The Last of the First

The stand in the front of the little shack was barren save for the innards from a tomato which had been splattered and never wiped off. All that remained were the seeds which had been baked onto the wood and bleached by the sun. Smeared across the counter top they dried out even more in the cold and bitter winter winds. Some were unable to hang on and were eventually swept off by whirling snowstorms onto the frozen fields.

With spring came the rain. At times torrential downpours caused floods that threatened to carry the whole stand away, but being solidly built it fared well in the end. The overhanging, corrugated sheet metal roof even kept most of the exposed wood dry and the surviving tomato seeds remained virtually untouched.

As the slow summer heat settled in so did the humidity and each seed began to expand a little again, for the first time almost beginning to resemble their original form as if a little life were coming back into them. In truth though they were deader than ever before and the humidity was just causing them to bloat a little and allow the micro-organisms of decomposition to move in and start breaking the other seeds down once and for all. As the microbes digested from the outside in, the border around each seed became a small ringlet of greenish mold.

Toward the end of the season a family arrived with a small truck load of fresh fruits and vegetables to sell at the stand. They pulled up and as the little girl hopped out her mother told her to give the stand a once over in preparation for setting things out. She happily obliged and emerged from the shack with a small bucket, a sponge with an abrasive back and a bottle of soap. She filled the bucket at the spigot, put in a little soap, swished it around, gave the sponge a gentle squeeze and with one continuous motion gave the whole countertop a washing with the smooth side of the sponge. The first pass devastated the mold but some of the seeds, incredible as it were, still clung tenaciously to the wooden countertop. Upon closer inspection of her handiwork she did notice some seeds and with the rough side of the sponge gave them a little elbow grease. With this the last of them finally came loose. She flipped the sponge over, wiped the whole spot clean and polished it off with a dry paper towel. Just as she was finishing her mother came over with some fresh vegetables to unpack for display. Her favorite ones were the tomatoes because they were so full and red. She began to unpack them and placed the first one right on the spot she had so meticulously cleaned since it was the only possible place for just such a thing.