REPUBLICA

7. Botany Lessons

"What should we do with it?" Jo asked, staring in wonder at the copy of the US Constitution in Jenny's hands. Jenny knew that Roberta Entzel, her former teacher, was right. The document would be considered contraband, and they couldn't just leave it anywhere. If the pages had not been so rare and the content so precious, Jenny would have considered memorizing the Constitution and then destroying the copy.

"Let's put it back in the envelope," Jenny said. "I'll take care of it. Roberta trusts us with it, so we'll figure out how to handle it."

"Let's memorize it, bit by bit, just in case something happens to it," Jo suggested.

Jenny brightened. "Better yet, let's discuss each section as we memorize it."

Jo nodded.

"We can start with the preamble," Jenny continued. "It's easy to remember. My parents used to recite it to me: 'We the people,' and so forth."

"Yes!" Jo exclaimed, clapping their hands. Jenny smiled and headed toward the door, tucking the envelope containing the Constitution under her arm.

"Hey, wait a minute," Jo said. "I wanted to ask you something."

Jenny stopped at the door. "Sure, what?"

"It's about someone in your family tree," Jo said, their eyes wide. "Meriwether Lewis, specifically."

"What did you want to know?"

"Have you found out how he died?"

"Huh?"

"You know, there's that controversy about whether he was murdered or took his own life. All the conspiracy theories, plus he never finished the book that Jefferson wanted him to write..."

Jenny bristled, feeling protective of her relative.

"I'm not going to ask him about any of those things!" Jenny said, exasperated. "It's too personal!"

"Well, he is your cousin," Jo said, undaunted.

"Stepcousin," Jenny corrected Jo. "Besides, I've only seen him a few times, mostly in my dreams. He loves to talk about plants." Meriwether had studied botany when preparing for the Corps of Discovery expedition. In her most recent dream, he was determined to teach Jenny what he had learned about plant identification. As an herbalist and avid gardener, Jenny was astonished and grateful for the lessons from this legendary explorer.

"Well, you don't have to ask him, then. Maybe he'll just mention how he died," Jo said, hopefully.

Jenny rolled her eyes, hugged her friend, and sneaked the copy of the Constitution downstairs to her apartment.

**************

The botany lessons continued. In her dream that night, Jenny and Meriwether stood in a meadow that was covered in wildflowers. Farther back was a dark wooded area that looked cool and inviting. Jenny couldn't put her finger on why she felt so at home there.

"Where are we, anyway?" Jenny asked. Meriwether looked at her, incredulously.

"It's the land that became the backyard of your grandfather's house," he said, gesturing toward the sloping hill.

As he waved his hand across the view, Jenny felt as though her cells were waking up to a long-lost memory. She recognized the dandelion leaves and purslane that Mom used to pick for salads. With one foot in this lost Eden and the other foot in the backyard as she knew it, Jenny recalled the peace she felt every time she sat with her cat under the white pine tree. Now the delight was increased tenfold, as whispered stories rose from the soft green under her feet.