Chapter One: The Package
Lydia Van Doran signed for the package from the UPS
driver. She took a quick look
to see if there were any directions concerning
this particular sapling. She saw three
Chinese symbols printed on the outside and read them out loud.
“Growth” 
“Love” 
“Peace”
She traced the graphics with her
fingertips and then looked back at her new plant.
“Gus, come in here and look at this sapling.”
Gus got up from his computer and walked over to the
workbench. “Wow.
It’s growing right before our eyes,” he said running his
fingers along the trunk of the plant.
“I’m going to call Dr. Cartwright and have her look at it.”
“Do you really need to call your professor now?” Gus asked.
“I was looking forward to a quiet evening with just the two of us.”
“I think she needs to see it. This is unusual, right?”
“You’re right. I’ll get a tape measure.” Gus walked through
the nursery
and out the door to the garage.
Lydia called her graduate advisor, Dr. Veronica Cartwright,
and explained
the situation. Then she sat down at the workbench in her
refurbished nursery.
Lydia had all the latest features installed including a
polycarbonate greenhouse
with cooling, heating and adequate ventilation. There
were sprayers, soil
sterilization and pasteurizing equipment, heat lamps, as
well as her regular
supplies of garden tools, pots, fertilizers and soils. She
also had her microscopes,
slides, glass tubes and other tools for research.
Her doctorate in Horticulture with a focus on the use of recycled materials for
compost and the aeration
of depleted soils was almost complete. She had built
a state of the art
environment for research and now from a practical standpoint
her husband, Gus,
expected her to use it to grow plants to landscape their
long neglected yard
which had only been used as a test site for the aeration
potential of different
recyclable materials.
Her first effort to beautify their yard was to order a
sapling for a fast growing
Empress (Royal) Paulownia Tree. She heard about it on Oprah and was
looking forward to a full shade tree with lavender flowers adorning their
yard
but this sapling was growing too fast. In all her studies she had never read
about a plant with this growth rate.
“This is unreal. It
is getting too big to keep it indoors.” Gus exclaimed
when he returned with the
tape measure. “Did you reach Dr. Cartwright?”
“Yes. She will be here in about an hour.”
The trunk had already grown five inches in length and
another inch in diameter.
Gus let out a low whistle. It increased in size while
he was measuring it.
“Where did you get this thing anyway?
“I ordered it online from Sapling International. The trees
can be found all over
the world but this one came from a Tibetan monastery in
China. They were
originally planted throughout the Orient whenever a daughter
was born.
It is suppose to bring good luck to her family and when she married
it was suppose
to be cut down and the wood used to make her a wedding chest and
other gifts.”
“Why did you do that?
“I’m going to start some more
saplings. Maybe we can have our own online
business for really fast
growing Empress Royal Trees,” Lydia laughed while placing
the branches in some
glass tubes filled with water. She could see roots already starting
to form.
“Yeah, we’ll be rich.”
There was a low rustling sound as the sapling continued to
grow. Lydia noticed
the buds forming on the branches. “We’re going to have
flowers before we know it.
Oh, there is one now.”
“Where?”
“See that furry pea sized bud. It’s just waiting to burst
into a huge flower but
I didn’t think they are not suppose to bloom until
spring.”
Gus put his nose up close to the bud. “It smells something
like a gardenia or a jasmine.”
“Yeah, that’s what it’s is suppose to smell like.”
“Great.” He rubbed his eyes and then blew his nose. “These
leaves are as big as
my hand,” he said as he held the large tropical leaf.
“They’ll get bigger. They can be over
a foot wide. They’re supposed
to be great air filters and pull pollution right
out of the air. The trees also
withstand droughts and grow in almost any kind
of soil.”
“I think that’s Dr. Cartwright at the door. I’ll let her
in.” Gus hurried to the front
door and unlocked and opened it. “You got here
fast.”
“I came as soon as Lydia called. She sounded pretty excited.
I wanted to see
the tree before she planted it.”
“She’s out in back.”
They heard a loud scream and ran through the house and into
the nursery.
Lydia had unwrapped the burlap from the soil surrounding the
base of the tree.
The roots were reaching out like long tendrils. One wrapped
around her wrist.
She pulled herself free. “Do you believe this?”
“Gus do you have a video camera and tripod?” Dr. Cartwright
asked.
“Yes.”
“Set it up. We need to get pictures of this. No one will
believe us unless they see it.”
Dr. Cartwright said. “How long have you had the
sapling?”
“An hour before I called you. What should we do? Look at my
cuttings
they’re outgrowing the glass tubes.” Lydia tried to laugh.
“Have you looked at the growth cells under the microscope?”
“Yes. Take a look. The vacuole in each cell is larger than
normal.”
“Let’s plant them. Gus, keep the camera running and follow
us. Lydia, get some
holes dug outside. I want to plant the smaller cuttings as
well.”
Lydia grabbed a shovel and Dr. Cartwright took the smaller
plants. They walked
out the back door and into the yard. Lydia quickly dug
three small holes ten feet apart.
Dr. Cartwright dropped the saplings into each
hole patting the soil to stabilize the new plant.
Lydia started digging a
larger hole for the biggest sapling.
Dr. Cartwright went inside but couldn’t carry the tree by
herself. The roots kept
winding themselves around her arms. She called out for
help. Lydia came in and
they carried it out and planted it in the ground. Gus
recorded everything.
When all the saplings were stabilized Dr. Cartwright told
Gus to take some still shots.
She turned to Lydia and asked, “Can we get some
lights out here to record any
growth during the night?”
“I suppose. Gus, do we have lights and a chair? What else
will we need if we are
going to take shifts watching this thing?”
“The camera, a notebook, something warm to drink, and some
music should do it,”
Dr. Cartwright said.
“Get me the stuff and I’ll take the first shift. What do you
want me to watch for?”
Gus asked.
“Watch for growth and any changes like added branches,
flowers or anything unusual,”
Lydia said while she set up the items needed to
make her husband comfortable.
“Lydia and I will be in the nursery,” Dr. Cartwright said,
“I want a closer look
at the cell structure.”
The full moon rose overhead and offered additional lighting
in the yard. Gus had
the tripod and camera set-up with wires running back to
the nursery. He had
extra memory cards available for the long night ahead.
Three halogen lights were
also set-up by the largest sapling.
“Concentrate on the largest plant and take incidental shots
of the smaller ones
when we change shifts,” Dr. Cartwright said before she left
him on his own.
He didn’t remember sleeping but now he was wide-awake
standing in front of a half grown
Empress (Royal) Paulownia Tree. He checked his watch. No one had
come to relieve
him during the night and the sun was starting to rise on the
horizon. He must have
fallen asleep after midnight. He looked around at the
other plants and they had
caught up in size to the one he was supposed to be
observing. He checked the
camera. “Ouch, it is out of memory.” He quickly
replaced the memory card
and went inside to find Lydia and Dr. Cartwright.
Both were asleep in the nursery. Lydia was sitting at her
computer with her
head nestled in her arms. Dr. Cartwright was at the
workbench, her eyes
closed and her head slumped forward. They jumped when he came
in.
Lydia spoke first, “What’s up?”
“The sun’s rising. We must have fallen asleep. The trees are
almost full grown.”
Dr. Cartwright headed for the restroom and Lydia ran outside
with Gus.
The four trees created a canopy of shade covering forty feet. She
could see
the purple flowers open up in the early morning sun. Gus took her
hand and they
watched the beauty unfold. By the time Dr. Cartwright joined them
there were
several flowers on the trees. Early morning joggers and walkers
stopped to
view the wonder emerging.
Lydia realized she had planted the trees too close together.
They could reach
over fifty feet high and they were well on their way. “What
are we going to do?
They don’t have room to grow much bigger.”
“You’re going to have to trim them. Cut them back to the
main trunk and branches,”
Dr. Cartwright said and then returned with Lydia to
the nursery.
“What do we do with the cuttings?” Gus asked but didn’t get
an answer
because the two women were deep in conversation discussing the
phenomena
of this fast growing tree.
No comments:
Post a Comment