Before you begin reading, I thought you should know that you may not understand what I'm writing about until the last sentence. It's suppoesed to be that way!
As the kettle hummed and the thickly, buttered toast crunched cozily, mother and daughter anxiously peered out the window at the straw. It had happened last fall in a spurt of excitement, but the expected had not occurred and there it sat no more decomposed then it had appeared a half a year ago. Now it loomed as the first skyscraper-high hurdle to jump. This visible impediment only indulged all their other qualms. Images of the previous summer and endless wheel-barrowing and shoveling lurked in their memory. Then they had felt as if they were desperately preparing some sort of burnt offering. That “offering” now lay impenetrable under that straw. How could they coax into reality what they had hoped and dreamed of so hard the year before? To them it seemed too great a responsibility.
Somehow, under the pretext of studying math, the girl found herself outside, rake in hand. She and her mother timidly tiptoed toward the slumbering “sacrifice” covered in straw. Then they attacked, and straw hurtled through the air. Guiltily the two began consulting little, paper packages that had lain dormant in the basement. Hastily the girl scribbled an outline for the execution of their future deeds, and the two bravely marched outside again. Horrified by their audacity, they scurried around on the dismantled area making indentations and whispering nervously. Finally, ruthlessly they tore the paper packages and distributed their contents. Hurriedly they covered the indentations and retreated satisfied from the straws previous dominion.
Contentment blossomed in their hearts every time they glanced out at their handiwork. Now, for a time, their side of the bargain seemed complete. Much lay at the feet of fate who appeared in the shape of warmth, water, and sun. Perhaps they would fail this time around, but they had tried “good and hard” and could sit back and eat buttered toast again. It would not seem so hard next time to face that bare, sweat-drenched plot, and this time they would know that straw does not decompose even when you give it all winter. Awakening life in the garden and nurturing seeds sure does seem daunting at first, but what a wealth of satisfaction awaits the harvester!