After breakfast filling the cart with goodies, books, crayons, water,

and anything else that seem really important to take

I would walk off

turning around the first barn then the next into the big garden at the back of the house,

there now I can see my trusted friend the big apple tree,

generous in summer with a huge canopy to hide the sun and cool us down,

and in autumn bows cracking under the weight of the apples.

I didn’t like them much they were too sour for me,

I couldn’t wait to get there,

my little paradise,

often the cart was way too heavy

but stubbornly I managed,

I had added an extra blanket in case of a sudden breeze coming up

and a chair for visitors too ancient to sit beside me on the blanket.

Glasses, plates, and sometimes I had to run back once or twice because I had forgotten some really important element to make my day even more perfect

as I grew older I keep taking the radio from the kitchen too and nobody was too pleased with me about that,

Then lunchtime came and I let myself be tempted by the parental call

and then came back for a siesta.

But while I was gone some dog or cat or both had sneaked in and was sleeping on my blanket,

and I would just lay down next to them and close my eyes

and just rest and enjoy the peace

till we were interrupted by the first visitor of the afternoon,

bearing gifts as a toll

to enable them to share with me that moment safe out of the sun’s heat

on a summer afternoon under the apple tree