Papa Brown's Granddaughter

The night after I wore this ring I had a dream about my grandfather who died last year.  He isn't Mr. Brown who once wore it, but he was Papa.

One of his sons took over the yard work duties when he died and has been slowly shaving down the shrubs, amputating trees and leaving everything crooked, raw and mismatched.  Maybe it's a statement, maybe preparatory, maybe done out of convenience.. I can't say.  But in the dream I walked up on Papa in the back yard, kneeling.  He was working on something at the foot of an enormous tree I thought was gone.  I looked up and started to notice that he had rebuilt the entire tree from two-foot segments of itself that were cut down and used to lay at the stump.  The pieces were hinged together with metal rods, how you'd pin an arm onto a paper doll.  They looked like bent, irregular fans out to both sides - some stuck straight up!  Tiny branches had already started growing and there were brand new leaves, thick and bright green, clacking against each other like kettle chips in the breeze.

Before I could say anything he turned around, looked at me and said pleasantly, "It looks dead out here!"  Then in a true engineer's fashion, turned around and got back to his project.  That one statement was more warmth than I ever felt from him in person (except when he'd wink across the dinner table) so I'm grateful for the dream.. and wonder if Mr. Brown didn't have a talk with him.

Jumpsuit, K Mart
Jacket, Found
Flower, Thrifted
Hat, Thrifted
Bag, Thrifted
Shoes, Thrifted
Ring, Gifted <3