They stood in a square of old daffodils
that traced the footprint of where
the old farmhouse had once been.
A mild day, cottonball clouds.
Tiger swallowtails flickered
yellow and black
from bloom to bloom.
He said, this must have been
the front room, you can still see
the hearth stones under the dirt.
She peered at the stones
he exposed with the toe
of his shoe, brushing off
a thin sandy layer of soil.
Heartstones? how sad and beautiful,
why did they call them that?
is it the the color?
it looks like old blood.
Hearth stones, not heart stones!
but I like your word better
because this was the heart of the house.
oh. I thought you said...
yeah. You heard the spirit,
I was just accessing my mental dictionary.
What would you call that crooked old tree over there?
Uh. apple tree. I don't know if it is,
I just want it to be, 'cuz I like apples.
What is it? do you know?
-Apple, of course!, guess these folks
liked them too. Must be more
than a hundred years old.
Still flowering. We should come
back in the fall and taste the fruit.
-Yes! She's ancient like me.
-Well I still like your fruit.
He laid his hand along her cheek
Where the skin was as soft as old velvet.
She said, I want to sketch her.
and these daffodils.
-And the heartstones?
-Of course. You know i must be
getting hard of hearing or something,
last night I heard on the news
something about a swarm of tomatoes
that had hit some town in the midwest.
and I was trying to imagine what
could cause that before I realized
that they meant tornados and...
what are you laughing at?
You. I love how your mind works.
oh? You don't think i'm crazy?
Totally. In the best possible way.
She unpacked her sketchbook
and set out her watercolors.
He walked over to the tree
gazed up into the branches.
-I don't believe it! There's
an apple still on this tree.
Somehow it lasted through the winter.
-Is that unusual?
-Very. it should have fallen months ago.
-It must have been waiting for us.
-You think so?
-Yes. bring it to me.
He plucked the apple from the branch.
It was still smooth and firm,
streaked with shades of red and yellow
and somehow heavier than he would have thought.
-Want the first bite?
-No, let's bite together.
So he held it between them,
their faces an apple's width apart
and they bit into the fruit
gazing into each others eyes
as the sweet juice ran over their chins.
They staggered and grabbed onto
each other's waist as the day darkened
like a solar eclipse and they sagged to the ground
When they opened their eyes,
it was bright afternoon again.
-What happened? what was that? he said.
-Magic.
-You think?
- Yes, how do you feel?
-Good. very good. Yes. like i'm twenty. Is it possible?
-Me too. What happened to our clothes?
I don’t know, but you know what I want to do?
Yes, I do.
