Vegetation

When I was young, I looked like every other seed in the bag, small, awkward, even a bit unattractive, I was chosen above all the rest.  He saw something in me that even I could not see in myself, potential. 

As time went on I blossomed, my outer layers forming, first from a hard leathery green, and then eventually to a beautiful shade of read that was smooth as silk to the touch.  I sat atop my beautifully leafy pedestal with the sun glistening down on my delicious skin, and I was the most beautiful specimen ever to grace this wondrous garden. The carrots stood next to me stiff with envy, while the onions wept over my untouchable beauty.  The radishes grew red with rage at the very thought of my beautiful shade, as they new nothing could compare with my beautiful skin.

When he approached us on this day, everyone became quiet with anticipation, but it came as no surprise when it was I he picked over everyone else.  I was proud, and I experienced a joy unlike anything else I had felt in my life, and in the next moment, I felt myself starting to die. He carried me from the garden into his home and after washing me with harsh water, he gave me a new place to rest upon a stiff paper towel in the window above his sink. 

At this point I was feeling betrayed, and I did not know what would come next.  I had heard talks of people disappearing from the garden never to return, and I figured this must be the part of the journey no one has ever lived to tell about.  I was going to die, and the only questions left were how and when. Maybe he will make it quick and painless, maybe this spot is only temporary, or maybe he will leave me sitting on the window sill for a few days pondering what will happen next, wondering where my destiny will take me.  

It seemed like days had gone by but since the sun had only set and not risen again, I knew that it had only been hours.  The man approached me again, and gently lifted me off the windowsill.  He then placed me on my side against a cold block of wood, and while is gently restrained me with one hand, in the other he picked up a long shiny object.  I felt the cold blade touch my soft skin, and then sink deeply into me, the process was quick as he lifted the weapon and lowered into me again,  I could feel my juices starting to flow out of my body, and my once round figure had been diminished into small thin slices.  

As I lay there dying, I knew that this is what I had lived for.  It was not beauty to bring happiness to ones eye, or a lovely scent to tickle the nose, it was sustence. I lived so that one day, this man whom I had befriende and trusted, could enjoy my death.  And I new that I was not the last, but like those who had gone before me, it was too late to go back and warn those that will follow.  My fate had been sealed.

~Kandi Kirk