The Coconut Mango Tree.
When I was a child, maybe about 10 years old, my godmother brought a fruit to my house. It was a round-shaped mango and very sweet. To this day, I remember her calling it a coconut-mango. After we ate the fruit in our kitchen, she briskly washed the seed, dug up a little soil in my backyard and planted it.
That was the first time I had ever seen a seed from a fruit being planted.
At the time, my backyard a grassy lawn. In the middle was a pile of blacken, dried leaves where my father would sometimes burn cut grass. On one side of the lawn, there was a clothesline. I never liked going onto the lawn.
The seed eventually sprouted without me giving it much thought. One day, when it was about knee-height, I went out to have a look. My family had a lot of cats back then, and one black-and-white kitten, which I named after Chubby Checkers, followed me out. While I was crouched over the plant, Chubby took a shit at the base of the skinny tree. At the time, I remember thinking that the plant was going to be so fertilized.
While Chubby did not have a chance to grow up into an adult cat, the tree thrived really well. It was a pleasant surprise, as we hardly paid it any attention. It steadily grew taller and bigger, and my father replanted it out farther in the lawn, where it had more space to grow.
When I finished secondary school, it was already looming over me and my sister's shared bedroom on the second level of our house. It bore fruit in abundance and they were always sweet. I don't know if it was my imagination, but they always seemed round, like coconuts.
Eventually, it was cut down. It got too big and went over into my neighbours' yards, and it also stopped bearing fruit.
Now, our backyard is completely different. It has been renovated and cemented. Sadly, I can't ask my godmother about the alleged hybrid coconut-mango species, because she left us in 2018.
That was the first time I had ever seen a seed from a fruit being planted.
At the time, my backyard a grassy lawn. In the middle was a pile of blacken, dried leaves where my father would sometimes burn cut grass. On one side of the lawn, there was a clothesline. I never liked going onto the lawn.
The seed eventually sprouted without me giving it much thought. One day, when it was about knee-height, I went out to have a look. My family had a lot of cats back then, and one black-and-white kitten, which I named after Chubby Checkers, followed me out. While I was crouched over the plant, Chubby took a shit at the base of the skinny tree. At the time, I remember thinking that the plant was going to be so fertilized.
While Chubby did not have a chance to grow up into an adult cat, the tree thrived really well. It was a pleasant surprise, as we hardly paid it any attention. It steadily grew taller and bigger, and my father replanted it out farther in the lawn, where it had more space to grow.
When I finished secondary school, it was already looming over me and my sister's shared bedroom on the second level of our house. It bore fruit in abundance and they were always sweet. I don't know if it was my imagination, but they always seemed round, like coconuts.
Eventually, it was cut down. It got too big and went over into my neighbours' yards, and it also stopped bearing fruit.
Now, our backyard is completely different. It has been renovated and cemented. Sadly, I can't ask my godmother about the alleged hybrid coconut-mango species, because she left us in 2018.