The avocado tree

My grandparents told me the avocado tree had been there since the birth of their last child, my aunt Agnes, who was nine years older than me. In a yard full of fruitful trees at their home in Masvingo, Zimbabwe, it was the only one that had never borne fruit. Back then, they said the only reason why they didn’t cut it down. If trees were human, the avocado tree would have seen our appreciation of its shade.