Seedling
A little boy is running to his garden,
As if hiding a secret. With a seed in hand,
He reaches his home. At home,
He is quickly planting it in the garden, praying.
A few minutes ago,
Laura went out to get some cherries for the pie
her mother was planning to bake.
But on the way back home,
she could not stop herself from tasting a few.
It’s only a few, she kept telling herself.
Laura thought her mother wouldn’t notice that a few cherries were missing
or even if she did, she will say sorry and will be forgiven.
but then she sees Adam at a distance, walking towards her, calling her name, waving at her.
Laura, Laura, Hi! What are you doing here?
Adam from school, she recollects what she knows about him. That boy who’s always excited and the one who tells some weird dreamy tales to everyone he meets.
He stands by Laura and smiles.
Hi Laura!
Hi Adam.
You look a little off, are you okay?
Yes, yes, Mo- Yes, I’m fine.
So, what are you doing with those cherries here all alone? Share some with me, no? They look so yumm!
Umm, Adam, it’s for a pie Mum is baking. I already ate so I can’t share now.
Oh okay, so can I take the one in your mouth?
Laura hesitates. But it sounds to her like a fun idea.
She can’t lose more cherries, anyway, and Mum says we should always share with others.
So, Adam leans closer to her and takes it from her mouth, rolling his tongue inside her.
Something weird is happening to him again, Laura thinks.
He says he has a vision.
What vision?
Your cousins won’t like this pie today, in fact they will hate it. They will tell your Mama about it and she will be very upset.
No, no, that can’t be! It has never happened. Mum bakes the best pie!
I see it, Laura, I don’t know. You know I see these things.
Yeah, yeah, I know.
Now, what?
Let’s finish all of these quickly then. I’m already getting late. Mum must be waiting. I’ll tell her something like cherries weren’t there, something or the other.
So, they each have a few and then Adam says,
Stop!
Laura, he holds her hands.
They taste sweeter in your mouth, I think.
He blushes.
Do they? Then let me see how they taste in your mouth?
So, one by one they keep the cherries in each other’s mouths
and throw the seeds into the slowly emptying cherry pack.
The last one, he keeps it in his pocket instead of throwing.
By now, they both seem to be struck by something.
It’s as if he is feeling cold and warm at the same time. It’s all very weird.
But it’s bright outside, the sun is still shining.
He runs and he runs while wanting to run back.
He is praying he is growing the seed of love.
His vision says,
They’ll have a baby together someday.
