A Garden of Trees by Nicholas Mosley

Author:Nicholas Mosley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Columbia University Press

10

“Hullo,” she said. “You can put it over there.”

“It has got the most tremendous roots.”

“Oh Marius, you look like a chinaman.”

“I really don’t know oh isn’t it splendid,” a nurse was saying.

“Why do I look like a chinaman?”

“With a box in each hand that is how I imagine them.”

“There is water you see they are striped like silk.”

“Oh mind good gracious oh very attractive.”

“Where shall I put the tank, lady?” the workman said.

“Just here, please, will you put them into it quick?”

“Quick as rain, lady.”

“By the window the birds will come and you will see them.”

“The leaves are like fingers I will watch them grow.”

“That’s a rare old tree for your garden, lady.”

I put the tree in its tub by the window and looked at it. It was a sad little tree, rather bent.

“And what variety would it be?” the nurse said.

“It is a fruit tree.”

“A fruit tree, oh yes, they are very attractive fruit trees.”

“A pond and all for your garden, lady.”

“Is it heated and is there air?”

“It plugs into the wall there is a light that lights.”

“There is coral and a moonstone and a block of quartz.”

“Oh Marius, how lovely.”

“And a lump that looks like Abraham Lincoln.”

“Oh very attractive very really most unusual.”

“And are there bubbles that go on and on bubbling for ever?”

“For ever, lady.”

“I shall watch them,” she said.

We put the sand and the stones in the bottom of the tank and there was a weed that seemed to grow as we filled it with water.

“Do not touch them,” she said.

“They swim out you see you put them like this.”

“There is one with a face, I can see it.”

“They’ve all got faces, lady.”

“There is one very hungry, what do I give them to eat?”

“I have a package I will give you.”

“They eat oh yes certainly some food I believe.”

“Do I sprinkle it on the top like seeds like snow?”

“Just sprinkle it, lady.”

“They will not eat they are frightened.”

“An aquarium and a fruit tree are so unusual.”

“They will eat, lady.”

“Can you switch on the light then the bubbles will rise?”

“Switch it on, lady.”

“The bubbles I will count them they are warm I hope.”

“They are warm when the light shines they think it is the sun.”

We stood around while she sat up in bed and tapped at the glass with one fragile finger.

“Does that tree really have fruit and can I eat it?”

“Oh certainly, we’ll see, fruit is so quenching.”

“Does it matter if I eat it?”

“I do not think that it would matter if you ate it.”

“They are eating now, lady, fishes always eat when you stop from watching them.”

“They have eaten, then I can see their mouths.”

“That’s enough, lady.”

“Everything has eaten, I will eat my fruit.”

“Hope it makes you better, lady.”

“Oh we’ll be much better won’t we much more comfortable altogether.”

“I remember about trees once you have eaten them you go on.”

“The bubbles are like pearls.”

“I have always eaten fruit I will go on.”

“The bubbles are like eyes.”

“I will watch them.”

When the workman and the nurse had gone I stood at the end of her bed and Marius sat beside her and the fishes quivered like ghosts.

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