Benjamin Leaf

I found the Benjamin Leaf story that Ron wrote. I think the year he wrote it was 1999.
Enjoy! Judy

Benjamin Leaf
by Ron Truscott

My name is Benjamin Leaf, and I’m trying to figure what I’m doing here. I seem to be pressed between the pages of some sort of writing tablet. I’m riding along in one of those small pickup trucks. Not a real pickup, just one of those ‘wanna be’ pickups. An older human male that looks like he could skip a cheeseburger or two, and mix in the occasional salad, is driving the pickup. He’s driving along, listening to loud Rock and Roll, talking to himself, while sipping occasionally from a strange brown bottle.

We are way out in the country, and I’ve never been in the country before. You see, I was born in the city. I was born on the southwest side of Portland, Oregon. It was such a wonderful spring day when I first budded out from Mother Tree. The birds were singing and performing acrobatic stunts in and around Mother Tree. Parades, hustle and bustle, human lovers walking hand in hand, human children running and playing, it was all so much fun, when I was young.

When I was still very young, Mother Tree explained to us that Rain was ‘the giver of life’, and Sun was ‘the giver of strength’. Of course, when I was young ‘the giver of life’, came freely from the skies. And periodically ‘the giver of strength’ would break through the clouds to warm us and make us strong.

Eventually, Mother Tree told us all about humans. They were not rooted firmly in the Earth, as was Mother Tree, but they scurried around, always in a hurry. Mother Tree explained to us, that we provided useful things to these humans. We supplied oxygen for them to breath, and shade in the summer. I didn’t understand what that meant until much later. Some of Mother Tree’s cousins even provided food for humans. In return, the humans praised our beauty, and would provide ‘the giver of life’ during the dry seasons. But I still thought that they were very weird.

I was so small and vulnerable then, but warm spring Rains gave nourishment to Mother Tree, Sun’s power radiated through the gray clouds, and I began to grow strong with a great strong stem. You should have seen me, I was a glorious green, and my color was rich, vibrant, and strong.

Naturally, there were arguments between the limbs and branches about who was the most important, ‘the giver of life’ or ‘the giver of strength’. I came from one of the newest branches, at the top of Mother Tree. It was the oldest and biggest limbs down lower, which seemed to do the most arguing. My branch seemed to be content with life, and above all the bickering. I enjoyed the warmth from the ‘giver of strength’ so I liked him better. But I’m just a leaf, therefore who cares what I think.

Some of the older limbs and branches say that humans created us, and therefore should be worshipped as gods. But what do I know about gods. I enjoy Sun, and feel stronger everyday, and the nourishment I receive from Rain sustains me. I feel so young, full of life, and joy, what does all that stuff the limbs and branches worry about matter to me? I have plenty of time to think of those things when I’m old.

Then Sun beat down in waves of heat, just as the limbs and branches had predicted. And as Mother Tree had told us, humans came to shelter beneath her outstretched limbs and branches. I Benjamin Leaf was one of the leaves that gave them shelter, I and my brothers and sisters. True to her words, humans came with long, green snake like things, from which gushed ‘the giver of life’ to nurture Mother Tree, and subsequently all of us.

As summer wore on, I began to dry up, a little at a time. My green color was not quite as vibrant. Worse was the fact that my incredibly strong stem begun to dry up, and diminish. Now the limbs and branches started spreading rumors about FALL. Spring I had enjoyed, Summer had been absolutely great, but what was FALL.

Then I began to dry up even more. My stem was now shriveled, brittle, and began to droop. But humans began to compliment on my beautiful new colors. I was now red, orange, brown, and amber. So now, I felt glad, and much wiser. I had seen Spring and Summer and now I had seen FALL, and it was OK! Of course, I was no longer young, strong and green, but that was fine by me. For now, I was colorful, wise, and even more popular than ever.

All of the sudden, a cold, hard rain, accompanied by a stiff wind came. Mother Tree was battered this way and that, by the increasingly violent storm. Tragedy then occurred. My brittle and dry stem finally broke, sending me to my doom below. Many of my brothers and sisters were also FALLing. At that moment, I understood the true meaning of the word FALL.

Now began the greatest period of uncertainty of my life. There I was lying on the ground in the dark. I was cut off from Mother Tree, and ‘the giver of life’. Even though I was lying in a puddle of it, I was not sustained. Wet, tired, and feeling terribly alone. At that moment, I was not sure of my future or fate. Of course, the limbs and branches, closest to the ground, began to argue over the fate of those newly fallen to the ground. Some said that we would be bunched up into a pile and burned. While others insisted that we would be gathered up in large plastic bags, and hauled off to some awful place.

That is when a wonderful, but strange thing happened to me. A rather thin, but very pretty human picked me up, along with some of my brothers, sisters, and cousins. She’s the one that gave me to this strange, human male.

Wait a minute! I’m being removed from between the pages of the writing tablet, and I’m being positioned in a place of honor on his computer desk. And now I am being written about.