A Family Ritual: Planting a Tree

A Family Ritual: Planting a Tree

         Story by: Tchen Reaction

Thomas, a war veteran, was in the middle of planting an olive tree with his son when the neighboring farmer’s boy approached them and curiously stated: “Greetings, Mr. Thomas. Hi, Kenny! My father told me to come ask you guys about this tree you are planting because he said that it wasn’t his story to tell”. “Hello Bobby, your father surely knows the story because I’ve told it to him several times.” said Thomas.  Thomas looked over to his 7-year-old son Kennedy and back to Bobby: “Today, the story is not mine to tell but that of young Kennedy’s here. He too, knows the story very well; his mother has been telling it to him all his life while I was away at war”. Bobby, without missing a beat, brushed the dirt off his hands on his pants and walked closer to nearest tree and said: “come closer to my father’s tree”.  

“My father Thomas was off to war,” young Kennedy started. Thomas smiles with pride and takes a seat on the dirt near the tree. The young boy smirks and joins the two on the ground. Kennedy continues but with more details: “My father was 17 when he was drafted in the war. He left behind his 5 weeks pregnant wife to take care of the house.  She gave birth on September 19^th, 1941. The moment I was born, she began to tell me about my great, great, great…” Kennedy paused and looked over to his father who puts one finger up, then Kenny continued: “… great grandfather”. As Kenny struggled to tell the story, the father jumped in to assist young Kennedy, and said “I will take it from here son.”

“You see my boy, my grandfather planted this here olive tree with my father and his father before him planted this tree” pointing to one of 5 trees in the field, he continued: “and his father before that.  We are sitting on my 4 times great grandfather Louis land, a piece of land that Louis inherited from the owner of the nearby airfield.  Louis worked on them airplanes at that airfield when he was not much older than young Kennedy here.  He did such excellent work, learned the trait, and adopted very quickly as the years have gone by.  When serious and much important worked was needed on any of the airplanes, they referred to Louis as ‘The Wright-Engineer for the job’.  Charlie Win-Worth, the owner of the airfield, loved Louis like a son.  The owner’s later years of life were bittersweet because he could not pass down his inheritance to Louis, the ‘Wright Engineer for the job,’ because of family lineage.  ‘Louis, son’, said Mr. Win-Worth, ‘I cannot think of a more deserving person than yourself to mend this airfield in its transition of becoming a private airport. But due to family lineage, my boy, I cannot pass down this here airstrip to you.’ 

“Old Charlie Wins-Worth took Louis by the arm and walked with him no more than 15 yards, pointed over the tree line and said, ‘just beyond our view is 125 acres of land, of which 75 acres is to become part of the extension of this here airfield as it becomes a big airport.  I’ve set aside 50 of such acres just for you son.’  Louis gasps, ‘Mr. Wins-Worth, this would make me the youngest man in the county with so much land!’  Mr. Wins-Worth continued; ‘the others don’t see much value in the land.  Of all the acres, that portions bare the least number of fruit trees.  My boy, you’ve engineered dead ole single raggedy engine back to life, I have no doubt you can bring fruitful life to this sterile piece of land.”

“Shortly after Mr. Wins-Worth passing, Louis married my 4 times great grandmother Janine, with whom Louis shared the story of how he came about the land.  Together, they worked and hunted on the land. But as mentioned, this piece of the land bore no fruit trees.  At times, when the couple needed fruits to eat, it was several acres across of land they must walk to gather any worthwhile fruits for the house.  That summer, Janine had her second miscarriage.  The two were devastated.  One late night under the moon light, Louis walked out to the yard, barefoot, and started talking to himself.  Perhaps he was talking to the land, as the story had been told.”

“That night, it was said that Louis whispered, ‘infinite spirit, I ask not for more riches, but for moral wisdom with which to make better use of the riches giving to me at birth. I have inherited a land that bares no fruits and a woman who seems to be unable to bare any fruits of her own. I am demanding fruitful harvest in my house as well as of this land.’  Louis then looked around the moon lit land, turned, and felt an unusual pebble under his feet as he walked towards the house. Without a thought, he picked up the pebble and threw it a distance into the dark side of the house and went back inside” 

“The following season, my great, great, great, great grandmother announced to her husband she was pregnant.  Glee with joy, Louis took off to the nearby marketplace determined to buy for the house all the necessities so that Janine would have no want or need to do anything about the house.  Louis kept a tight shift, cleaning as needed, trapping an animal here and there cooking it on an open fire, rushing to Janine’s side with a well-drawn cup of water as she requested.  Janine was scared but grateful to see how much responsibility Louis took on to assure a safe carry of the baby.” 

“One afternoon while Janine was resting, Louis took a walk on the field as he had done seven months ago under that moon lit sky.  There, he began to give gratitude as he often does, for the health of his wife and the baby she was carrying.  ‘Infinite spirit,’ he prayed, ‘I am so ever grateful and thankful for the health of my wife, the baby, and all the provisions made;’ Before Louis could finish his thought, a big cry came from the house. His wife was in labor.  Louis rushed back to the house, skipping several steps.  The midwife who lived nearby the couple’s home, came running moments after Louis entered the house, as though she too was waiting in the wind for the day Janine would go into labor.”

“Customary of the day, after Louis provided the midwife with all the essentials, he was asked to wait outside until he hears the cry of the baby.  Louis started pacing the front porch then the steps of the porch, soon after he started pacing the ground. Then he made his way around the house to perhaps have a peek through the window for the state of his beloved.  Just then, from the corner of his eyes, he spotted a mature olive tree with its fruit moments from being ripe for picking.  As the story goes, my great, great, great, great grandfather went deaf for a moment. It is said that he had an out-of-body experience looking at the colorful fruits on the olive tree. The midwife called out to him several times,’ said my great, great, great, great grandmother, ‘but Louis did not respond for what seemed to be hours.

“Louis finally went inside, held my great, great, great grandfather, ever so proudly, thankful for his little arms, his little legs, and thankful for his little toes and fingers. Almost as soon as Louis took the baby, he gave him back to Janine.  Perhaps motivated by the spirit of the moment, he grabbed his hatchet, walked to the olive tree, and began to hatch at it.  ‘What are you doing?’ cried Janine, placing the baby on the bed. She poked out the window and cried exhaustedly, ‘please stop!’ “Louis had made a sizeable cut right in the center of the tree.  He grabbed a nearby sturdy piece of plank and jammed the center cut, prying it open.  At this point, Janine and the midwife stood by and watched.”

“Louis walked past Janine and the midwife, gently picked up the baby and walked outside to the porch, down the steps, onto the dirt ground and over to the olive tree with its center jammed open.  With precision, Louis took his newborn baby boy and passed him through the opening center of the olive tree, as though the tree had just birthed a baby itself.  Then Louis spoke ever softly just loud enough for the others to hear, ‘This tree is mine and its seeds will be yours, like the very land it grew from.’  Back inside the house, Louis handed the baby back to Janine then went back out. He walked to the olive tree, pick a fruit from it, carved out its seed walked 5 feet, and planted the seed.” 

Five generations later, five olive trees are aligned side by side as though shadows of one another. Thomas got off the ground, wiped the dirt off his pants and his son quickly followed suit.  So did Bobby, the neighboring farmer’s boy, whose 4-time great grandmother was the midwife who delivered the baby.  Thomas walked over to the hole Kennedy dug moments ago, handed Kennedy a handful of olive seeds, and watched him plant them.  Bobby quickly noted, “But wait, that’s not a tree!” Kennedy paused as Bobby continued, “And he did not go through the tree like you all did!” 

Thomas wisely replied to the boy, “this seed is a tree like all the trees around you. Right now, it’s much too small for Kennedy to go through it but Kennedy’s hands and finger are big enough for the seed to go through that.”  Just then Kennedy spread his fingers to allow the olive seeds to fall into the hole and repeated after his father; “This tree is mine and its seeds will be yours, like the very land it grew from”.