WHAT ABOUT THE LEAVES? By: Nathan Lowe

Forward:

This is a free write from fall of 2008. It was written for my writing 1010 class at UVU and is one of my personal favorites.

It is based on a group of personal events from my elementary school years but not intended to be a precise retelling of those events. I enjoy sharing this story whenever I get the chance and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Hmmm, What do I think about when the leaves begin to change? I think about quite a few things actually.

Things like Halloween, and trick-or-treating come to mind first. I begin to look around for the next cute costume for my kids. I start watching the candy aisles for bargains on the good candy. You know, the mini candy bars. I would never dream of handing out any kind of second rate candy like smartees or lollipops.

Halloween comes and goes in a blink, and I am on my way to working out the logistics of a family get together for Thanksgiving. This issue is always fraught with concerns about who can be where and when. Who is hosting, what will be served. Etc.

Next comes Christmas. It always arrives too fast. Never enough time to properly shop for presents and I end up getting everyone a card with some cash or some other pitiful excuse for a gift. I usually don't get the tree up before the 20^th of December and then I don't get it down until well into February.

New Years is right behind Christmas. So close that if you blink you could miss it.

I guess I could say that the leaves turning is the beginning of the end for me. The year is essentially gone because there are so many things going on in these last 3 months that I don't have time to stop and soak it all in.

I have, on occasion, been able to find time to get into the mountains and attempt to absorb all that begins to happen in Autumn. I remember a field trip in second grade. It was a very big deal. We had been talking about trees in class and Miss Perrywinkle(yes that really was her name) had arranged for us to go up Santaquin canyon. To do crayon rubbings of the leaves we were going to find.

We were all asked to select 3 crayons to rub with and take them along. I knew I could choose any 3 colors I wanted but I chose only purple. It was by far my favorite color at the time. I remember shuffling through the crayon box and pulling out all of the purple crayons or bits of crayons I could find. After lining them all up I considered each bit of crayon and discarded them one by one back into the box. This one is too short, that one is too small, this one is too round Etc. Finally I settled on a piece of crayon. It was a fat crayon that had been split down the middle. It had a good flat surface on one side. I placed it in the folder that I had been given to put several pieces of paper and my crayons in.

Soon we were out the door and walking to the bus. It was a bit chilly still. The dew from the night before was not off the grass yet and as I walked across the lawn the toes of my blue tennies got wet.

Because my last name started with “L” I was always near the end of the line when I climbed onto the bus. Being near the end usually meant I could not find a seat near the front and I really liked to be able to sit behind the driver so I could see where we were going. On that day there was a seat, to my utter delight, right behind the driver. I sat in it as if I was playing musical chairs and there was just one chair left. I scooted to the window, placed my folder between me and the cold outside wall of the bus, and got ready for the ride.

After everyone was seated Miss Perrywinkle sat in the empty space next to me. This was a very rare treat. You see I had a crush on Miss Perrywinkle. She had long light brown hair and her eyes were as blue as her name implied. I truly enjoyed having her sit at our reading table during reading practice, because I was a good reader and she always seemed to notice.

The bus pulled out and we headed along the street to the canyon road. The drive was not a long one, just three or four miles, but as we traveled, I made it a point to show Miss Perrywinkle my carefully selected, purple crayon. I explained to her why it was so important to have a flat surface to do rubbings with and I just lit up when she complimented me on my very good choice.

We arrived at a picnic area at the mouth of the canyon and the bus stopped. Miss Perrywinkle stood up and turned to the other kids. “Ok, I want all of you to buddy up with the person sitting next to you.” Immediately there were groans from several of the boys, and cries of “Cooties!” and little kissy noises from the girls. By the time everyone was paired up I was still at the front of the bus without a buddy.

Miss Perrywinkle realized this and took my hand. “ Looks like I am your buddy today Nat.” and “WOW!” was my only thought.

We got off the bus and started looking around for leaves. I was not going to be satisfied with just any leaf though, I wanted that perfect leaf. I wanted it to be bright orange and with no holes or tears.

The dew was thicker in the canyon and it did not take long for my tennies to get quite muddy. The air was still heavy with the smell of damp loamy soil, and the sun had risen high enough that there were spots of sunlight in the clearing. I could hear a woodpecker hunting for bugs in the distance and the sound of the breeze in the trees that sounded like a rushing river may be just over the next hill. There were shocks of red, orange, and yellow scattered throughout the area and I began working my way toward the edge of the clearing. The best leaves had to be there.

Miss Perrywinkle and I walked slowly toward the under brush and as I got closer to the scrub oak I got a glimpse of orange through the leaves. I let go of Miss Perrywinkles hand and ran. I had to get there before one of the other children saw it. Then I had it. It was exactly what I had been looking for. It was bright orange with a sunspot of yellow in the middle. There were no holes in it and the edges were pristine. It must have fallen just moments before. Just for me.

I picked it up and carefully wiped the bits of wood and soil from it. Then I pressed it against my jacket to dry it off. I went to the picnic table and wriggled in between two of the other kids from my class, and carefully placed it on top of the picnic table. Then I placed a piece of paper over it and pulled my select piece of purple crayon out and began to rub it on the paper.

After a few moments I began to see the edge of the leaf and then I noticed the veins in it. I had not noticed that the leaf had veins when I picked it up. I rubbed the crayon a little more and the details of the leaf continued to be revealed. I was amazed to see that the veins wove together to form a pattern, like purple dragons scales, all over the leaf.

“Ok, everyone time to get back on the bus.” announced Miss Perrywinkle. I heard the groans from the other kids and heard one of my own. Was it time to leave already?

I wrote my name on the paper in my rudimentary letters “Nat Lowe”. I placed it and my carefully selected bit of purple crayon in my folder. Then I very carefully placed the beautiful bright orange leaf with the sunspot of yellow in the middle, in the folder as well.

I trudged my way back to the bus. I wanted to be the last one on this time. My seat was still there in the front so I sat down, I scooted to the outside of the bus, and I placed the folder on my lap. I did not want to damage my perfect leaf.

Miss Perrywinkle sat next to me again but I didn't care. I wanted to stay just a little longer. I did not want to return to the school. We were always there and this was something different.

Soon we were back in the classroom. “Everyone put your crayons back in the crayon box and then go back to your seats.”

Well things were back to normal. I remember just kind of moping through the rest of the day. Miss Perrywinkle had us place our rubbings on the bulletin board at the front of the class and the rest of the day was swallowed by the tedious things that we always did.

Finally the bell rang and we were free to go out and play. I took my folder with me. I wanted to show my mom the wonderful leaf I had found. I ran home and showed it to her. She was delighted and suggested that we press it in a book so that it will keep and not lose its color or be damaged by handling it too much.

Well, that was a life time ago. I wonder what happened to that book with that leaf so carefully placed within its pages.

What happens to the events in our lives that seem so important that we don't want to ever forget. Yet there they are, forgotten, and we don't even know what we have lost.

Autumn is much like those unforgettable moments. It is beautiful and colorful, the air is crisper than any other time of year and the invigorating sensation of being outside when that nippy chill is still in the air is a sensation that I have been thoroughly enjoying this past week. The holidays take over your thoughts very quickly and Autumn is suddenly lost in the planning of all these events that make up the holiday season. All too soon we are up to our necks in cold and miserable weather.

Perhaps we should try and linger this Autumn. Maybe we can find a way to press it between the pages of our memory, and maybe, just maybe we will be able to find that memory tucked away in our minds on a day that is too hot or too cold or too hectic. And find a way to be surrounded by the crisp clean air, the oranges and yellows and browns of the turning leaves, the musty damp and loamy smell of a mountain valley just a couple hours after dawn, or the wet feet that come from walking across dew covered grass in those first daylight hours.

What About the Leaves? by Nathan L. Lowe is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at nathan-lowe.blogspot.com.