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- Eternal Seeds
- The table lies abandoned and neglected suffocating fresh blades of grass.
- The blistering sunÆs arms chip away at the decaying paint. The only
- attention it receives is from a colony of black ants which infest the
- cracks and crevices. This splintered wooden table once had a life, when
- it provided rest under the shadow of an umbrella made of orange tree
- leaves, where grapefruit pits replaced ants and banana peels adorned the
- surface like a table cloth.
- We spent countless summer days sitting on this wooden table,
- seats reserved for both brothers, grandpa and me. These were never
- permanent, and needed periodic rotation in fear that my grandpa would
- break through the center and fold us up inside. The table provided a view
- of the entire backyard, beginning with the half-empty pool, to the
- half-flooded surrounding concrete. From this look-out point my younger
- brother surveyed his sprouting tomato plant and I could supervise my
- cardboard lizard motel, which provided shelter for lost reptiles.
- Beyond its significance as a surveillance tower and snack rest,
- the table possessed industrial value, as the location for our kite
- production line. All four of us took part in this activity each with a
- designated chore. Age established the seating order, and each position
- required the completion of a different task. Since age best indicated
- ability, my younger brother gathered supplies, and broke a fresh piece of
- wood from the volunteering orange tree, displaying its branches daily.
- My other brother and I, equal in age, remained equal in responsibility.
- We held together the branches in a diagonal shape, while my grandpa, far
- superior in years, secured the pieces with yarn in the most aerodynamic
- way possible.
- Our table production line continued until the surface became dull
- from its frequent use, and the legs splintered from the weight imposed on
- its aged back. When the sight of the dilapidated table became too
- offensive for my parents to support, it was demoted from the center of
- the backyard, to a hidden corner cluttered by outgrown infant chairs and
- a rusted swing set. This relocation symbolized our passing of age, and
- was finalized by its replacement with a new wooden table.
- The orange tree umbrella has since folded up and the kite stolen by the
- jealous wind, yet memories of the table are as fresh as the seeds
- eternally trapped beneath the wooden panels. Seeds, that will eventually
- sprout into new memories, a living remembrance of the table, even after
- its death.