Opal Reflections

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The tall twins had inexorably killed her chances to have a garden, and though she loved the trees’ elegant, shade-giving, bird-nesting, lushness; she so missed her garden. Over the last forty years, Her yard had become a vibrant place of verdant serenity. It was lovely, but it precluded a garden.

There were bright spots throughout the day, ephemeral and shifting, as the sun moved through its arc, alternating branches from which to shine through. But no garden.  She’d attempted container gardening, studiously shifting her seedlings to catch those elusive rays, and though somewhat successful – yielding clumps of plump cherry tomatoes, herbs, arugula and an occasional string bean – it seemed a futile exercise.

Lost in thought, she saunters through the damp grass towards the gaping emptiness left by the extracted, Sandy-downed trunks. It had been tragic to watch the grand dames fall that terrifying night. Sadder yet to witness the day by day withering of their massive felled hulks, still bearing reluctant remnants of autumn leaves, as she waited for removal crews.

Having fallen  at home within the confines of their own turf, for months they lay stretched diagonally across the entire width of the yard; providing a jungle-like jungle gym for junior climbers, who exuberantly climbed up and over, under, in and out the interwoven branches, stopping occasionally to retrieve an abandoned bird’s nest.

Now that her leafy trees are gone, carted away, chain-sawed into clunky chunks that bore no resemblance to their former stateliness, she stands in the barren space where the trunks were once so securely anchored, and feels empty. Decades will pass before another towering oak will stand here, soothing the senses with shaded fragrance and the sound of rustling leaves.

Instinctively she shields her eyes from the glaring, unfiltered noon-day sun. Suddenly, and with a new spring in her step, she returns to the house and picks up the phone:    

             “Hello, Kris., this is Vicki. About that Garden Club idea…”

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        Trifecta Challenge: CLUB 1a : a heavy usually tapering staff especially of wood wielded as a weapon b : a stick or bat used to hit a ball in any of various games c : something resembling a club 2a : a playing ca rd marked with a stylized figure of a black clover b : plural but sing or plural in constr : the suit comprising cards marked with clubs 3a : an association of persons for some common object usually jointly supported and meeting periodically; also : a group identified by some common characteristic b : the meeting place of a club c : an association of persons participating in a plan by which they agree to make regular payments or purchases in order to secure some advantage d : nightclub e : an athletic association or team 4: club sandwich     .