out of the door and smell them on every passing breeze. So bright and sweet that there's nothing to do but plant your feet and take slow, deep breaths to try to store their scent deep inside you for another year. The lilacs I remember as a child, pressing my face into their soft blooms, dew coming away on my cheeks, and wondering how something could smell like that and look like that and grow so abundantly and be allowed. It seemed too good, too perfectly aligned with what was pleasing to just occur naturally. But I guess there is a catch with lilacs. They only bloom once a year and they don't last long. In fact, they're best enjoyed on the tree. When you cut them and bring them inside, they soon wilt and dry up and their sweet smell fades. Still, I couldn't help myself. I would try to be surrounded by them for as long as possible each spring, and that meant taking matters into my own hands and possibly some very gentle trespassing. You see, I am a lilac thief. I don't strike at random. My crimes aren't ham fisted or even much noticed. I'm a subtle thief. I plan when and where and make my getaway before anyone is the wiser. When I walk my neighborhood, I might casually reach up for a stray blossom creeping through the slats of a fence and just as casually tuck it into the flag of a mailbox for someone to find later. But I knew better than to pull a real heist so close to home. For that I packed a kit into my car wicker basket, garden gloves, twine, and a small set of pruning shears. I dressed inconspicuously and drove out into the countryside. There was an old farmhouse, long abandoned on a dirt road, that I knew well. I'd cased the joint years ago and found the house reliably empty and the yard reliably full of lilac trees. I parked my car on the edge of the road to give myself a bit of plausible deniability. After all, perhaps I just had a spot of car trouble and was letting an overheated engine cool down and had stopped to smell the roses, as it were. I chuckled to myself as I took my kit from the back seat, master criminal that I was, and made my way down the long and dusty drive that led to the old house. I stood with the sun on my face for a few moments and let my imagination spin a story about who might have lived here. I thought of kids running through the vegetable patch, a pack of family dogs racing with them, Sparklers on the 4th of July, a kitchen with rows of freshly canned pickles laid out on cotton towels, a tree planted to mark a special day a hundred years ago that grew to the one I looked at now. It had a large wraparound porch, and though the stairs had a few missing boards and the paint was chipped and faded, I could tell it had been a beloved place in its time. I followed my nose to the large row of lilacs and put on my gloves and opened my shears. The blossoms were so full and heavy that their stems struggled to stay upright, and I set my basket down and started to relieve them of their burden. I took time to notice each small bloom, drank deep the smell, and patiently waited for bees to shift from one flower to another. I filled my basket till it nearly overflowed, and still the bushes seemed as full as they had when I started. I kicked my way back down the drive, and with a surreptitious look up and down the road, I smuggled my goods back into the car and made my getaway. All that stealing had made me thirsty, and I was craving a cold brew coffee from a little cafe near my house. I decided to bring my basket with me and found a seat at a tiny table outside. I ordered my iced coffee with a bit of coconut milk and sat my basket on the seat beside me. I picked through the stems, making small bouquets and tying them up with twine. Some were for me and some I'd leave on the doorsteps of friends.

[Narrator]

Did you steal those lilacs?

[Lilac Thief]

Asked a voice from behind me. I turned to see an older man with gray hair and bright eyes looking at me over his cup of coffee. What lilacs?

[Lilac Grower]

I asked innocently.

[Lilac Thief]

He winked at me and touched his finger to the side of his nose. Takes one to know one, he said. I laughed out loud and passed him over a bundle of flowers. He pressed them to his face and took a deep breath in and let it out in a contented sigh. We chatted for a few minutes about some of our favorite spots. He told me about a place by the highway. When I told him about a tree behind the library, he lifted the bouquet to thank me, and I carried my basket out to divvy up the rest of my plunder among friends and strangers on my way back home.

[Narrator]

The Lilac Grower

[Lilac Grower]

One day you're young, driving through the countryside, surreptitiously swiping stems of lilacs from overgrown shrubs on abandoned farms without a care in the world. On the next day

[Narrator]

you're a bit

[Lilac Grower]

older, you've bought one of those abandoned farms yourself, and you're growing enough lilacs for the whole county, still without a care in the world.

[Narrator]

It's true. It's all true.

[Lilac Grower]

I have been a lilac devotee since I was a teenager,

[Narrator]

first swept up

[Lilac Grower]

in the romance of how beautiful and sweetly scented and short lived these flowers are. And each spring I found myself venturing out discreetly but determinedly to scavenge enough stems to fill a few vases. Along the way I'd not only found some very good spots to snip where no one would miss them, I'd met a few other lilac thieves, and we'd shared our intel and love for the flowers. Then one May Day, I'd been out on a caper at an old farmhouse that had been long ago abandoned. I just returned to my car on the dirt road beside the driveway

[Lilac Thief]

and

[Lilac Grower]

was about to tuck a full basket of lilacs and my pruning shears into the trunk when another car pulled up beside me.

[Narrator]

The jig was up.

[Lilac Grower]

I'd been caught. Not red handed but sort of green thumbed, I thought. A woman with silver hair bundled up in a scarf and a sparkle in her eyes stepped out of her car and crossed her arms over her chest, tilting her head to one side in a question. I tucked the basket and the shears childishly behind my back and said, engine got overheated. We stared at each other for a beat, then both broke out in laughter. She walked over to admire the flowers and lifted a branch of the lilacs to her face and took a deep breath of the scent. There's nothing like them, is there? I agreed. But there wasn't, and we got to talking. It turned out that she had grown up in this old farmhouse, and she invited me to walk through the yard with her. I apologized for thieving their lilacs, which she waved away, saying she was glad someone was getting some enjoyment from them. She hadn't seen the old place in decades, and we stopped here and there as she got caught up in memories and told me stories about her family. She pointed to a window high up on one side that had been her room. In the backyard we found remnants of a clothesline, the post still standing but the cotton cord long ago dissolved by rain and weather, and she told me about hanging sheets out in the sun. Their vegetable garden, while overgrown and no longer fitting within its old borders,

[Narrator]

had

[Lilac Grower]

in some places replanted itself. There were tomato plants and a pumpkin vine growing, and we both imagined the deer and squirrels who must feast here each summer. The house had passed to her,

[Narrator]

but

[Lilac Grower]

she lived far away now, had only driven back to see it one more time before arranging for it to be put up for sale. Unless, she said, turning to me,

[Narrator]

you

[Lilac Grower]

might know of someone who'd be interested. Her eyes sparkled again, and I found myself dumbstruck by a thought I hadn't entertained before. I'd been coming to this old house

[Narrator]

for years,

[Lilac Grower]

admiring the wide front porch and tall trees. In some ways I already thought of myself as a caretaker. I seemed to be the only one who ever walked the property, and I'd always harbored a fear that one day it would be sold and torn down.

[Narrator]

Just then

[Lilac Grower]

I didn't know how I

[Narrator]

would do it,

[Lilac Grower]

but I was sure I would make this place my home. After that day, there had been many more conversations between the two of us. Some were history lessons passing on the stories of the house and the people who lived there. We both cared about such things, and some were negotiations. The house needed a good deal of

[Narrator]

work,

[Lilac Grower]

and in the end we were able to agree on a price,

[Narrator]

and

[Lilac Grower]

a few weeks later it was mine. When the day came, I stood in the front yard with the keys in my hand, smiling up at the house. I no longer parked on the road, but proudly drove right up the cracked drive. The lilacs had faded by then. High summer was upon us, and the tall trees made a shady canopy that

[Narrator]

kept the house cool.

[Lilac Grower]

I'd walked from room to room, overwhelmed at the feeling of having so much to myself, so much to make into whatever I wanted. The next few years had brought lots of hard work. The roof was repaired, a new kitchen fitted in, and the rotten boards torn out on the front porch

[Lilac Thief]

to be

[Lilac Grower]

replaced with sweet smelling new ones. I spent one long summer painting everything inside and out, finding paint in my hair and on every piece of clothing I owned till I finally finished. The gardens had been edged and cleared and replanted, the clothesline was rehung,

[Lilac Thief]

and

[Lilac Grower]

I added a patio beside it where I could sit and watch the hummingbirds in the morning. Along with all of this, I added something I'd envisaged that first day when I'd been caught with my full basket, and that was more lilacs. After all, they had brought me here to my home, and I wanted to share them. I planted a long row of lilac trees and bushes, different colors and varieties, all along the road, and within a few years they had grown to be thick and hardy and to produce a sea of flowers each spring. Along the line of lilacs, a neighbor had helped me build a small stand, like the kind you might buy corn or tomatoes at in the summer, and I stocked it with old baskets and cloth sacks, a few pairs of shears, and gardening gloves. Across the front I'd added a sign that I'd painted by hand. Kneeling on an old sheet spread out in the grass. It said, free lilacs. Gentle trespassers will not be prosecuted. And on the warm days of spring, when the lilacs were blooming, folks came. The word had gotten out. I'd spot a row of cars parked along the street and might step out with a cup of coffee in hand to chat with those who had come to gather some beauty from a place that had once been a secret.

[Narrator]

The lilac booth. My favorite time of year was here, the short weeks at the end of April and through the beginning of May, when a step outside my back door would deliver me a lungful of the sweetest smelling air these acres held. And that's saying something. Because life out here on the edge of the woods, near a creek where bullfrogs jug a rum and foxes sleep among the ferns where stars stand out brightly against the midnight sky, is already pretty sweet. It's strange how a casual left turn down a dirt road many years ago had led me to this new life. I'd been out on a springtime caper, and I do mean that in the thieving sense of the word. Listen. I return my grocery cart to the corral. I don't open other people's mail, and I'm more likely to leave a penny than take one. But there is one area of my life where I have been known to be downright criminal. I am a lilac thief. Or at least I was when I came to that crossroads all those years ago and turned. If you've ever leaned into a bouquet of lilac blossoms and breathed in the incredible scent of them, you might understand what drove me to pack a pair of garden gloves, some snippers, and a basket into the back of my getaway car and sneak out into the country. I had a few favorite spots I'd already hit that day. There was a tree behind the library, a spot beside the highway, and a bush that grew through a fence near my house where I could snag a few blooms. But I wanted more. Lilacs only bloom once a year, and the window is short, so I'd driven further out of town, taken random turns with no plan in mind. I remember it was early enough in the spring, that sunlight still felt like a novelty, and I'd had to fumble around in my glove box for some sunglasses. I'd rolled my windows down and thrust my arm into the breeze. I drove past an old abandoned farmhouse and saw a whole row of lilac trees lining one side of the yard. I craned my neck as I passed, trying to spot signs of life. But no, the house clearly hadn't had a resident in ages. A tree was growing up through part of the front porch, and the driveway was full of tumbleweeds and fallen branches. But in the same way you can look into a person's eyes and fall in love at first sight, something about the house called out to me,

[Lilac Thief]

as

[Narrator]

if I'd been there before, as if I'd finally come home. And after that first timid step onto the drive, the first cautious cutting of a lilac stem, I came back many times, not just to gather flowers but to check on the house. I wanted to see it in different seasons, to watch the leaves fall from its ancient poplar trees. In winter I wanted to see how the snow lay on the roof. Once, after a heavy rain, I came to see if the creek had risen over its banks and it had, just by a bit, and the sound of the rushing water was louder than I'd ever heard it. Then, a couple lilac seasons back, I was out with my basket when I finally bumped into someone, a kind older woman with her hair tied in a scarf and the top down on her car. I'd been caught purple handed and she chuckled from the drive, red faced. I owned up to my thievery and apologized, but she insisted it made her happy to know the blooms weren't going to waste. She'd inherited the old place and couldn't use it herself. Did I know of anyone who might be interested in buying? I smiled as I thought about that day now. It had been a long road,

[Lilac Grower]

but

[Narrator]

the house had come back to life. Renovations and repairs, fresh plaster and paint. I stood in my garden clogs in the early morning outside in the yard and looked up at the window of my bedroom.

[Lilac Grower]

It was pushed up to let in

[Narrator]

the fresh air and the curtain was dancing in the breeze. I flexed my hand, switching the snippers to the other one and stretching out my fingers. I'd been clipping for a while. It still had a ways to go. The lilacs were blooming all around my little property. Since moving in, I'd planted even more bushes and trees. I had the classic pale purple flowers, the ones you most likely think of when you hear the word lilac, but also white lilacs, wine colored, variegated, deep purple, edged in white, blue, and even yellow lilacs. That variety was called primrose and was one of my favorites. Several large buckets sat on the back deck, already full of clipped blooms,

[Lilac Thief]

but

[Narrator]

I wanted to fill more. For this latest lilac project I'd gone from thief to grower, even adding signs along the front drive inviting others to stop and pick some for themselves. And now I was bringing the lilacs to the people and I was excited. I liked having folks stop by to smell the flowers, but I wanted to share them with even more people. A flower that blooms only once a year and then Just for a week or two teaches you that time is precious, but things must be enjoyed or lost. So I'd booked a booth at the farmer's market for the day and we'd be spreading the love of lilacs with everyone we could. I said we because thankfully I had help for the endeavor. The lilac booth was a fundraiser for a park project in the village. The money raised would help plant milkweed and buy sand for puddling spaces for monarch butterflies during migration. It was for the park across from the elementary school, a place I went frequently. When I saw a pamphlet about their expansion project, the whole idea had come together. Volunteers were helping me cut and prepare the lilacs and sell them at the market today. They were here among the trees with me now. The goal was for each person to pick three buckets worth. Then we'd load up the van and head to the booth before it opened in the late morning, we collected scads of donated vases from friends and family, and we'd make bouquets of the different colored blooms to entice market goers. I snipped another branch with several clumps of rosy hued flowers and dew fell from the petals and leaves above me, giving me a brief shower. I chuckled and I thought of how far I'd come from those days riding around town swiping stems, and how a random turn on a country road can change your life.

[Lilac Thief]

The Lilac Thief. There are only a few days of the spring when you can step out of the door and smell them on every passing breeze, so bright and sweet that there's nothing to do

[Lilac Grower]

but plant

[Lilac Thief]

your feet and take slow, deep breaths to try to store their scent deep inside for another year. The lilacs. I remember as a child, pressing my face into their soft blooms, dew coming away on my cheeks and wondering how something could smell like that and look like that and grow so abundantly and be allowed. It seemed too good, too perfectly aligned with what was pleasing to just occur naturally. But I guess there is a catch with lilacs. They only bloom once a year and they don't last long. In fact, they're best enjoyed on the tree. When you cut them down and bring them inside, they soon wilt and dry up and their sweet smell fades. Still, I couldn't help myself. I would try to be surrounded by them for as long as possible each spring, and that meant taking matters into my own hands and possibly some very gentle trespassing. You see, I am a lilac thief. I don't strike at random. My crimes aren't ham fisted or even much noticed. I'm a subtle thief. I plan when and where and make my getaway before anyone is the wiser. When I walk my neighborhood, I might casually reach up for a stray blossom creeping through the slats of a fence and just as casually tuck it into the flag of a mailbox for someone to find later. But I know better than to pull a real heist so close to home. For that I packed a kit into my car wicker basket, garden gloves, twine, and a small set of pruning shears. I dressed inconspicuously and drove out into the countryside. There was an old farmhouse, long abandoned. On a dirt road, that I knew well. I'd cased the joint years ago and found the house reliably empty and the yard reliably full of lilac trees. I parked my car on the edge of the road to give myself a bit of plausible deniability. After all, perhaps I just had a spot of car trouble and was letting an overheated engine cool down and had stopped to smell the roses, as it were. I chuckled to myself as I took my kit from the back seat, master criminal that I was, and made my way down the long and dusty drive that led to the house. I stood with the sun on my face for a few moments and let my imagination spin a story about who might have lived here. I thought of kids running through the vegetable patch, a pack of family dogs racing with them, Sparklers on the 4th of July, a kitchen with rows of freshly canned pickles laid out on cotton towels, a tree planted to mark a special day a hundred years ago that grew to the one I looked at now. The house had a large wraparound porch, and although the stairs had a few missing boards and the paint was chipped and faded, I could tell

[Lilac Grower]

it had

[Lilac Thief]

been a beloved place in its time. I followed my nose to the large row of lilacs and put my gloves on and opened my shears. The blossoms were so full and heavy that their stems struggled to stay upright.

[Lilac Grower]

I set my basket down and started

[Lilac Thief]

to relieve them of their burden. I took time to notice each small bloom, drink deep, the smell unpatiently, waited for bees to shift from one flower to another. I filled my basket till it nearly overflowed, and still the bushes seemed as full as they had when I started. I kicked my way back down the drive, and with a surreptitious look up and down the road, I smuggled my goods back into the car and made my getaway. All that stealing had made me thirsty, and I was craving a cold brew coffee from a little cafe near my house. I decided to bring my basket with me and found a seat at a tiny table outside. I ordered my iced coffee with a bit of coconut milk and set my basket on the seat beside me. I picked through the stems, making small bouquets and tying them up with twine. Some were for me and some I'd leave on the doorsteps of friends.

[Narrator]

Did you steal those lilacs?

[Lilac Thief]

Asked a voice from behind me. I turned to see an older man with gray hair and bright eyes looking at me over his cup of coffee. What lilacs?

[Lilac Grower]

I asked innocently.

[Lilac Thief]

He winked at me and touched his finger to the side of his nose. Takes one to know one, he said. I laughed out loud, passed him over a bundle of flowers. He pressed them to his face and took a deep breath in and let

[Lilac Grower]

it out in a contented sigh.

[Lilac Thief]

We chatted for a few minutes about some of our favorite spots. He told me about a place by the highway. I told him about the tree behind the library. He lifted the bouquet to thank me and I carried my basket out to divvy up the rest of my plunder among friends and strangers on my way back home.

[Lilac Grower]

The Lilac Grower. One day you're young, driving through the

[Lilac Thief]

countryside,

[Lilac Grower]

surreptitiously swiping stems of lilacs from overgrown shrubs on abandoned farms

[Lilac Thief]

without a

[Lilac Grower]

care in the world, and the next

[Narrator]

day you're a bit older.

[Lilac Grower]

You've bought one of those abandoned farms

[Narrator]

yourself

[Lilac Grower]

and you're growing enough lilacs for the whole county, still without a care in the world. It's true. It's all true. I have been a lilac devotee since I was a teenager first swept up into the romance of how beautiful and sweetly scented, short lived these flowers are, and each spring I found myself venturing

[Narrator]

out

[Lilac Grower]

discreetly but determinedly to scavenge enough stems to fill a few vases. Along the way I'd found not only some very good spots to snip away where no one would miss them. I'd also met other lilac thieves and we'd shared our intel and love for the flowers. Then one May Day, I'd been out on a caper at an old farmhouse that had long ago been abandoned. I just returned to my car on the dirt road beside the driveway and was about to tuck a full basket of lilacs and my pruning shears into the trunk when another car pulled up beside me. The jig was up. I'd been caught, not red handed but sort of green thumbed.

[Lilac Thief]

I thought.

[Lilac Grower]

A woman with silver hair bundled up in a scarf and a sparkle in her eyes stepped out of her car and crossed her arms over her chest, tilting her head to one side and a question. I tucked the basket and shears childishly behind my back and said, engine got overheated. We stared at each other for a beat, then both broke out in laughter. She walked over to admire the flowers and lifted a branch of the lilacs to her face and took a deep breath of the scent. There's nothing like them, is there? I agreed that there wasn't, and we got to talking. It turned out that she had grown up in this old farmhouse, and she invited me to walk through the yard with her. I apologized for thieving their lilacs, which she waved away, saying she was glad someone was getting some enjoyment from them. She hadn't seen the old place in decades, and we stopped here and there as she got caught up in memories and told me stories about her family. She pointed to a window high up on one side that had been her room. In the yard we found the remnants of a clothesline, the post still standing but the cotton cord, long ago dissolved by rain and weather, and she told me about hanging sheets out in the sun. Their vegetable garden, while overgrown and no longer fitting within its old borders, had in some places replanted itself. There were tomato plants on a pumpkin vine growing, and we both imagined the deer squirrels who must feast here each summer. The house had passed to her, but she lived far away now, had only driven back to see it one more

[Narrator]

time

[Lilac Grower]

before arranging for it to be put up for sale. Unless, she said, turning to me, you might know of someone who'd be interested. Her eyes sparkled again, and I found myself dumbstruck by a thought I hadn't entertained before. I'd been coming to this old house for years, admiring the wide front porch and tall trees. In some ways I already thought of myself as its caretaker. I seemed to be the only one who ever walked the property, and I'd always harbored a fear that one day it would be sold and torn down. Just then I didn't know how I

[Narrator]

would do it,

[Lilac Grower]

but I was sure

[Lilac Thief]

this would be my home.

[Lilac Grower]

After that day, there had been many more conversations between the two of us. Some were history lessons, passing on the

[Narrator]

stories of the house

[Lilac Grower]

and the people who'd lived there. We both cared about such things, and some were negotiations. The house needed a good deal of

[Narrator]

work,

[Lilac Grower]

and in the end we were able to agree on a price, and a few weeks later it was mine. When the Day came. I stood in the front yard

[Lilac Thief]

with

[Lilac Grower]

the keys in my hand, smiling up at the house. I no longer parked on the road,

[Narrator]

but proudly drove right up the cracked drive.

[Lilac Grower]

The lilacs had faded by then. High summer was upon us, and the tall trees made a shady canopy that kept the house cool. I'd walked from room to room, overwhelmed at the feeling of having so much to myself, so much to make into whatever I wanted. The next few years had brought lots of hard work. The roof was repaired, a new kitchen fitted in, and the rotten boards torn out from the front porch to be replaced with sweet smelling new ones. I spent one long summer painting everything inside and out, finding paint in my hair and on every piece of clothing I owned till I'd finally finished. The gardens had been edged, uncleared, and replanted. The clothesline was re hung, and I added a patio beside it,

[Narrator]

or I

[Lilac Grower]

could sit and watch the hummingbirds in the morning. Along with all of this, I added something I'd envisaged that first day

[Narrator]

when

[Lilac Grower]

I'd first been caught with my full basket, and that was more lilacs. After all, they had brought me here to my home, and I wanted to share them. I planted a long row of lilac trees and bushes, different colors and varieties, all along the road, and within a few years they had grown to be thick and hardy and to produce a sea of flowers each spring. Along the line of lilacs. A neighbor had helped me build a small stand, like the kind you might buy corn or tomatoes at in the summer, and I stocked it with old baskets and cloth sacks, a few pairs of shears and gardening gloves. Across the front I'd added a sign that I'd painted by hand, kneeling on an old sheet spread out in the grass. It said, free lilacs. Gentle trespassers will not be prosecuted. And on the warm days of spring, when the lilacs were blooming, folks came. The word had gotten out. I'd spot a row of cars parked along the street and might step out

[Lilac Thief]

with a cup of coffee in hand

[Lilac Grower]

to chat with those who had come to gather some beauty from a place that had once been a secret.

[Narrator]

The lilac booth. My favorite time of year was here, the short weeks at the end of April and through the beginning of May, when a step outside my back door would deliver me a lungful of the sweetest smelling air these acres held. And that's saying something. Because life out here on the edge of the woods, near a creek where bullfrogs jug a rum and foxes sleep, among the ferns where the stars stand out brightly against the midnight sky is already pretty sweet. It's strange how a casual left turn down a dirt road many years ago had led me to this new life. I'd been out on a springtime caper, and I do mean that in the thieving sense of the word. Listen. I return my grocery cart to the corral. I don't open other people's mail, and I'm more likely to leave a penny than take one. But there is one area of my life where I have been known to be downright criminal. I am a lilac thief. Or at least I was when I came to that crossroads all those years ago and turned. And if you've ever leaned into a boat bouquet of lilac blossoms and breathed in the incredible scent of them,

[Lilac Grower]

you

[Narrator]

might understand what drove me to pack a pair of garden gloves, some snippers, and a basket into the back of my getaway car and sneak out into the country. I had a few favorite spots I'd already hit that day. There was the tree behind the library, a spot beside the highway, and a bush that grew through a fence near my house where I could snag a few blooms. But I wanted more. Lilacs only bloom once a year, and the window is short, so I driven further out of town, taking random turns with no plan in mind. I remember it was early enough in the spring. That bright sunlight still felt like a novelty, and I'd had to fumble around in my glove box for some sunglasses. I drolled the windows down and thrust my arm into the breeze. I drove past an old abandoned farmhouse and saw a whole row of lilac trees lining one side of the yard. I craned my neck as I passed, trying to spot signs of life,

[Lilac Thief]

but

[Narrator]

no, the house clearly hadn't had a resident in ages. A tree was growing up through part of the front porch, and the driveway was full of tumbleweeds and fallen branches. But in the same way that you can look into a person's eyes and fall in love at first sight, something about the house called out to me as if I'd been there before,

[Lilac Grower]

As

[Narrator]

if I'd finally come home. And after that first timid step onto the drive, the first cautious cutting of a lilac stem, I came back many times, not just to gather flowers

[Lilac Thief]

but

[Narrator]

to check on the house. I wanted to see it in different seasons, to watch the leaves fall from its ancient poplar trees. In winter I wanted to see how the snow lay on the roof,

[Lilac Thief]

and

[Narrator]

once, after a heavy rain, I came to see if the creek had risen over its banks. It had just by a bit,

[Lilac Thief]

and

[Narrator]

the sound of the rushing water was louder than I'd ever heard it. Then, a couple lilac seasons back,

[Lilac Grower]

I

[Narrator]

was out with my basket when I finally bumped into someone, a kind older woman with her hair tied in a

[Lilac Grower]

scarf

[Narrator]

and the top down on her car. She spotted me with an armful of flowers. I'd been caught purple handed and she chuckled from the drive, red faced. I owned up to my thievery and apologized, but she insisted it made her happy to know the blooms weren't going to waste. She'd inherited the place and couldn't use it. Did I know of anyone who might be interested in buying? I smiled as I thought about that day now. It had been a long road, but the house had come back to life. Renovations and repairs, fresh plaster and paint. I stood in my garden clogs in the early morning outside in the yard and looked up at the window of my bedroom. It was pushed up to let in the fresh air and the curtain was dancing in the breeze. I flexed my hand, switching the snippers to the other one and stretching out my fingers. I'd been clipping for a while and still had a ways to go. The lilacs were blooming all around my little property. Since moving in, I'd planted even more bushes and trees. I had the classic pale purple flowers, the ones you most likely think of when you hear the word lilac,

[Lilac Thief]

but

[Narrator]

also white lilacs, wine colored, variegated, deep purple edged in white and even yellow lilacs. That variety was called primrose and was one of my favorites. Several large buckets sat on the back deck, already full of clipped blooms, but I wanted to fill a few more. For this latest lilac project. I'd gone from thief to grower, even adding signs along the front drive inviting others to stop and pick some for themselves. Now I was bringing the lilacs to the people and I was excited. I liked having folks stop by to smell the lilacs, but I wanted to share them with even more people. A flower that blooms only once a year and then just for a week or two teaches you that time is precious, that things must be enjoyed or lost. So I'd booked a booth at the farmer's market for the day and we'd be spreading the love of lilacs with everyone we could. I said we because thankfully I had help for this endeavor. The lilac booth was a fundraiser for a park project in the village. The money raised would help plant milkweed and buy sand for puddling spaces

[Lilac Thief]

for

[Narrator]

monarch butterflies during migration. It was for the park across from the elementary school, a place I went frequently when I saw a pamphlet about their expansion project. The whole idea had come together. Volunteers were helping me cut and prepare the lilacs and to sell them at the market today. They were here among the trees with me now. The goal was for each person to pick three buckets worth. Then we'd load up the van and head to the booth. Before it opened in the late morning, we'd collected scads of donated vases from friends and family and we'd make bouquets of the different colored blooms to entice market goers. I snipped another long branch with several clumps of rosy hued flowers, and dew fell from the petals and leaves above me, giving me a brief shower. I chuckled and thought of how far I'd come from those days riding around town swiping stems and how a random turn on a country road. Sweet dreams.