Dreaming in green: Healing from the outside II

She be dreamin', 2017, Private Collection

Have you heard?

Do you know Anansi? I only learned of him as an adult and I am still learning. From my understanding, he is a part of the oral traditions in Ghana and his stories traveled throughout the diaspora due to the slave trade. According to legend, he is a mischievous god who  took the form of a spider. Anansi is apparently also one who holds knowledge and may take the form of man at times. I also learned through listening to children's stories, that he loves to eat (a spider after my own heart!) The stories are so delightful and sometimes end with some version of "and that was that."

It's time to begin part II, but hold Anansi in your mind, would you?

The beginning before the beginning

Maybe three or four years now passed, the beginning before the beginning, Jennifer's beloved was lamenting to his cousin that the labor it took to mow the lawn was just too much. He was using a push mower and losing more than half a Saturday each weekend. (They had moved into a space, with quite a larger expanse of grass, compared to their previous dwelling.) The cousin passed on the name of a person who he assured could do the job and do it well. It was true, the person was just fine, but soon found himself too busy to maintain his business, so he sold his contact list to a guy...Let's call him Ed.

What does Ed know?

Ed was friendly and willing to take a new client on their side of town. Jennifer's beloved was so delighted to get back a few precious hours each weekend. Jennifer loved the  coming home to a fresh cut lawn. It felt like a little bit of magic.

After the first or second visit, something clicked for Ed. He recognized this lawn. In fact, he had cut it ten or more years prior, according to him. He knew the original owners. They were lovely people. He also recalled that there was once a peach tree right in the center of the back yard. He remembered how he loved cutting the lawn and having access to an abundance of free peaches and other fruit.

For months and months, Ed rode his standing mower around that lawn...cutting the  blades into manicured magnificence. He worked in a circle, spinning magic like a spider spins a web. But now, there were no more peaches, no more fruit to speak of at all, actually. 

And that was that.