What to do with my acorn? After Joran's first visit I had many things to think about, the first of which was what to do with the little acorn that he gave me. I didn't know a thing about gardening and my parents never gardened for me to watch them. I also didn't want to ask them how to garden in case they became suspicious and learnt of my visitor. I certainly wanted the blonde boy to be my secret - after all he had visited me, given me the acorn and hadn't gone anywhere near my parents or my brother and this was a pleasent novelty which I wasn't willing to part with easily. My parents rarely let me out the house or the garden, meaning that I seldom saw the other children of the village so I didn't know if he was a local or just a random boy who got lost. He did seem to know a way to worm in and out of my garden though and the route must have been familier to him because he was able to vanish with some speed when we first made contact.
Of course I was too young and idiotic to piece all this together, at the time I was too preocupied with my acorn and with thoughts of who this boy could be to worry about things such as how he got in. I came to the conclusion that he was some sort of mystical being, an elf's child or some other such being of distant myth or legend, after all he was a fair child and when you're seven and have no adult to talk to these sorts of things can only make sense by being extremely improbable to other people and perfectly logical to your childish imaginings.
It was the day after Joran's visit. I had decided to keep the acorn safe by burying it with the rest of my dragon treasure hoard until I figured out how to make it grow into a tree. In retrospect, it was odd that I even knew what it was but I had seen acorns often enough in the autumn and had once asked my parents what they were. When they didn't answer Granny M was very knowledgable in the subject and showed me various different seeds, happy to have a keen audience. Granny M would once again be my benefactor of knowledge when she came around to our house that afternoon. We had always been close, she was lonely since her husband died before I was born and I was lonely because the rest of my family, both close and extended, doted on my brother and generally ignored me. We made the perfect team and spent many happy hours in each other's company.
Today was no different; Granny M took me onto her lap while my parents were in the other room with Denith, relieved to be able to ignore their eccentric guest and their other child. She had bought a little cloth doll that she had made me and I was sat playing with it whilst she talked of nothing in perticular: her house, her cats, food and cooking, how some of the youths of the village had come around to help her with her housework, how a nice young man had bought her some very exciting fish. Idol chit-chat stored up for someone who would listen attentatively and who would benefit from the company. When she started discussing her garden I used this as my cue for a question, "Granny M," I began, my voice lisping ever so slightly from the new gaps in my baby teeth, "You know acornth? How do they grow into big treeth?" Drawing me tighter into her arms she settled me into her lap more comfortably before replying in her low, accented voice which wobbled slightly like most old people's,
"My dear child, I know a song about that! Here, let me sing it for you..." and with that her strong voice broke into song:
"Trees big and tall all start with a seed,
A tiny thing that has many a need:
Bury it in the ground in rich, dark soil,
Give it water and offer your toil!
Trees big and tall all start with a seed,
A tiny thing that has many a need:
Let the sun shine down and offer its light,
Bright through the day and dark in the night.
Trees big and tall all start with a seed,
A tiny thing that has many a need:
Don’t let the frost get to its roots,
Else it’ll whither and die and never bare fruits!
Trees big and tall all start with a seed,
A tiny thing that has many a need:
Wait lots of time and then you will know,
How long it takes for a seed to grow!
I think that’s it, might be more verses but I don’t know. You make the most of your memory while you have it lassy else you’ll be old and forgetful before you know it. Now then, why do you want to know about trees?” I was enraptured by the song and listened to it intently to try and learn all I needed to. I was almost disappointed when she finished and even managed to join in with the last chorus although my voice was never as strong as hers, even now I’m as out of tune as a frog at the best of times.
“I found a theed and wanted to grow it and that.” I said, unwilling to tell her the whole truth but she seemed to accept this. She despaired at our wild, overgrown garden and would certainly take the task of sorting it out onto herself if my parents would let her and if her old bones were up for it which they increasingly weren’t. We talked of other things and eventually she set me down on the floor and left.
That evening I went outside and dug up my little acorn to choose a better location for it where it would get sun and rain. Digging with my hands I eventually found a little spot and there I buried it. We grew up together that tree and I so that by the time I left Dale it was a huge oak tree, towering over me like I towered over it when it was just a little shoot. The first of many gifts from Joran over the years and this one was always the most special to me.
