Finally cleaning out mom's attic

[photo by Jasper Ryden]

I happen upon a packet of radish seeds proclaiming Early, White-tipped Buttons with the guarantee that if I follow the diagrams on the back, in thirty days I’ll be grabbing their hairy tops for breakfast and smearing them in butter and salt like she showed me, remarking that this is how the French do it, as if that alone would make them taste better—

and each morning us running and tugging at the base of their heads and her eating one straight from the ground and telling me not to worry about the dirt, it’s the best part, and one time I picked the fattest, most gnarled one, the one you look at and wonder if it’s still a radish, and we let each crunch linger on our tongues—

so I pour the remaining seeds into my hand and sink them a quarter of an inch deep into little holes with water and wait for a young green curl to find the surface: something worth holding on to.

#NickDorian