He climbed from his car and rolled up the window at the same time. Straightening up, he pushed down the knob to lock the door, and at the same time a wind-blown seed, carried through the air by a mantle of long yellow fluff, happened to blow into his mouth. He coughed violently, but somehow the seed just went further into his throat. Gagging, he stuck a finger into his mouth and tried to hook the fluffy seed out, but it eluded him. The corner of his mouth dripping saliva, he swallowed involuntarily and the seed went down.
He coughed a couple more times, but the seed was beyond retrieval and he shrugged his shoulders and widened his eyes. It was just a seed; probably edible though maybe not nutritious. He swung shut the door of the car and climbed the wooden steps into his apartment.
Later, while watching the hockey game, he felt thirsty and, after drinking eight full tumblers of water from the kitchen sink, he knew something was wrong. He brought a pitcher full of water back to the couch with him, but kept having to get up to refill it. All at once, midway through the second intermission, he felt the thirst disappear, to be replaced by an overwhelming fatigue. He tried to press the power button on the remote but missed and, leaving the television on, he stumbled into his bedroom, removed his clothing and fell across the bed. Straightening out, he dragged the blankets over himself, clutched his pillow and fell immediately into a deep, dreamless sleep.
When the alarm sounded the following morning he stirred, preparing to throw the blankets aside and start getting ready for work. But there was a strange feeling between his upper thighs and he felt something solid beneath his buttocks. Revolted, he moved the blankets away and looked down at himself.
There was a green stem protruding from between his legs. The end of it was forked and at the end of each fork was a swelling, suggesting that it would fork again. The stem was thicker at the other end, where it disappeared between his upper thighs, and he could tell where it had originated without having to look. There was a plant growing from his anus. Horrified, he grabbed the stem and thought about yanking it out, but something about the way he felt, inside of himself, told him that this would be a mistake.
In the shower, he carefully kept his legs apart as he stood under the stream of warm water. The thirst returned and he moved his mouth close to the shower nozzle and allowed the water to pour into his throat. His abdomen swelled hugely to accomodate it.
When he left the apartment later, he paused in the act of unlocking his car door to stare at a corner of the yard, where the hedge met the wall of the house. The grassy space in that protected corner looked welcoming, and he resolved to inspect it more closely after work.
In a meeting later in the morning he fidgeted as tiny tendrils stretched from within his trousers, beneath his shirt and up to his armpits. He felt dozens of tiny arms with grasping hands, reaching around to stretch across his back. It was constricting, but it was a hug. He felt warm, and secure. More tendrils extended down his legs, inside the trousers, and reached into his socks and shoes.
He cancelled his afternoon meeting, as the shoots had emerged from his clothing. Leaves were opening and getting larger all the time, and he felt he must now present a curious appearance. He kept his office door closed until well after everybody else had left for the day, and then made his way out to his car.
When he arrived home and got out of the car, his gaze swung immediately to the patch of grass where the hedge met the wall. He walked across the lawn and stood there. And realized that this was where he wanted to stay.
That night, as he stood alone in the dark, the tendrils split again and again and he was completely enveloped in green stems and leaves. Other tendrils reached down to the ground and sent roots into the soil. Buds formed and enlarged into blooms and by the time the sun rose in the morning the blooms were beginning to open. Every time the wind shook his leaves, he saw dust fly from his flowers into the wind. Then in the afternoon the flower petals dried and rustled in the breeze. He felt a pull and saw the wind pluck a seed, a tiny seed with a mantle of yellow fluff, away from him and it danced through the air until it was too far to see. More seeds found the wind and flew away and, by the time the neighbours were arriving home from work, their cars turning into driveways up and down the street, there was a sprinkling of flying yellow seeds everywhere.