I round the corner of the yard towards the live oak. There's Spanish moss hanging from the branches. I’ve seen pictures before, but the tree is truly majestic in person. Huge, curved meandering branches grow from the central trunk, some almost touching the ground. Greenish lichen or moss covers the bark, which appears black in many places. It’s the largest tree I think I’ve ever seen in person. I sit against the trunk on the lowest branch and lean my head back. It’s cooler here under the large canopy. I close my eyes and breathe for a few minutes. I feel almost peaceful under here.
A chittering sound has me opening my eyes. Gazing up, I see a squirrel two branches above, looking down. He’s bigger than thesquirrels in Virginia, with a fluffier tail but a similar brown color. He hurries towards the trunk when he makes eye contact and bounds around to the back of the tree. I can still hear him talking, but it’s getting lower in volume. As I stand up, I brush off my butt and grab some Spanish moss, then start leisurely moving towards the other side of the yard. A mix of leafy green and bare trees lines the property’s right side.
There are a bunch of shrubs and dead bushes in front of them, so I decide to skip digging around for the plaques.
Soon I’m nearing the garage. It’s definitely a brand-new structure. Not wanting to enter without Zander, I keep going. A lattice on the far side of the garage holds hanging purple wisteria blooms. I grab a cluster of blooms and breathe in their sweet smell.
As I turn towards the front of the house again, the front door opens and Zander steps out. “Hey Summer,” he smiles. “I saw you through the windows. What are you up to?” He’s got shorts and an old t-shirt on now, hair messy.
“Nothing, just wanted some fresh air, so I took a walk around the property.”
“Springtime in the South is pretty,” he concedes. “This,” he waves a hand around, “is all thanks to my grandma. She could grow anything. People would come annually to see the blooms.”
“Really?” Like having a father, I never really thought about my other grandparents. We had Nana until she passed away when I was younger. I didn’t have a grandpa since he and Nana divorced before I was born.
“Yeah. Sadly, it’s not as pretty anymore with the property vacant for years. I have a black thumb, which doesn’t help matters,” he jokes.
I nod and shuffle my feet back and forth. Is that where I got my interest in plants? I wonder. The flowers are so pretty here. Being in the mountains, it’s mostly evergreens in my hometown. Wedon’t have flowering trees other than the odd apple tree someone planted in their yard.
“Looks like you have quite a collection of blossoms there,” he nods towards my hands. “Shall we find something to put them in?”
“Okay,” I say as I follow Zander back into the house to the kitchen.
“Do you want a vase or something else?” He asks.
“Um, well, I didn’t pick them long enough to put them in water. Maybe a bowl of some kind?”
“Alright, let’s see what we can find.” Zander goes through most of the cupboards and pulls out a shallow glass bowl. “Will this work?” He asks.
I nod and arrange the blossoms on top of the Spanish moss. I take a few minutes to get everything arranged to my liking. When I look up, I see Zander smiling at me. “What?”
“Did you know you were humming?”
“No, I wasn’t,” I shake my head. I haven’t hummed in over a year. “I’m going to put this in my room. I’ll be back after my call with Sarah,” I say as I rush down the hall, feeling very uncomfortable.
“I’ll be in the office when you’re done,” he hollers.
I set the bowl beside the picture frame on my nightstand. I don’t hum. He must have been mistaken. The thought of humming makes me feel edgy.
Checking my phone, I see it’s 3:30pm already. I was outside for almost two hours. That’s…crazy. I grab my laptop off the desk, kick my shoes off, and get settled on the bed again. Powering it on, I call Sarah.
“Hi Summer. How are you?”
“I’m…I don’t know, actually.” Definitely weirded out with a range of emotions running through me, and my heart is beating too fast.
“Did something happen?” Her brows furrow in concern.
“Zandersaid I was humming a minute ago.” Looking up at her on the screen, I reply, “I don’t hum. I haven’t since before the accident. He must have been mistaken.”
“Okay, let’s back up a bit. What were you doing prior to?”
“I took a walk around the property because I needed a minute to myself. There are all these trees blooming everywhere. They each have a metal plaque on the ground in front of them, identifying the tree. It smells so amazing outside, and Zander told me his grandmother planted all of them.”
“Is that what I see in the bowl beside you?”
I glance over and grab the bowl to show Sarah. “Yeah, aren’t they pretty? The gigantic oak tree out back was covered in Spanish moss, so I arranged the blossoms on top of it.”
“It’s beautiful, Summer.”
