

A woman walks in a garden cemetery She has walked here
every day for many months, ever since her husband died
of a dire illness in the last days of winter. Now it is
late summer and she is still dressed in heavy black all
over, so still and pale that she has frightened other
visitors who mistook her for a ghost.
The gardener, an old man who had seen many things, had
been watching her for a long time and finally one day,
he steps into her path and gives her a ripe, golden
fruit he has picked from a tree. She puts her hand up
and says, "I won't eat fruit from a graveyard, what are
you thinking?"
The gardener says, "It is specially blessed by all the
spirits here. It is good fruit. Try it." The woman sighs
and takes the fruit, takes a bite. She startles aware as
the sweet taste explodes in her mouth. She looks at the
gardener, looks at the fruit, and starts to cry at last. |