Guardians of the Apple Tree Seedlings

By Larry Whitler

"Guardians Of The Apple Tree Seedlings" is a series of thirty one essays and illustrations with apple tree seedlings serving as a metaphor for nurturing and caring especially as they apply to human existence.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Nov 28, 2017
• ISBN: 9781387345625

Larry Whitler

Larry Whitler was born in New York City. While still an infant, his family moved from the Bronx to Levittown and then, in 1962, to North Merrick on Long Island. In 1972 Larry's family moved to Rainbow Lakes Estates north of Dunnellon, Florida.

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Guardians of the Apple Tree Seedlings

Guardians Of The Apple Tree Seedlings

By Larry Whitler

Guardians Of The Apple Tree Seedlings

Copyright © 2017 by Larry Whitler

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any

manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use

of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.

First Printing: 2017

ISBN 978-1-387-34562-5

Bathing Nodine Art

P.O. Box 4172

Ocala, FL 34478

Preface

Guardians Of The Apple Tree Seedlings is a series of thirty one short essays that I wrote to accompany thirty one illustrations I did in October of 2017 as part of an Inktober challenge. The essays are written as blog entries and, therefore, are often written in the first-person perspective.

Inktober is an idea first conceived by illustrator Jake Parker as a way to challenge himself, and later other artists, to create a work of art each day in the month of October completely in ink.

I chose to participate in Inktober during October 2017 and included a theme of an apple tree seedling. The stories are mostly fictional although I did take liberties and included snippets of real life experiences from my own life into the stories.

I also chose to only use black ink for my illustrations which are rendered in a cross-hatch technique (mostly)with a hint of pointillism and pure scribble-scrabble. (Note: If you do not know the definition of ‘scribble-scrabble’ please ask a child).

I invite you to enter into my month-long journey of art and words.

Larry Whitler

Chapter 1: The View From Here

I visit this window a lot. These days it is my favorite place to be.

You want to know why? Well, it is because everything is out there. Out there somewhere.

Everything.

I've lived a long life. I've made a lot of memories along the way and every memory that I have inside this gray haired head happened out there. Somewhere.

My hope is that I've done some good along the way. Some people my age look back on their lives and have trophies to show. I have trees. Apple trees. And they are all out there somewhere.

So, I love this window.

Oh, and see THIS tree? Yes, this IS a tree in this flower pot. It is an apple tree. A baby apple tree. I grew it from a seed and care for it like a baby.

I've planted a lot of apple trees in my life. A LOT. Too many to take care of. So, every time I plant an apple tree and get a seedling started, I always find someone to be a guardian and take care of the tree until it is old enough to plant.

Apples are really good for you. But I know you already know that. But did you know that caring for an apple tree can also be good for you? Well, I want to tell you about that.

That's why I love planting apple trees and then, after the seedling is started, giving the baby tree to a guardian.

By the way, please don't call me Johnny Appleseed, though. No offense but I'm just not amused by that. You know, it's just that I like being my own man. If you must know my name is Johann. Johann Kessnopy.

I know. Johann is the German version of John. I know it is tempting but PLEASE don't call me Johnny ANYTHING. I am Johann, not Johnny.

Well, I know you came here for a story, so let me get started.

My story begins late in the year. It was in New York City in the borough called The Bronx. It was early October. The cool winds were beginning to replace the hot summer air.

My mother always sent me to school with a bagged lunch. It was usually a sandwich, an apple, and three pennies for a carton of milk. I always loved the combination of apples and milk. I don't know anyone else who has ever felt that way.

Well, one day, while at lunch in school, I was eating my apple and I noticed that one of the seeds had a tiny little root growing from it. I showed the root to my friend, Veronica, who was sitting beside me in the cafeteria. Veronica suggested that we wrap the seed in a wet paper towel and put it in a cup. She said it might grow if we do that the way the beans grew in Mrs. Ellington's class last year when we learned about flowers and plants.

So we did. Everyday I would look to see if the root was getting longer. It WAS! And it was getting longer very quickly. We called it our Apple Tree In A Coffee Cup and everyone in school knew about it.

When Mrs. Ellington heard about our project she brought us some potting soil to put into the cup. She said the little seed would need nutrients. Before long the little seed with the growing root started to sprout leaves.

I know it happens every day. I know life is all around us. But to have a little tree that was completely depending on me for its survival changed me at that very young age. It showed me something that I took with me the rest of my life.

I wanted that feeling to be a feeling that everyone felt.

So, here's my story.

I was still a little kid and, well this part is embarrassing, I had an imaginary friend. A GIANT imaginary friend. Not very good looking, but definitely very very big.

Chapter 2: Sharing With Giants

My imaginary giant was named Bill. I named him that because I would always hear my Dad and my Mom talk about how Bills just keep getting bigger and bigger.

I knew a Bill in school but he wasn't any bigger than me. But my friend Bill, I should say my imaginary friend Bill, was HUGE. The only problem was that nobody could see him. That's the problem with imaginary friends. Not that I'm generalizing.

So Bill and I were eating an apple one day and I asked him if he wanted a bite. He said he did. And when he did, his bite was so big it went all the way down to the apple seeds in the middle of the apple.

Bill, I said, You think these will grow?

Bill shrugged his shoulders and hummed the words to I don't know. I do that, too. I mean when I say, I don't know, sometimes I just say, Mm mm mm, and somehow everybody knows that I am saying, I don't know. I have tried it with other sentences but it only works with the sentence, I don't know.

Anyway, Bill and I planted the seeds in a coffee cup. We wrapped the seeds in a wet paper towel. I learned how to do that in school.

Well, a few days later one of those seeds started to grow! It was very exciting. Bill and I took that little apple seed and put it into a flower pot. Every day we would check on it and little by little the apple tree started to get taller and taller.

Bill and I talked about all the apples we would have pretty soon. That's when we got into this discussion about sharing. I said to Bill, This is really OUR tree. It is not MINE, alone. Bill agreed.

I wondered if maybe I should let Bill have more than half of the apples since he was more than twice the size as I was. So I asked Bill.

Mm mm mm, he said.

Well, this was back in the days before the internet. That's why I got on my Sting Ray Bicycle and went to the library.

In the library I asked Mrs. Petersen if there was a book that talked about sharing with giants and she looked it up. Yes, she said, and Mrs. Petersen led the way to a book shelf with about a billion books on it. She reached up to the top shelf and pulled down one of the books. It was titled, Sharing With Giants.

This looks like it will do, Mrs. Petersen said to me.

My eyes must have become as wide as baseballs! I opened it up and there were ALL KINDS OF RULES about sharing with giants.

I couldn't wait to share the book with Bill. So I got back onto my Sting Ray bicycle and rushed back home.

Bill was waiting for me. Check out this book! I screamed. You know what this is?

Mm mm mm, Bill answered.

I'll tell you what this is, I shouted, It is a book about sharing with Giants! Like YOU! This will help us figure out how many of the apples will be yours and how many will be mine!

Bill listened carefully as I read the book. It gave ALL the rules about sharing with giants:

Rule Number 1: Always remind them to duck their heads as they approach a doorway.

Rule Number 2: Don't make fun of a giant when he finishes a donut in two bites.

Rule Number 3: When you take him to a movie theater make sure he sits in the far back row.

Rule Number 4: If you enter him into a belly flop contest be sure to give the other players some extra points.

Rule Number 5: If you are growing an apple tree together remember that he gets 63.2% of the apples because he is much bigger.

THERE IT IS! I screamed. THERE IS THE RULE FOR SHARING APPLE TREES WITH GIANTS!

I was so happy.

I got a cup of soda and two straws, a long one for Bill and a normal size one for me, and we just took in that moment.

Well, that's how it all got started. That was so very long ago.

Hey, I've got to go feed the pigeons. Why don't you come along. The pigeons love people. Especially people with bread, or cheese puffs, or rice krispies.

Chapter 3: Feeding The Pigeons

Aren't the pigeons great? I love them. They are very loyal.

Whenever the pigeons see me coming they recognize me. Isn't that amazing? I mean, I probably look like a hundred other guys in this city. But they know ME.

Today I have corn chips. My brother Tony came over yesterday and we had coffee and corn chips so I saved the crumbs from the corn chip bag to feed to my pigeon friends.

Tony is retired, like me. He used to be a policeman in this city. Now that is a hard job. Back in his day the policemen all had a beat. Isn't that a strange word? In policeman language it just means that he patrolled the same neighborhood all the time. Everyone in that neighborhood knew him.

Kind of like the way all of these pigeons know me. They know I'm here to give them something they need. Today it is corn chips. Tomorrow it might be leftover black and white cookies. I love those things. Tony brought them over but he brought too many.

You know what's funny? Tony and I were talking over our coffee yesterday and he asked me about my apple tree. I've had an apple tree all my life and Tony never asked me about it before. In fact this apple tree is my 671st apple tree. I've been growing apple trees for sixty seven years and get ten going each year. Ten times sixty-seven is six hundred seventy. This is my first tree this year.

Anyway, when I told Tony about all the trees I had grown during all these years he looked at me and said, How could I not know this? You are my brother and I never knew about your apple tree mission.

I thought about what Tony said. It's just life, Tony. That's all. We live our lives and we don't notice other people living their lives, I said.

Tony looked at me. You know I was a policeman, right?

Of course, I answered. Your uniform was a big clue.

Tony then looked at me and asked, Do you want to know any of my policeman stories?

I took a deep breath. I didn't even know he HAD any stories. What? I asked. What kind of stories?

Tony put his coffee cup down and began.

He said, There was this guy. He was just a kid. No more than sixteen or seventeen years old. I used to see him hanging around Claudio's Deli.

Tony continued, One day I got a call from headquarters. They said that there was a fight going on in the school yard. By the time I got there it was all over. This kid was bleeding from his nose like a faucet. The other kids all ran away when they saw me and I never did find out who started the fight. It didn't matter. It was over.

What did you do? I asked.

I had a handkerchief in my pocket and I sat with him on a bench. I told him to hold the handkerchief firmly on his nose and I went to the water fountain and got my hands wet so I could help clean him up.

What was his name?