The print editor of The Stranger, who is terrible with plants, who has been gifted cacti by friends before and has found ways to kill even those, went to Indoor Sun Shoppe in Fremont to find a sturdy, low-light-needs plant for his office. He bought a beautiful, hard-to-kill Dracaena with deep-green, Jurassic-looking leaves. He named it Audrey III and watered it—but the next day, the soil filled with foamy white mold. A cosmic message to the editor not to own plants? A reflection of ambient decay in The Stranger's office? Who knows. Indoor Sun Shoppe recommended pulling the plant out of the soil, hosing its roots off, washing them with soap, and replanting it. But there is no soil handy at The Stranger, nor is there a hose, nor did the print editor feel like doing any of that. So he put on gloves, scooped the mold away, and ignored Audrey III for a while. The next time he watered the plant, he used the sink sprayer in the office kitchen, drowning and then drying out the soil. A year later, the mold has not returned. The leaves look sharp and vibrant. "Nice plant!" people keep saying. Sometimes laziness does work.