OK. This was a painful one to write.
Eucalyptus
There's a scent on the autumn wind: eucalyptus, sharp, fresh and clean.
They say it's good stuff, kills fleas, whatnot. People buy the leaves, the oil, warding off the bloodsuckers.
But for me, eucalyptus is the bottom of a gorge off Highway One, Marin County in September, thirty years ago. Far above me is the crumbled edge of the road, where our car fell. Behind me, the wrecked car, the reek of smoking metal, overheated rubber. Under me, the ground littered with eucalyptus buttons. The world is full of people screaming.
Eucalyptus is a dead child in my arms.
Oh my. If, as I assume, this is based in reality, I'm so sorry.
All my memory drabbles are based on real memories. There's no fiction in there.
It was a long time ago, but it's amazing how the smell of those damned trees stiffens my nervous system.
(edit: cat walked on computer. Thanks, PC.)
Kristin, she wasn't mine - I was seventeen. She was my three-year-old goddaughter. We were forced off the road by a drunk driver in a "borrowed" car (he had no license). The area's simply gorgeous, West Marin, Stinson Beach, Bolinas, Muir Beach.
But I no longer travel those roads, either as a passenger or as a driver. Never got over my terror of cliffs.
No matter who she was, it is a very painful, poignant memory to have to bear (though I'm selfishly, for you, glad she wasn't your actual child). Cliff roads scare the hell out of me too, but for much less reason.
So what are the drabble rules, anyway? I'd like to play.
Drabble #3: Sense Memory
I am pulling false strawberries and violets, twin curses of shade and neglect. As I throw the plants into the wheelbarrow, I see the red berries against the plants, linked by their tenacious runners. I know the berries have no taste. I have eaten them before. For a moment, I hear the creak of chains on the swing and smell the damp, slightly oily smell from the coal cellar. I see the wire clothesline and then a flash of siding, dry rot bubbling through the paint, drips upon drips, rounding the edges of the boards.
I have my grandmother's backyard.
I really like that last line. I read it like "I have my father's eyes."
The entire picture is stunning. I love the "oh, man, this stuff growing won't taste like anything" understanding.
