Revelations from Dendrology Part II

One fall, I was on my hands and knees waxing the kitchen floor when Daddy came in from Richmond and laid a bank book on the table with $400 in it. "This is for your tuition to Georgetown. It has been a good year for our tobacco crop," he said. My first thought was, "I can't take this much money from the family." They were still driving the battered, old truck that had seen us through World War II. My second thought was, "I helped make this money." I accepted without too much guilt and spent it so carefully that I had some left for the next year. I have always been grateful to tobacco for giving me a start in the world. Revelations from Dendrology Part II Armed ovulate cone guarding holding your seeds deep inside resisting change until prying fingers of timeless winds rip back yielding scales and spill your seeds to earth. Mom and I collected premature pine cones. She said they were "God's favorite!" I thought they were emeralds. I remember her standing, smiling, the green aborted seeds bulging between her thick fingers. —Laura Minter 15 ...