Heartstones

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.