Rootbound — The Winter Trowel, Page 10
By Suha · Published
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Transcript
Scene: the leafless apple tree erupts into pale blossom under the moon, petals falling onto fresh soil, Joss glowing warm at its trunk as Fern rises amazed. Caption: "For one buried promise,..." A close-up shows Joss smiling as his edges dissolve to warm light, the fern-leaf brooch bright on Fern's collar in the foreground. Caption: "an impossible spring."
Image description
The old apple tree bursts into impossible pale blossom in a single night, and Joss fades warm at the edges like Opal did.
About this chapter
While raking the Compost Yard at night, Fern hears a name in the steam. The ghost of Joss Millard, her great-uncle who died in the yard in the hard winter of 1963, waits for one unfinished errand: he never buried his mother's trowel under the old apple tree as he promised before the frost took him. Fern searches, finds the trowel nicked at the corner with a fern stamped near the tang, and learns through Ida why Joss still lingers. When she buries it, the old apple breaks into impossible blossom and Joss fades. In the root pit he reveals the trowel's buried secret, opening the next numbered-location mystery at the Rose Bed arches.