The Mango Tree

It was for tomorrow, honest-to-goodness tomorrow?! My knees started to feel weak. There had to be a way to get apples before classes tomorrow. I felt a bolt of electricity shoot through my spine. There was only one way.

James.

Quick as lightning, I grabbed the cordless phone that lay on the kitchen counter. My fingers flew through the familiar number.

"Hello?" a voice answered on the other end. I gulped.
"Hello, may I please speak to James..."
"It's me, dummy." The playfulness in his voice made my heart jump.

On the verge of tears, I asked if he had any apples.

"Apples?" he paused for a minute. "Meet me at our mango tree in ten minutes."
"You expect to get apples from a mango tree?"
Beep. I rolled my eyes.

Then I realized that I was to go to the tree. Our tree. Uneasily, I tugged at the hem of my shorts. I wasn't sure if I wanted to go, to that old place where James and I had spent our childhood afternoons. And why meet there?

But I had to go. Composing myself, I straightened up. If I didn't go, my cooking class groupmates would tan my hide, anyways.

.............................

The gentle evening breeze blew through my hair. I rested my hand on the tree's rough, old bark. Memories of long-ago summers rushed through my mind...

I felt a mango fall on my head. I looked up.

There, sitting on a branch, was James, cradling a brown bag filled with, yes, apples. I pouted, rubbing the top of my head. He reached for my hand, and pulled me up when I gave it. He settled the brown bag into my arms.

"Thanks," I said, truly grateful now. He grinned back at me.

Now, I looked around me. It was here in the shelter of these leaves that I grew up. It had kept me from the world when I cried, its whisper rocked me to sleep when I was tired. Why had I not come back to it? I felt a tear stream down my cheek.

He turned to me and gently brushed the tear away. "I was remembering, too."
Half-laughing, I asked, "Remembering what?"
He looked at me steadily and said, "Back then."

I felt a lump rise in my throat. I leaned my head against his shoulder. We sat like that for a while, lost in our own thoughts.

Then I looked at him. Really looked at him. I felt surprised when he returned my gaze.

I gave a strange little laugh. "Are you learning me by heart?" I teased.
He fell to an even deeper silence. "No," he said slowly. "I already have." He smiled at me.

I felt like crying. I hadn't seen that smile in such a long time. Now I knew that I missed those days here in the mango tree. Our mango tree, a long, tired time ago. How did my need for apples lead to this realization...?

"We'd better get on home," I said softly. He nodded, taking my hand as we leaped off the tree like before. I guess I hadn't lost my touch.

He looked up at the tree once more, my hand still in his.

"Some tree, huh?" he said wistfully.
I hugged him.
"Yeah... some tree."