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# 21: Spring gets in Your Eyes
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By Maura Madden
I must admit defeat. Spring is here, and I am in love. I am in love with spring. It's got such a gentle touch, it smells so great, and it's damn good looking. I tried to resist its advances - I stayed inside and worked on my taxes when it first came calling. And then it asked me once again, tenderly, "Please, Maura, I just want to see you for a few hours. You can do your work later." So out I ran, and we had a good time, no, a great time together. But then Spring went away for a while, and Winter was back on the scene. Now, I wasn't about to fall for that shit again. There can be a certain appeal to Winter's coldness, but it wears away. I wanted Spring to come back. I may have even begged. And what a comeback it made.
So it's been a few weeks now, and I have to say, Spring and I are getting pretty serious about each other. What can I say about it? Well, first of all, it's not afraid to show me how it feels. It strews petals along my pathways, fills trees with gorgeous bouquets, and leaves the sunlight on until I get home for dinner. It puts color in my face, makes me feel radiant day and night. I canÕt hide the way I feel, and I don't care. Spring is here to stay. All those other seasons are just distant memories, pictures in a photo album. Put it in a heart and carve it into a tree: Maura & Spring 4Ever.Ê
Yesterday I skipped out of work early to see Spring. We decided to meet at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. Spring knows what I like. I rushed home to slip into something a little more comfortable, and when I got outside, Spring was waiting. We walked to the Gardens, hand in hand, and when we arrived, I could scarcely believe my eyes. Spring had done it once again. The trees were loaded with blooms: petals pink the shade of seashells, and white infused with pale red. The grass was so green, it seemed like you could see it growing. Birds twittered everywhere. We made our way deeper into the garden, and I nearly fainted into the arms of Spring. An ocean of purples and pinks and whites stretched out before us - the lilac lane bordered the cherry blossom esplanade, and one coral-colored dogwood stood blushing to the side. We walked through the whole kaleidoscope of color, sniffing everything, strolling down sidewalks lined with tulips of every shade - the purples that come so close to black that they stop looking purple, the hot pink leaves with traces of green drawn in a wobbly hand up the center of a petal. It was magnificent.
We saw a squirrel on a tree trunk, maintaining its hold while upside down. It clucked furiously, sounding more like a bird than a furry creature. Its eyes looked frightened, and the tone of its voice was insistent, as if trying to warn us of danger. I laughed heartily at the squirrel. What kind of danger could come to pass when I was with Spring?
We took our shoes off and walked in the damp grass. It was the first time my toes had felt earth all year. What could be better? We decided to lie down beneath an apple blossom tree, to let the leaves fall on us. There we lay, sprawling across the damp grass, smiling from one ear to the other, experiencing the wonder of pure joy.
And that's when it happened. Spring shook its head, laughing, and flung a seed into my eye. Ow! I blinked quickly. There is something in my eye. No, I must be imagining things. Maybe it just feels like there is something in my eye. It's probably allergies, yes, allergies that feel like a needle in my eye. No, there is definitely something in there. I rubbed it, pushing my finger towards my nose like the doctors tell you to do. If there is a foreign object, certainly it would just pop out. Rub, rub, rub - it's not popping out. It is trapped there, between the eyelid and the eyeball! And it hurts, damn it really, really hurts. I don't believe this.
I started getting up and gathering my stuff. My eye was tearing up. "What happened?" Spring asked, tenderly trying to rub my back.
"I have to go!" I yelped.
"Are you okay?" asked Spring.
I am not okay. There is something in my eye, and it is your fault. Careless, reckless, horrid Spring. "When you shook out your hair, a seed got into my eye and it hurts, it really, really hurts!" I snapped. "I need to go look at it in a mirror."
My eye feels like it's bleeding.
Spring looked at it. "Oh, wow, it's really red."
Thank you, Spring! I didn't even justify that with a response. I covered my eye with my hand and started speed walking towards the Main Library at Grand Army Plaza. By the time I arrived in the ladies room, I was nearly in tears. Then I took a look at my eye. It was bright red, my eyelid was completely puffed up, and it looked as if it was drowning in water. I was in tears. Why, Spring, why? My tears were falling steadily now, partially out of anger and frustration, partially because I knew it might help the thing dislodge from my eye. Then the door opened, and I sucked in a sob. A little girl approached the sink and stared at my pink eye and me. She started washing her hands.
"Your eye is changing colors," she said, as if I didn't know that. I nearly hissed at her, but instead I reacted with a surprising amount of composure.
"Yes, well, something got in my eye, and it really, really hurts," I said, trying to sound calm but pathetic. I was hoping that telling her this would prompt her to go and find her Mommy, who would miraculously be a famed ophthalmologist who would remove the offending item from my eye. The little girl just washed her hands and left. Now I really felt like an asshole.
I ran up to the payphone, brushing past Spring, and called my parents. My dad answered the phone.
"Hello?"
I didn't even say hello back. "Can I talk to Mom?" I pleaded, clearly freaking out.
"Okay, okay, hold on." My dad called my mother to the phone, mumbling about there being something terribly wrong. My mom took the receiver.
"I got something in my eye. Can you call the doctor?" By then, I was almost crying again. Clearly, my cornea is being chaffed to the point of permanent damage!
"Okay. Honey, call Dr. Solomon, Maura has something in her eye," my mother calmly instructed.
"Tell her to go to the emergency room," my father yelled. Wait a second, this is too much. IÕm concerned, but I'm not going to the emergency room. Can we tell which tree this little paranoid apple falls from?
"I am not going to the emergency room!" I yelled into the phone.
My saintly mother was a sea of tranquility. "Well, then, go and get and eye wash and see if it comes out."
And that is what I did. I sent Spring home, and I walked back to my house with my hand over my eye. Then I washed my eye, and I waited for the evil invader to come out. And it did. Many hours later, the little piece of seedpod popped right out of my eye. And as of right now, it appears as if thereÕs no harm done. I can still see. Everything appears to be normal. As for Spring, well, I had to forgive it. I mean, it may be a fleeting romance, but it is a sweet one. And a long as I didn't lose my eye, I don't mind. Accidental hurts can be soaked up in a big love. |
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