The Madrona Heroes Register: Underneath It All

Chapter 11 - The Mango Mural

Ollie’s eyes followed the man’s finger. “It looks different. Some of the leaves are brown. It wasn’t like that yesterday.”

“This happens periodically with plants. Leaves die, flowers grow when we’re not quite ready. Our job is to guide them by pruning back parts that are hurting the rest of the plant.”

“I understand cutting off the dying parts. But why the flowers?” Ollie inquired.

“Excellent question! While flowers may be beautiful, in some cases they signify that the plant is going to stop producing fruit. And when we need the plant to produce fruit, this is counter to our goals.”

The man leaned in even closer. “Never let superficial beauty distract you son. In nature we often think beauty evolved for attraction. But I believe that often it’s evolved for distraction. What better way to stop us from using the parts of the organism we need than by mesmerizing us with a pretty face.”

§

Time passed. Xander left Ollie to his own devices as he usually did and Ollie drew more signs. Ollie’s thoughts mulled over the new task Xander wanted him to do. He wasn’t sure that pruning plants was nearly as fun as drawing, but it was better than going canoeing with other kids. Ollie tried to think of ways he could find art in cutting things away. But he kept getting distracted.

Ollie wasn’t entirely sure how they’d gotten in, but periodically a bird or two would fly around the greenhouse. The old man had grumbled about having to do something about them but apparently hadn’t gotten to that task yet.

FLAP. FLAP. FLAP. Even just a section of the greenhouse was very large, but Ollie imagined it felt tiny for a bird. FLAP. FLAP. FLAP. And then silence. Ollie imagined the bird was watching him now. If he just turned around he would see the bird staring at him.

Ollie turned around, and there by the wall with the door marked PRIVATE was the source of the flapping. Perched on a ledge and watching Ollie, its pointy-crowned black head was moving back and forth on its deep blue body. It was watching him.

Ollie tore the current sheet off his drawing pad and started sketching the bird. Ollie stared at the bird as he sketched. At first Ollie saw geometry. Curves. Intersecting lines. Shading filling in each little polygon. The bird’s feathers looked like a mesh in Ollie’s mind. And Ollie saw even more inside.

When Ollie would draw the plants he could see where the plants were going to grow a branch or a leaf even before it was there. It wasn’t that he could see into the plant. It was more that he could see a second shape inside the plant. He could see the energy coursing within it. And that life was what he was trying to capture and imbue in his drawings.

But the life, the electricity running through an animal, even this small bird dwarfed what he saw in the plants that he drew. That’s why he liked drawing animals so much more. They were just easier to see. But then something changed.

It was as if the bird had changed its mind. Where Ollie had been a curiosity with his intense stare and his furious sketching, Ollie had looked too deeply and the bird felt Ollie tugging at something that it kept inside, something private. Something that it most definitely did not want to share.

Ollie knew he had to draw fast. It was always this way with animals. They wouldn’t sit still. It was just so frustrating. This was why he didn’t want to go back to camp. He just didn’t like dealing with other living creatures. They wouldn’t listen. They wouldn’t play along. And eventually they turned on him. Hissing at him. Complaining to the counselors. Or just running away altogether. 

Ollie had had enough.

The bird was going to sit still for once and let Ollie finish his drawing. FLAP. FLAP. FLAP. The bird started flapping to leave, and for a moment it rose an inch or two into the air, but then it was back where Ollie wanted.