Rebirth

The photograph shows two little boys, arms encircling each other, smiling innocently into the camera. The boys’ cherubic features, once sharp and clear, are now muted by a reddish tinge as if the entire photograph’s been dipped in red wine. Maggie snorts with frustration as she moves the photograph closer, peering intently, desperately trying to wish the image into clarity.  Every photograph in the album has the same reddish hue. The cherished memories of her boys fading into oblivion. The gentle tapping of a branch against the window catches her attention, she smiles, then whispers, ‘’I’m coming.’’

Turning the pages of the album, Maggie contemplates the baby pictures pressed beneath the aging plastic sleeve. The newborns, legs curled up, arms akimbo, reminding her of two plucked chickens. As she fumbles with the album, Maggie attempts to squeeze the photograph out from under the plastic’s vice-like grip. Probing between the photograph and the plastic she chides herself with, ‘’A few dollars saved. Why on earth did I buy such cheap film? I should have bought the Kodak.’’ But Maggie already knows the answer to her question. Cheap film meant money saved and money saved meant special treats for the boys, especially their favorite, Apple Whizz Fizz.

Laughing to herself, she recalls the boys jumping up and down in front of her and squealing with excitement as they tried to guess which hand held the Apple Whizz Fizz.

            ‘’Which hand?’’

            ‘’That one, Mummy?’’

            ‘’You sure?’’

            ‘’Yes, that one, that one.’’

Such wonderful days filled with giggles and laughter and Apple Whizz Fizz coated teeth.

Her boys spilling Whizz Fizz on the kitchen floor and her pretending to be angry. Maggie tasting the Whizz Fizz and being surprised by the sudden tingling burst of flavor on her tongue. Such wonderful days when she made them happy with just a packet of Apple Whizz Fizz.

At last the picture is free. Pressing the image to her lips, Maggie bestows a kiss, a gentle benediction on the two babies. With closed eyes she recalls the pulling sensation as her breast let down her milk for their suckling, their eyes staring up at her, taking in her every nuanced expression. Her fingers long to touch the soft down of their hair.

The staccato rhythm of the branch against the window pane breaks her reverie. She slips the photograph back into its sacred place amongst the other beloved photographs and turns to the last page in the album. This page holds a newspaper cutting yellowed with age.

‘’FRIENDS’ PRANK TURNS TO TRAGEDY:

An April Fools’ Day prank by a group of friends turned to tragedy when a boy drowned trying to save his twin brother at Scarborough Beach. Both boys died in the incident.’’

Closing the album, Maggie walks outside into the back garden and smiles lovingly at the two huge apple trees standing sentinel on either side of her window. Each tree’s branches reach out, embracing the other, creating a sanctuary of shade and sweet perfume. One branch scrapes against the window, making a tapping noise in the evening breeze. The trees are thirty years old, their trunks gnarled with age, but their branches heavy with the gift of apple blossom.

 Maggie pats the nearest tree’s trunk, her aged skin rubbing against the dry nodules of bark. Lowering her body, her fingers digging into the fragrant earth as she touches the exposed root system, Maggie leans gently against the trunk. She recalls the night she dug the two holes, the grief still alive and jagged in her chest. Placing a snippet of their cherished baby hair in the pungent earth of each hole, Mikey on the left and Marty on the right. Covering each son’s hair with a sapling apple tree bursting with life. For thirty years she watched the saplings grow into these mighty apple trees towering above her, apple trees that can live for one hundred years.

 As the evening breeze whispers its promises of the night, Maggie leans against the trunk of her beloved tree and softly hums to herself the ancient pagan chant of rebirth and hope, ‘’All that dies shall be reborn.’’

Picture free download by Luana Freita from Pexels