Lounging in the warm summer breeze, my skin flushed red as the sun’s rays nurtured the nearby trees. The soft rustle of the pine needles reminded me that Michigan’s weather was unpredictable. My back pressed against the warm grass observing the sky as grayish shapes drift past my half-closed lids.
“Hello,” wisped up to my ear. Broken out of my reverie, I looked around my backyard not seeing the source of the peculiar voice, neither male nor female, unremarkable in its soft sound. I leaned back, drifting off once again.
“Hello,” drifting up by the wind, the tiny sound reached my ears once more.
“Hello?” my voice echoed in the wide-open space.
“Are you enjoying the day?”
“Who is this?”
“I am the Grass upon which you lay,” drifting off on its tail end I barely heard the words. Perhaps I should have been frightened, or perhaps I should have been unnerved, but in my languid state I could only respond with curiosity.
“The Grass? I’ve never heard you speak before?”
“Aye, you have never laid down long enough for me to converse with you.” Was it my imagination or was there a tinge of bitterness in that statement?
“I have so many questions,” I began, yet my train of thought was immediately interrupted as the Grass began again.
“I have chosen to tell you the secret to the future.” A quiet fierceness reached my ears. The grass around me began to prickle my skin. Resisting the urge to scratch my shoulder, I waited cautiously if more was to come, yet once the words were said the Grass began to quiet down.
“Why me?” My curiosity was piqued and I wondered what secrets the Grass would bestow upon me.
“You are human.” A solid sound that reached my ears even as the wind carried it quickly away. It was such a matter of fact statement that I was briefly taken aback. I waited, but no further explanation was given. Confusion was there, but I chose not to ask.
“What is the secret to the future?” Instead I went right to the heart of the matter. This is why Grass decided to speak to me.
“Ah, to know the secret to the future, one must know the story of the past.” Grass was a philosopher, I thought sarcastically. “Be still, and listen, and you will learn the secret to the future.” The stalks of the Grass began to flutter around me, massaging my skin where they could reach. The calm presence of the grass soothed me and my body went slack against it. My ears seemed to open up allowing the soothing voice of the Grass to lull me with the story.
“When the world began, there was only soil and water. There was no grass. The soil and water had no one but each other and so they spoke to one another. They became close friends. Their friendship grew over time, and the soil found he was in love with the water, and so he absorbed her. One day, the sun appeared in the sky. The sun told the soil and water that he could take care of their children by nurturing them. He could provide them with warmth and love. The soil and water agreed to this arrangement. Grass was born.” The grass around me stilled, the haze of the story still hanging over me.
“That is a beautiful story, but what does that have to do with the secret to the future?” The haze was lifting and confusion was setting in. The grass around me felt tense, expectant.
“The future will always have a place for soil, water, grass, and sun,” Was it my imagination or was that smugness I heard in the voice? “but will the future have room for you?” Around me the wind picked up, the grass swayed quickly in its grasps, pulling on my arms, my legs. I tried to pull myself up, yet the grass held me firmly in place, tugging and pulling, until I felt as though the Earth would split beneath me.
“What do you mean?” my shaky voice came through as a whisper, while I continued to struggle to rise. Rather than see it, I felt the crack open up beneath me, the Grass was opening up for me.
“How do you think the soil and water live? The nutrients you provide will protect our future.”
The wind picked up around me, whipping left and right, tugging at me. This time so violently I felt it’s pull, I was lifted from the soil’s depths. I floated along out of the grasses reach, drifting among the breeze, awkward and flailing my limbs were pulled of their own accord. The gale carried me far away from the soil and grass, gently depositing me onto the stone steps of my home. My body trembled. Another voice came to me then, carried on the wind.
“Be safe.”
“Thank you, but why have you saved me?”
“The soil and water, have long forgotten the gift I bring to them to help care for their children. Spreading their seed far throughout the land.” The words stretched out and were hard to grasp as the wind circled around me. “I have chosen to save you on this day because the wind is the savior of life.”
Entering my tiny cottage, I looked out my open window onto the beautiful summer day, which once again looked harmless, and considered the wind’s comment. The sun was shining, the trees swayed in the breeze, and the wind had died down and yet a small voice still managed to reach my ears.
“Hello?” It said. “Would you like to know the secret to the future?”
