A girl will dig ceaselessly in the dirt with her bare hands, caking her nails with black earth and ruining any prior hint of a manicure.
She will check the moisture like a mother checking the temperature of a sick child, lovingly pinching and trimming the leaves, watching carefully as the little stalks struggle upward.
She will check the moisture like a mother checking the temperature of a sick child, lovingly pinching and trimming the leaves, watching carefully as the little stalks struggle upward.
She will sing to it, talk to it, tell it about her day.
Confide in it, watch over it, bring it in if outside is suddenly too cold.
She will inspect it closely every day, waiting for the first fruits of her love and labor.
Rushing outside first thing in the morning and crawling around the garden soil in her pajamas, hoping to see the first fat, shiny bulb of a glowing red tomato.
When the time finally comes and the first tomato hangs heavy on the vine, it will take everything she has not to pluck it from it's stem and bite into it right then, right in there as she crouches in the moist earth as the sun is still barely rising, just to feel the sweet, warm rush of the juice and the seeds swirling into her mouth, like a galaxy of her very own.
Rushing outside first thing in the morning and crawling around the garden soil in her pajamas, hoping to see the first fat, shiny bulb of a glowing red tomato.
When the time finally comes and the first tomato hangs heavy on the vine, it will take everything she has not to pluck it from it's stem and bite into it right then, right in there as she crouches in the moist earth as the sun is still barely rising, just to feel the sweet, warm rush of the juice and the seeds swirling into her mouth, like a galaxy of her very own.
Did you write this yourself? Bravo, Sarah, it's wonderfully written. Never knew there was so much to know about growing tomatoes!
ReplyDeleteI did write it myself :)
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