Children of the Cake Garden

Tonight, at bedtime, Ian took note of a book in his room entitled something like "How to Grow a Pumpkin Pie." I told him and Daniel that when I was small-ish, my sister told me we could plant cake crumbs in the back yard and new cakes would grow.

Daniel looked up with what seemed like a flicker of hope, and the hint of a smile:

"Did it work?"

Ian answered in a way I wouldn't have done:

"No of course it didn't work."

Daniel produced a very reasonable hypothesis:

"Well, I guess she was lying - or maybe she thought that."

Once again, Ian assured him that he was wrong.

But there was some real beauty to seeing the same dream re-awaken, even for a moment, almost 40 years after the original vision was contemplated. Another Daniel was charmed by the same prospect of cakes growing out in the back yard.

(December 26, 2011)