A Tale of Love and Darkness - Amos Oz [138]
He must have guessed correctly at a horrible idea that had come into my mind, because he hastened to add reassuringly: "And don't make the mistake of worrying that we might end up eating through the vegetables that we grow what may now appear to be disgusting rubbish. No, and no again! On no account! Manure is not filth, it is a hidden treasure—generations upon generations of peasants and farmers have sensed this mysterious truth instinctively. Tolstoy himself speaks somewhere about the mystical alchemy that is constantly taking place within the womb of the earth, that wonderful metamorphosis that translates rot and decay into compost, compost into rich soil and thence into cereals, vegetables, fruit, and all the rich produce of field, garden, and orchard."
While we fixed the pegs back in the four corners of our plot and stretched the string carefully between them, Father explained the words to me simply, precisely, and in order: rot and decay, compost, organic, alchemy, metamorphosis, produce, Tolstoy, mystery.
By the time Mother came out to warn us that lunch would be ready in half an hour, the project of conquering the wilderness was complete. Our new garden extended from peg to peg and from string to string, surrounded on all sides by the barren earth of the backyard, but distinguished from it by its dark, brown color and its crumbly, tilled soil. Our vegetable plot was beautifully hoed and raked, manured and sown, divided into three equal, elongated waves or hillocks, one for the tomatoes, one for the cucumbers, and one for the radishes. And as temporary labels, like those that are put up at the head of graves that have not yet been covered with a tombstone, we placed a stick at the end of each row with an empty seed packet on each stick. Thus we had, for the time being, at least until the vegetables themselves grew, a colorful garden of pictures: a vivid image of a fiery red tomato with two or three transparent dewdrops trickling down its cheeks; a picture of some cucumbers in an attractive shade of green; and an appetizing illustration of a bunch of radishes, washed and bursting with health, gleaming in red, white, and green.
After spreading the fertilizer and sowing the seeds, we watered and rewatered each of the pregnant hillocks gently with an improvised watering can made from a water bottle and the little strainer from the kitchen that in civilian life hung on the kettle and caught the tea leaves when we made tea.
Father said:
"So from now on every morning and every evening we'll water our vegetable beds, we mustn't overwater or underwater them, and you will no doubt run and check every morning, as soon as you get up, for the first signs of germination, because in a few days' time tiny shoots will start to raise their heads and shake the grains of soil aside, like a naughty boy shaking his cap off his head. Every plant, the Rabbis say, has its own private angel that stands over it, taps it on the head, and says, 'Grow!'"
Father also said:
"Now Your sweaty, grubby Honor will kindly take out clean underwear, shirt, and trousers and jump in the bath. Your Highness will remember to use plenty of soap, especially you-know-where. And don't fall asleep in the bath as usual, because your humble servant is waiting patiently for his turn."
In the bathroom I stripped down to my underpants and then climbed on the toilet seat and peeped out through the little window. Was there anything to see yet? A first shoot? A green sprout? Even if it was just the size of a pinhead?
As I peeped out, I saw my father lingering for a few minutes beside his new garden, modest and humble, as happy as an artist posing beside his latest creation, tired, still limping from when he hit his toe with the hammer, but as happy as a conquering hero.
My father was a tireless talker, always overflowing with quotations and proverbs, always happy to explain and to quote, eager to treat you on the spot to the benefit of his extensive knowledge. Had you ever reflected on the way the Hebrew language links certain roots together