Under The Leaves

Needing to kill some time before the store opened, I visited Shady Lea in North Kingstown, Rhode Island on the last day of November. It consists of a small pond next to an even smaller parking lot immediately adjacent to busy route four where it meets route one. In addition to the scattering of picnic tables and fire pits, there is a small brook running around the perimeter and a pretty nice boulder to sit on and watch the ducks. At least, I think they were ducks. It was hard to tell at that distance. I began writing my account while I was still there:

I hear birds in the trees. Birds are often surprisingly hard to find. I can hear them and narrow down their location by sound alone to within a ten-foot radius, but sometimes I still can’t see them. I don’t understand. There are practically no leaves here for them to hide behind. The trees are very nearly bare. Maybe the birds are invisible. Oh, I see them now.

I walk around. There is a deer here also. It just lies on the wooded slope, ignoring me. It doesn’t respond to my questions. “What’s the capitol of Tunisia?” I ask, attempting to initiate small talk. It says nothing. It doesn’t even move. This is odd. I’ve never seen a deer so unfazed by my presence. I’ve never seen a deer hold so still. I’ve never seen a deer so oblivious of its surroundings or uncaring of its situation. “Do you like popsicles?” I ask. It continues to ignore me. I think it might be dead.

This is a simple place. There are no mysteries here – no great discoveries to be made. Everything is out in the open. There is nothing but trees and stones.

I walk around. The ground is covered in a thick layer of oak leaves. What is underneath? I suddenly step into a depression in the ground and feel my foot go down into the leaves. The leaves are eight inches deep here!

I must know what hides underneath! Treasure? Lost cities? Monsters? Something killed that deer. I have found a mystery at last! I clear the leaves away with my foot. Slowly but surely, I get closer to the underlying substrate. Finally, I see it. Under the leaves are mud and roots. I have solved the mystery!

The greater mystery now is what lies under the mud and roots…