000.0 - The Last Time Down the Country Lane

The Last Apricot Tree Under The Mountain

The Last Time Down the Country Lane

When my dad dies
We'll have to sell the house
And the trees
And the too old orchard
And the willow with all of our favorite ghosts

We'll have to sell the future
But not the past

The bonfires
The nights when no one wants to go home
Jumping off the roof into the ‘whirlpool'
Green apricot fights
The race track

We won't do it anymore
But we did.

Weddings and babies and funerals
Everyone come over for prom pictures!
Halloween costumes and chili cook-offs
Bands and movies on the green
And colored eggs from last year

How and where will we gather
To bore the littles with these stories?

Black Widows and wasps
Snakes and gophers
Coyotes and squirrels and
a new batch of cats every year
And all those birds and all those stars

You just don't know if this is
The last time down the country lane

So I walk as slow as I can
So slow that I stop
And become the old almond tree
That the new folks won't notice
on their first stroll

But if they stop and ask
I'll whisper it through the bark
And I'll tell them everything.

Editorial and Advance Reader Contributors: Mark Wallace, Alisha Price, Heather Bergevin of Barrow Editing, Mette Ivie, Bonnie Wach, Francoise Boden, Mark Berg, Mike Hammer and Kathy Toelkes. Special thanks to Bill Davis for a kick in the pants that only a friend from your old stomping grounds can give you. Mt. Diablo and Apricot Tree painting by the talented and local artist, Greg Hart.