Miracle Potatoes

Its weird to love someone so much and to have them not even know it. In a way its kind of a relaxing idea that someone is only thinking and wishing the best for you each second of your life. That periodically they look at your picture when they are feeling less in touch of their dreams or discarded from life and get some tiny spurt of rejuvenation.
I haven't seen her in a year and out of no where she appears at my feet when I enter the room. She looks up at me with tiny eyes and long dark hair and says,"Hi Auntie Carrie"
My ears absorb as much of the echo and my stomach sucks it to the bottom so that it rises slowly and taps on each bone. I grab her instantly and kiss her dark cheek over and over again. She knows who I am!


In school, a couple of years ago now, I remember this conversation during my final critique.
"I mean," she lets out a long sigh as she rests her hand under her chin," I mean........When I look at her paintings all I see is texture. Which is cool but besides that what else is there. Nothing."
Tonight when I was cutting out pieces of cardboard to put on my canvas a tiny sliver fell and landed on my leg. It started to move and in a frightened panic I brushed it off as fast as I could. I watched it flutter and grow wings as it flew around the room until my cat caught it and ate it in disappointment. How am I going to explain this one to her if I ever see her again?

"Okay are you ready?" he asks.
I hold out my hands and he hands me the kaleidoscope that he has made for me.
"I've always wanted a kaleidoscope forever but never got one" I say as I spin the tube. I press my eyes closer to catch every changing image, " Wait a minute...you didn't put black grease around the eye opening did you? because that wouldn't be very awesome."
He laughs and lays down next to me. I collapse on his belly and we sit in silence as the only sound of beads shuffling around a tube fills the room. " This is why I love em. No image is ever the same."

"You might as well dig em up and plant those carrots there," Deb tells me, " If those potatoes haven't come up by now then they are never going to come up."
"mmmm" I scowl and just pick the weeds out of the two empty rows that only they inhabit.
Weeks go by and nothing. Not even a sprout. Mean while the tomatoes are so big they need supports and the beans have started to travel into far distances. The Peppers have grown the first baby that deb says "looks like a penis". But no potatoes.

Thinking about it even though they might just be rotting in the ground with maggots, grubs and whatever undesirable plant eater I can't find it in my heart to dig them up. I watched my grandmother who looks like she is going to break in one snap dig up the dirt and place each cut chunk in the beginning while being excited about the amounts of mouths I will feed with my horrible cooking talent. Even if they are moldy pieces of unrecognizable mush they aren't coming out, well in my mind anyways.

This week when I go out to water the garden and pick weeds and to tell myself out loud " Those damn potatoes" all of them have sprouted. Tiny bushels stick up from the ground in neat little rows. They are the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. I know potatoes are the cheapest in the grocery store. Three dollars a bag probably. But these in the whole scheme of things are worth millions in proof that miracles can happen.