Tom Has Babies
By Andy Valencia
The next morning, the car went out on another trip, but Tom didn’t even pay attention. He could feel his body trying to push out a second flower, and he held it back even as his one flower gathered pollen and started trying to grab all his juices to form so many seeds. He stopped it with a firm “NO – only six seeds.”
Why six? He didn’t know, it just seemed like enough. But while he was distracted, that second flower tried to grow again! He was busy the whole day keeping his body under control, and hardly noticed when the car got back to the campground.
The next day was better, as the second flower finally gave up trying to grow, even as his first flower withered and the six seeds within it started growing. It made him so hungry! But he was now a tough little weed, and he let them grow while he took in sunlight to keep himself fed. Nobody talked to him, and he realized that they all thought he was dying. For a mercy, the car had only done a few short trips, sparing him all the wind and bouncing. At sunset, he went to sleep knowing tomorrow was going to be a big day.
He woke late, with the sun almost directly overhead. No driving around – perfect timing, because it was time. The pod he had formed split open, and presently he watched a seed float out and drift through the air before landing on the ground. Another seed floated out, and finally he had seen all six seeds land here and there throughout the campground. He had done it! Grown his seeds without dying. How long until he got to greet his children?
He watched each place a seed had landed in turn, even though it was far too soon to see anything. One-two-three-four-five-six, he watched each spot in turn, then started over again. All the neighboring plants tried to talk to him, but he was too distracted to answer. It was a bit of a relief when the car started up and they left the campground, although he was also afraid he’d miss something! But he was being silly, it would take more time.
The next day the car was out and about before he had a chance to check his children. They finally returned late in the day, and he couldn’t remember a single detail about where they’d gone that day. As they pulled into the campground – he saw some little bright green dots!
He looked and looked. Five of his seeds had sprouted. He called to each in turn, “Hello!” They didn’t answer, but that was probably because they were so tiny. Then other weeds in the campground also called out to them, and Tom told them “Quiet!” He wanted to be the first to greet his children. But most of the plants kept calling anyway until a tree told them “Shuuuuuuuuush” in a deep, windy voice. That made them quiet down. Nobody had ever been shushed by a tree before.
As soon as the sun came up the next day, Tom tried saying “Hi!” to them again. And then …
“Hi!” said the one who had sprouted from the first seed; its voice was so high and squeaky that he could hardly hear it. The second seed heard and said “Hi!” back, and then the first one responded “Hi!” again, which got all five of them started. “Hi-hi-hi-hi-hi” went around and around for several minutes. Tom waited patiently, because young weeds know almost nothing, and repeat anything they hear.
Finally, they quieted. Then Tom said,
“I am Tom.”
The sprout from that first seed answered, “Tom!” And then the next three children joined in with their own “Tom-tom-tom” answer. There was a pause, and then the last baby weed said “Tim!” Tom corrected it with “Tom”, but it just answered “Tim!” again in its tiny, squeaky voice. (It ended up with the short name “Tim” and the long name “Tom-Tom-Tom-Tom-Tim”.)
Suddenly, the other weeds joined in, answering the little weeds with “Tom! Tom! Tom! Tom!”. And then – the trees joined in, “TOM! TOM! TOM!” in their deep, resinous voices. Even the humans, puzzled, came over near the car; they couldn’t quite hear plant speech, but they could tell something was going on. The chant went on for several minutes. What a way to celebrate the births.
Even in his oldest age, Tom always remembered that morning with his first children and all the plants of the campground.
