In a small suburban area there was a cul-de-sac at the end of a winding road. In the front yard of the smallest house grew a fern. On the top of that fern plant grew a single leaf, that leaf’s name was Lenny. Lenny was just like every other fern leaf, but he had a infatuation that could never be. Across the court from him resided a small cherry tree that Lenny could not turn from. Lenny wanted to be with this tree with all of his photosynthesis, but he was rooted in, and had an on going battle with a group of crickets that would ultimately be his demise. During the night the crickets would come and slowly eat away at his stalk. Most of his brothers had fallen to this herd already, and Lenny was sure that he was next on the menu for that night. Lenny had come to terms with his life though. He had lead a good life, providing glucose for his stalk and making shelter for traveling insects from the weather. In his final moments before the sun going down, he began to hear a low rumble coming at him. In his horror he saw a giant metal blade rotating, and coming right at him. Before Lenny could even think, he was laying on the grass, and slowly being sucked into a bag. In the bag he could hear the screams and yells of pain from the other plants that had had the same turn of events as he, but he kept his composer as he road along in the bag.
When the rumbling finally came to a halt Lenny was able to see daylight for a split second as he was dumped into a large brown crate. He was surrounded by death and decay in the giant container filled with victims of weeks earlier.
Lenny soon lost track of time in the vat he was being held in. he became week and struggled to live, but he kept thinking of that cherry tree, and how pretty her blossoms were in the spring. The thought of her was the only thing that kept him going.
Lenny finally saw daylight again, after what seemed like an eternity, only to be faced with another metal machine, but this one was much larger, and much louder. As he came closer and closer to the machine, he was sure this was the end. To his luck though, right when he was about to fall into the machine, a large tree branch fell on top of him. The machine sucked him and the branch up, and Lenny was put through the most gruesome torture he could imagine. He was ripped and torn, burnt and punctured, but after he made it through the machine, he still had most of his body intact.
Leaving the machine he was accompanied by a heap of hard substance, that Lenny assumed used to be the branch that took most of the damage for him. Lenny was then shoved into a bag with the remnants of what used to be plants just like him, and then sealed off into darkness yet again.
Lenny was now surrounded by silence and darkness. Most leafs would have gone insane by this, but Lenny had something that kept him going. The cherry tree Lenny was ‘Oh So Fond of kept him sane. However that only last for so long. Right when Lenny was about to give up hope, daylight is shown to him and he is thrown to the base of a sapling tree. The tree was still young and had not made a strong connection to a host yet, so it sat there as an empty shell waiting for another plant to take it over. While other some what intact leafs and plants were fighting for control of a potential new life, Lenny just laid back, to tired and week from his journey to even make an attempt. He had no hope, no aspirations to continue… until he realized were he was.
Lenny looked around, and across the way he saw the small little house in which he had grown up on. He felt a sudden rush, and besides the sapling tree he was at the base of, he saw the glorious cherry tree he had fascinated over for so long. He is totally stunned by his luck, and as he lay there marveling over her, a slight breeze rolls over and nocks a blossom off one of her branches. The flower floats down and lightly lays itself down on top of him. Lenny suddenly feels a jolt of energy, a drive to go on, and like a boss he over powers all the other challengers and takes control of the tree with ease.
Months pass and winter comes. Lenny still getting used to his new body, is content with his new life being so close to the cherry tree. He had never been so happy, until the snow came…
Lenny had grown strong quickly and was able to handle the snow, but one night during a snow storm the snow started coming off the roof, right on top of the cherry tree. In horror Lenny could only watch what was about to happen. Time stood still, and Lenny thought of everything that had happened in his life. He was about to lose the only thing that kept him going through all of his hard ships. In a last resort effort he bent and leaned as much as he could towards her. The snow came down on her and all he could do was hope it had been enough…
Spring came back around and the snow had melted. When the two of them were finally released from the clutches of the snow, the damage was evident. Lenny had been bent to far and was permanently placed in his bent position. The cherry tree though… the cherry tree had survived the snow fall, but only because Lenny had broken the fall and caught the cherry tree between his branches. She too was now in a permanently bent position, between Lenny’s branches. The two of them both survived the snow, but had to rely on each others support to survive now.
As the years went on the both became strong again and they no longer ‘needed’ each others support, but their branches had intertwined over the years and they grew very close to each other. They were easily mistaken as one tree for how close they had become with one another. Lenny could not have asked for more out of life.
Looking back on everything that had happened to get him to were he was now, he came to a conclusion that even through all the bad stuff that happens in life, there is a ray of what you want out of life as long as you don’t give up on it.
