Felicity – A Philosophical Fable [Chapter 22]
Mimi sat up slowly. She had not slept well and she woke up feeling slightly disoriented. She remembered the invasion. Not all of it. But enough of it to know it was the cause of her discomfort.
She had felt this way once before. She didn’t remember much about that either. It was more like remembering a dream than remembering something that really happened. But she felt fairly certain that it had happened. And now it had happened again.
The scent of jasmine tea distracted her from her thoughts. She picked up her cup and drank it in small sips. Her thoughts turned to her garden.
She set down her empty cup and got out of bed. Then she slid open a door to the courtyard.
Something was wrong. She looked all around. Everything seemed as it always did. The stone tile patio, the rattan furniture, the blue sky. What was wrong? Then she saw it. The garden.
The garden was overgrown. The lettuce and spinach had gone to seed and weeds were choking the plants. Fruit was rotting on the vine. How long had she slept?
Mimi went inside. Tripp was reading poems to Sunny, Fae, and Wave. Mimi walked up to them and looked at them firmly. “The garden is dead,” she said. Her voice was clear and strong. “Why didn’t you tend it?”
They were momentarily taken aback. They had never heard Mimi speak before.
Fae stood up. “I’m sorry Mimi. I didn’t even think of it,” she said.
“I didn’t think of it either,” said Sunny. “I was painting.”
“I was writing poems,” said Tripp and he glanced at the book in his lap.
Wave looked at the floor. “I’m sorry,” he said in a quiet voice.
“Let’s plant it now!” Fae exclaimed. Her suggestion was enthusiastically received. They all went to the courtyard. The garden was ready to be sown.
First they sat Mimi on a lounge chair so she could rest. She had only just woken up after the exhausting ordeal of the invasion. It was too soon for her to exert herself. Then they planted the seeds. They worked quickly and cheerfully.
Mimi watched them work. They didn’t understand her vexation. She thought it peculiar that they wouldn’t keep up the garden for themselves. The food nourished them so well that they didn’t need to eat so much.
When Mimi was told to eat as much and as often as she could, she didn’t really understand. She didn’t understand that she would be spending most of her waking hours eating the ginger snaps that were always in her bowl.
The others had to eat almost as much as she did. For every hour they weren’t eating, they would have to eat more later to make up for it. This didn’t much affect Tripp, who could eat while he read and wrote poetry, or Ryder, who could eat while he studied. But it was especially difficult for Fae. She couldn’t eat while dancing. Sunny too. She couldn’t eat while painting. Though at least she could contemplate her work while she took time out to eat. Wave could listen to whatever composition he was working on while he ate. But for Fae, eating simply meant not dancing. And Fae would dance nonstop if she could.
If they had tended the garden, they could have reduced the amount of time they spent eating. They could have had more time to devote to their arts. But it just didn’t matter to them.
So Mimi thought it peculiar that they didn’t keep up the garden. But she didn’t think about it for long.
When the sowing was complete, they all went inside. They sat on the sofas and ate their usual food from their bowls.
Fae, Sunny, and Tripp talked. Wave was oddly silent.