Nature's calling

I didn’t think much of it at first. It’s been lying at the back of the top bedroom cupboard for 2 years now. My parents told me that the house we were moving into was very old but, that it was the only house available at such short notice within their price range. We moved here from the city. Everything was always so busy and conveniently placed. The bookstore, the library and Big Toby’s candy store were all within walking distance from our small apartment.

It was show and tell week at school; they would select a few kids from the class to present each day – they went in alphabetical order. My last name was close to the end of the alphabet so, I was safe for a while. We are nearing the end of the week now, and we have had telescopes to old homemade warships be presented in class.

I am the quiet kid; I normally had some piece of grass stuck to my clothing from falling over on the lawn at school. I loved presenting in class, I made extra effort to attract attention for story telling so, I knew that whatever I brought needed to be laced with an old tale and a historical myth. My classmates were starting to think I was the freak they always knew I was, and I needed to change this.

Whilst living in the city, my parents worked most of the time and that left me with a lot of alone time to make up for the absence of strict parenting. When I was 5 years old, I built a campsite in the apartment using every pillow, blanket and throw that I could find. Parent feedback, absolutely nothing. When I was 6, I climbed up to the roof of the apartment building just to see if I could see the ocean at all – I couldn’t. But, for those few minutes that I went missing, no one was looking. When I was 7, my pet hamster went missing, I was distraught and cried for hours. The school took me to the therapist where they called in my parents. My parents said that I was acting out as I have never had a hamster nor did any hamster, they know of go missing. I don’t think that my parents really knew me. The only time that I received the most attention from them after this was the day after my show and tell presentation.

The night before my presentation I retrieved the box from the top left-hand corner on the wardrobe. It was a box, no larger than a shoebox. It was a box no lighter than a deck of cards. For all the webs and dust around it, the box seemed to be pretty much intact. No insects seemed to have noticed it at all.

I laid the box onto the bed on old pieces of newspaper. I made sure that my door was closed. Could it be a small fortune, could it be a dead rat, could it be a diary, or could it be nothing at all?

I gently opened the box. There were 2 things in it. One was a key and the other a note.

I leave this to whoever shall find it. My name is Keanu Nicholous. I am of 106 years old. I am a self-proclaimed doctor. I have lived at Yorkins Manor for all my life. She is not much to look at but, she holds one of the most valuable keys to life. People came all around the world to seek medical assistance and enlightenment from my family and I can only hope that whoever is reading this shall take great care in nurturing my life’s investments. Lord only knows how many years would have passed till you get to read this letter. As a frame of reference, it is 11 May 1891 today as I write to you. The world is becoming a very greedy place, I therefore did not wish to share my collection with just any person. I understand that I cannot judge your character from the grave, however I can only hope that this letter and this box lands in the correct hands.

I come from a family of 7 brothers and sisters. We all lived in this manor; I was the youngest. Because there were so many of us, no one gave us the amount of attention we needed to be dependent on it. I therefore stayed up here in this room for most of my days, I never married and was the last Nicholous living in this Manor. I came from a family of scientists. Modern medicine was our families middle name. Our chemistry teacher took all 7 of us for private lessons, he taught us in detail the properties of every element on the periodic table. We did experiments here at the Manor. My elder brother used to say that our mum died of the common cold and thereafter my dad was fixated on finding the cure to every sickness in the world. He died shortly after my mum when I was 14. The learning never stopped. Each elder sibling took care of the sibling that came after them. Myself having been the youngest did not have anyone to look after, therefore I had time to wander, label and research. You see I was not the greatest medical scientist out there, there were too many of us. My father was only interested in the groundbreaking medical solutions that came from our family. I was only 8, I found the chemical explosions epic and not a colossal failure. They left me to my own devices most of the time.

I was 9 years old when I first heard the voices. This was the first time that I had ever been out of the house on my own. My brothers and sisters were busy on a vaccine for Polio and I snuck out of the doggy door when they were arguing over whether zinc should’ve been in the compound in the vaccine administered for testing 10 days ago.

‘’I’m going to get enough vitamin D today mum so that I can save the Hydrangeas from the pox’’ this was the only thing I heard when I went outside, then there was silence. I part of me thought that I had heard a ‘’shhhh’’ sound but, it was all in my head. Being 9, I thought this was normal. I called out but, no one replied. I started planting seeds, bulbs, roots wherever I could find space in the yard. Over the span of 3 years, I had created a magnificent sight. Although it was only for my own eyes, I felt as though I was constantly being watched. As I worked, I felt like there were unspoken voices always telling me what to place where and how to take care of each root and stem.

Heartbreak like I had never felt happened on the day of my father’s funeral, it was the first time in years that my brothers and sisters had left the house. We were at the gravesite – I saw these roughly cut Protea’s near the photo that they had of my dad. I poked my brother next to me and asked him where the flowers had come from. ‘’We picked them from the yard, there was a whole bush of them.’’

‘’What!’’ Everyone looked at me. My brothers and sisters looked sympathetically at the priest as if to ask for an excuse for my behavior, as if I was reacting to the passing of my second parent. I was not. The passing of either of my parents had no effects in my life. The barbaric act of someone ripping out the proteas from my garden tore me apart inside. I felt an emotion that I had never felt before in my short life.

I ran home from the cemetery that day. It was that day that I had heard a voice for the second time in my life. ‘’Mister, where did my family go?’’ I looked down only to see a weak looking Protea at my feet. I don’t know if it was the shock of hearing the voice or if it was the realization of not being able to tell the little thing what had happened. It was that day that I realized that I had always known that I could understand plants. It was that day that I wasn’t just the insignificant seventh sibling of the Nicholous family.

I dedicated all my time to the outside. I looked after it well, I protected it from wood cutter to Snuffle’s the dog. For 18 years I planted, I nurtured – I did everything that a parent would do for a child. My siblings obviously had thought that I had lost it completely. I was non-existent to them, they left the Manor one by one and created their own lives away from the Manor, away from me.

It was only at each funeral that I got to see them, until there was only two of us and then 50 years ago my last sister passed on from jaundice. None of my siblings wanted the help that I offered. I’ve amassed the key to longevity in one room. I’ve unlocked the mystery that there is to cure the deadliest diseases and the incurable illnesses. You see, each plant unfolded its chemical properties to me. In doing so, I was able to create a vaccine for every disease imaginable. I tried to publish my idea’s in a book, it was however rejected due to research that was simultaneously being done in a five-billion-dollar facility up in Vermont using state of the art machinery, heating rooms and incubators. The Federation came to the Manor once, their interest was peeked to say the least. They heard me out and then left. The very next day my garden was destroyed. There were no more seeds for the sun to shine on, no more leaves for the rain to fall on and no more branches for the squirrels to climb on. They knowingly used a deadly pesticide in their wake. To make things worst no one knew that they were there, no one knew that I was there.

Nothing grew after that day on the grounds around the Manor. It’s as if the soil had lost trust in me. It was not the end. This is where the key comes in. I had a hunch that they way in which I lived my life was not agreeable to everyone. I had journaled every word I heard from each specie of plant. I took a sample of every seed in my garden and created a secret greenhouse for myself. Every single plant with medicinal properties grows here. It’s a self-sustaining pharmacy. I do not tend to anything in this room, it’s as if they take care of themselves. I only used to go in to listen to the conversations had between the Marigolds and the Chrysanthemums. Cheeky buggers if there ever was one. It is to my understanding that if everything remains untouched, it should be self-sufficient forever. Or at least I can only hope. Why I left the key to the greenhouse with this note you may be thinking?

Well, I couldn’t let my life’s work and this gift die with me. I can only hope that this ends up in green hands because nature will look after you if you look after it. You will find a trap door in the attic, a drawstring is hidden under the tattered curtain ring on the right. You may need to bend to enter the greenhouse as it is not very much in height so that it could remain out of plain sight as long as possible but, close to sunlight as far as possible.

Each plant has a name, there would be many babies and grandbabies by the time you get this note I am certain, so if you wish o name them, please by all means. I only have one request from you. Take my message and share it with those who will listen. Take my message and share the secrets of nature without putting it in danger. Share with the world there, what I could not share with the world now. And however, you choose to do this, please do not remove or dismantle any plant in the greenhouse. A plant has life you see, and because it’s of God’s creation it has an infinite life and because it gives life mankind, it can be taken advantage of.

Everything on this earth has a purpose – even you.

Yours K.N

I was dumbfounded. I don’t know what I had stumbled upon here. I immediately ran up to my room in the attic and located the drawstring. It was there.

Was I ready for this?

Did I understand the implications of that note?

Was I going to hear plants talking as well?

Only one way to find out.

The key fit perfectly into the hole, the drawstring gave no resistance as it slid the compartment open. A rush of clean moist air filled my lungs. There was silence all around. None like I had ever heard before. There was not one insect, weed, twig out of place in the greenhouse. It felt almost spiritual being there. Each plant was labelled. I walked past Harold and Molly first – Sunflowers. Then came Walter and Billy – Roses. I laughed at the thought of Roses have the names of boys. Underneath each name was a list of properties held by the plant and a list of diseases that it cured. I couldn’t read half of the names on it.

By the time that I had walked around the whole greenhouse – it was already dark, and I was already using my phone as a flashlight. I’ve found something greater than any treasure. I’ve found someone else’s treasure.

But before I try to get my mind to understand the magnitude of responsibility that I just stumbled upon – what was I going to take to show and tell? I have nothing. I have only a key. Should I tell them Nicholous’s story?

I couldn’t sleep that night, I tossed and turned until my only option was to go back up to the greenhouse.

In class the next day, I had Nicholous’s letter in my hand, I had the key and I had my speech ready. If Nicholous wanted me to share his message what better way to start than here.

I went to the front of the class when my name was called. I stood looking at all of the blank faces, and the top of those kids’ heads who were texting on their cellphones. I looked at my teacher, bored out of her mind already having my grade in her head before I even started speaking. And I said:

‘’This key… this key’’ I choked. I closed my eyes and when I opened them again my eyes caught site of the Cactus my teacher had on the windowsill. If it was any other plant, it would’ve died by now. In that moment I made my decision play my part in Nicholous’ story.

‘’This key is old. It represents opportunities, opportunities given to each one of us to change the future of the world. It is our responsibility.’’

It was at this point that my teacher stopped me. She asked to see my notes, I refused. She came up to me and held her hand out, at this point I did the only thing that I could think of. I swallowed the piece of paper right in front her. Yes, I could have run away, yes, I could have just torn it up but, something inside me knew that this story was too precious to land in the incorrect hands, and they would connect it to our Manor.

It was after this that my parents were called in and I was told to see a child therapist. We did not accomplish much in these sessions, I stayed quiet and plotted out my plan to release the information I had whilst the therapist took notes of God knows what about my behavior. I wasn’t good at anything; I don’t think I’ve been passionate about anything in my life before. Was this my purpose? Was nature calling me to be its Prophet? I am only in middle school now, but all I can say is nature I hear you loud and clear Sister.