All That Grows and Greens
Michael McNichols
Issue #1 (March 2008)
Robin was born green-skinned. His fair hair piled up on his head like messy leaves and he grew up like an elegant oak, tall and solid.
His mother always told him, “Your father is Jack in the Green, the great god who holds dominion over all that grows and greens, which includes you, so be good.”
“But where is he?” Robin asked. “I can never find him.”
“He’s always all around us and everyone else on this world. Don’t fret. He only once stepped out of the bush to be with me. Even he needs to spread his seed.”
Every morning while hurrying off to school, Robin still searched through the wild flowers and treetops. Around a corner or just off into the distance, he’d sometimes glimpse something.
A stern face formed out of the broken branches and leaves. Dandelions, roses, and roots grouped together into a jubilant smile. Sometimes, a deep green shadow fell across whatever meadow Robin stumbled through.
Whenever he’d blink, the shadow, smile, or face would vanish and he’d be late to school again. As punishment, after classes, the teachers forced him to wash down the steep, steel school stairways.
The other children lingered around to mock and throw dirt at him.
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