Writing Reality

When I appear at my lowest, I see it clearer. Human cruelty. Putting out a carved pumpkin the other day. I said ‘Hello’ to a couple passing by. Let me interrupt. Don’t get me wrong, everyone has their dilemmas. Their life’s disruptions and so on. But after I said hello, turning, smiling at the couple. The wife who is a decade my junior comes back with, “You better be careful the squirrels will eat that.” My finding joy, after the recent passing of my husband of over thirty-six years somehow made her comment in a cruel fashion. However, it was not the first time she’d ever said a cruel thing to me, in the past two decades that I’ve lived in our neighborhood. I’ll give you another example of underlying cruelty, jealousy. Or better put, hatred. A man, owning a nearby nursery was asked by our youngest daughter four years ago at the innocent age of twelve. “I just started growing lemon trees. What can I do with the soil to help it grow them?” He replied, “It won’t work. You can’t do that.”