There You Go

There You Go
-- Big Frank Dickinson

"Oh, the world keeps spinning round.
It's a wonder tall trees ain't laying down;
There comes a time. . . "
---- Neil Young

1.
Spring was a time when hope sprang anew in his heart. It was easy to feel that way at this time of the year, because there was real anticipation in the air. This was not some kind of metaphysical nonsense, like giving off positive energy or learning a lesson from the universe; no, this was real honest-to-goodness season change as manifested in the very grass that you walk on or the leaves in the trees above you. He was thinking that if that rebirth was programmed right into the planet in such a pervasive manner that it was probably programmed into him too. He was thinking in cliches, thoughts like: "When a young man's thoughts turn to love . . .", and "Here comes Peter Cotton Tail hopping down the bunny trail." That last thought was actually getting stuck in his head and much as he liked spring he found that song to be invasively annoying. So with sticky bits of that tune clinging to his brain he left the house and went to one of the two things that spring most brought to mind: his yard (the other he could not go to because she wasn't there). His neighbor was in his backyard looking at his yard with his arms crossed. "Looks like I'll have to get on this yard again; I'm getting an early start!", he shouted. His neighbor replied: "There you go!"

2.
Her yard had been carefully prepared for spring last fall. All the debris that had fallen from the trees or blown in from neighboring yards had already been disposed of. Her ornamental grasses had already been trimmed, the sprinkler system had been drained, and the delicate trees had been bundled up. She was not thinking about her yard; she was thinking about Easter! And at that moment her phone rang; it was her sister. They talked for a short time, and it was a typical conversation that had little to do with spring or her yard. It was mostly about a friend of theirs who had recently been ill, but had recovered. In passing they discussed Easter - the Easter dinner! This was always carefully approached because it entailed some suble negotiations about whether the family was going to do something together for Easter or not, and if so, then who and where and all that had to be decided in such a way as to keep everyone happy but not put a strain on anyone. Everything was pretty much up in the air so far, which meant that she did not have to do anything beyond what she normally did. Easter was a time to decorate (lightly) her home, but was not treated, by her, as a holiday that should entail any family gathering beyond her immediate kids, who were not in town. So that meant that she was really not going to mark this Easter in any way. Her sister actually asked her: "Do you have any Easter plans?" Her reply was short: "No, I think I'll stay home and work on my yard." "There you go!", replied her sister.