Earth day short story

Jacob Anders was newly assigned to the consulate in a small South American country. As a boy he had dreamed of adventure and spent much of his teen years telling his friends how he was going to someday live abroad and meet interesting new people from fascinating places. Unfortunately six months after arriving at his new post he was caught sending a series of flirtatious letters to an ambassadors daughter and was reassigned up country where it was thought he could “cool his heels” and hopefully the ambassador would put the entire incident out of mind.

Jacob was assigned a guide, an Englishman by the name of Wilkes, who was supposed to show him around the country and familiarize Jacob with the indigenous leaders. However Wilkes soon disappeared leaving Jacob to his own devices. For more than a week Jacob wandered around the countryside, hitching rides on the various trucks that would come rolling through and catching tidbits of news of the outside world. One trucker, an outlandish character named Mars, took to Jacob and asked point blankly if he had sampled any of the local girls and when Jacob responded that he had not, Mars took Jacob to a nearby brothel in order that he might be properly “welcomed” to the country.

Jacob wasn’t interested in an anonymous sexual encounter, but tried to humor Mars by sitting at a makeshift bar drinking a beverage made of local fruit juices. There he struck several conversations with the working girls. Sadly these “talks” always ended in a sales pitch and feeling rather uncomfortable Jacob retreated to a dark corner and waited for Mars, and his ride, to return.

Sitting alone in the dark, inebriated and surrounded by a group of surly women who undoubtedly thought Jacob was gay, or worse, Jacob had just made up his mind to walk out of the house when a man walked in that caught his attention. Thinking back on it, Jacob couldn’t remember exactly what it was about the man that was particularly notable, but when the man noticed Jacob he came bellowing over and drew Jacob into the light and began conversing. The talk almost immediately turned to sex and when Jacob indicated that he was uncomfortable talking openly about the topic the man laughed and called him a “Miranda.” Unfamiliar with the term Jacob inquired after the meaning and the stranger said that a Miranda was a beautiful tree, possibly the most beautiful tree in existence. It grew in the deepest part of the jungle and spent most of its life in a state of dormancy. However, almost inexplicably, during the rainy season the tree would occasionally bloom, and release it s pollen into the air. The pollen, continued the man was incredibly intoxicating, and the reason for the Miranda’s fame, that and the fact that the Miranda only bloomed once, after which it would almost immediately shrivel and die. For this reason the plant has escaped widespread cultivation.

Soon after Mars appeared and Jacob thanked the man for the talk and the two left. Jacob returned to his home and continued to think about the strange plant that grew in the wilds of the jungle. Young and avaricious he began to imagine that he could make a comfortable fortune if he could just figure out a way of cultivating the beautiful plant and harvesting the exotic pollen. The more he dreamt the more he convinced himself that his plan was feasible and soon began to inquire after local guides that could lead him on his quest.

Jacob was unperturbed when few guides acknowledged such a fabulous plant as he thought they must have certainly been planning to grow rich themselves from a similar discovery. Finally after weeks of inquiry Jacob found a guide, a young man like himself who professed no knowledge of the plant but would certainly lead Jacob into the depths of the forest for a tidy fee. Jacob had spent his time wisely while looking for the right guide and had made a careful inventory of supplies he would need. In the end however, the guide reassured Jacob that he had most certainly over packed and recommended only a few bare essentials for the trip.

The journey into the jungle was a blur to Jacob. Too excited by his adventure, he failed to take note of any of the local landmarks and time seemed to slip away from him. Days later he found himself marching though the jungle perspiring and wondering if he hadn’t gotten himself in quite over his head. On the fourth day the guide had told Jacob he was going to scout up ahead and disappeared into the forest never to return. Unbeknownst to Jacob the ambassador had plotted Jacobs demise and having discovered Jacob was looking for a local guide, planted one of his own men to lead Jacob into the jungle and there to leave him to die.

Jacob wandered about the forest for days blind with panic. He had no inkling of his bearings and the realization that he would almost certainly die in the jungle bore down on him like the weight of a tremendous stone. Exhausted and mad with fear he forced himself on, at times imagining that he was seeking the plant and at other times that he was searching for a way out. As he had no earthly idea where he was, both possibilities presented themselves as reality to him and in his delirium he welcomed both with equal fervor.

One morning he woke, and for no apparent reason felt a sense of relief. He had abandoned everything except for a canteen and a small pack and taking these he walked calmly into the forest. He hadn’t traveled more than a few hundred yards when he entered a small clearing an spied an enormous plant with pod shaped leaves. He was certain that he had found the plant he had been seeking, but then was taken back by his own foolishness. “How” he wondered, “was he supposed to harvest the pollen of a plant that had no regular interval for opening?”

Defeated he slumped down to the base of the plant and began to weep. He recalled the conversation of the stranger in the bar, and that the plant only blossomed once. Jacob beat himself about the head and shoulders, stood and kicked the tree and cursed it, then broke into laughter and began to water the tree from his canteen, dancing around it like some bacchanalian spirit before falling down and passing out.

When he awoke he was startled to discover that he was covered with a fine light powder. At first he though he had truly gone mad "Was it snowing in the Amazon?" He looked into the clear blue sky to reassure himself. Coming to his senses he was overwhelmed with the most aromatic scent he had ever experienced. Slowly the realization dawned on him. The tree had pollinated. He had made the tree open! Exuberant, he grabbed his satchel to collect a sample the dust. His hands scooped up great handfuls of earth but everywhere he reached the pollen seemed to melt away from his touch till finally every last trace of it seemed to have dissolved into the dry earth. Confounded Jacob stood starring at the wilting tree, he knew he was hopelessly lost. His mind flooded with images of the ambassadors daughter, of Mars, the strange man, and his dreams of riches. Slowly his eyes opened, the tree sagged before him. His dreams seemed small compared to its wilting form.

A New Day.

How often do you wake up and tell yourself "today is a new day"? I have to admit that most mornings I just roll out of bed and don't give the day another thought. I silently shift into automatic pilot as I trudge down the hall towards the kitchen. I pour out the old coffee and begin the new. So it goes, day in and day out.

But sometimes, every once in a while, something will happen that changes all of that. Yesterday I got beaten up. I probably deserved some of my licks, but it didn't change the fact that by the end of the day I knew that my time in graduate school was over and that it hadn't ended happily, or prettily. I didn't happen the way I wanted or the way I expected. I just happened, and I was powerless to stop it. But you know what? There are a lot of things in life that don't go the way I want or expect, and getting bent out of shape over them isn't going to bring back yesterday or undo all the things that were said and done.

That is that, as they say. Now, I don't want to sound glib, but when I rolled out of bed this morning, when I was trudging down the hall, when I was making that first pot of coffee, something was different. I could feel it. It was right there in front of me. Today is a new day.It is a new beginning. It is the first day after graduate school. I'm out. I'm done. My new life starts today, and it is a bit daunting.

Let's be clear, there are still quite a few odds and ends to sort out from the past life. There are still accusations to clear up. There is the question of what degree I will end up with since it is clearly not the much anticipated MFA. What will it be? Education? Humanities? I don't know. But I have thousands of dollars and as many hours invested and I don't think I am just going to walk away from all that. No, something has to come of that.

And then there is the blog. Why a new blog? well the old blog was great, but there is a lot of personal information in there that I need to tuck away for a time while I get things sorted out. That and, well, let's just leave it there for now. Attorneys to call, guidance counselors and Deans. Today is a new day, and it is shaping up to be a busy one!