ChrisA

The Botanical Gardens



I followed a trail under a canopy of large oak trees, which curved in and out of the woods, and around small ponds and bridges and gravel walkways. I past the visitor’s center and saw a cluster of families through branches with azure buds. There were ducks floating on the ponds and green spirals of moss on the stones. There were goldenrods in heaps of wild growth, and crescents of rhododendrons and white tulips. Turning corners of manicured bushes, I was gently amazed by sculptures of human figures.

In the botanical gardens, the acres of land were hilly and vast. I wended my way up a slope of calm grass. The clouds above my head seemed so close that if I wanted to I could pull one of them out of the sky. Paths branched off the slope and flowed into mazelike columns of exotic plants and flowers of all kinds. I wandered into these miniature labyrinths until I came out on the other side of the hill.

This part of the botanical gardens was much quieter. I stopped and sat down at the base of a tall stone monument, two pillars of granite nearly thirty feet high, resting my back against the stone. I removed an apple from my knapsack, which my mother had packed for me. When I bit into the apple, I found it was fresh and crunchy and this gave me a small pleasure. The juice ran down the sides of my mouth, which I wiped clumsily with my sleeve.

As I was munching on my apple, my eye followed just beyond a cluster of baby trees, to what I thought was naked flesh. I had imagined myself to be entirely alone. But now I saw glimpses of somebody else farther down the slope of sheared grass.

I didn’t want myself to be seen, but I wanted to see. So I raised my back against the stone pillar, edging upward by the slightest degrees, until I could identify the person. It was a woman’s body with breasts that were visible, and her flesh was the hue of a carnation. The contrast of the woman’s nakedness on the cool green landscape was particularly arousing. I shifted my position against the stone pillar until I could get a fuller view. Then I saw a piece of transparent garment tossed over her shoulder, gossamer fringed with gold, which covered her right nipple.

She appeared to be twirling in the shade of the baby trees. Between the tiny branches, I saw splotches of her fawn-colored hair. Next to her was a man, an older man with a camera, and there was a tripod set up in the grass.

After that, I returned to the trail and went home.



CRA

11/11/2006