Inklings 2020

NATURE ON THE ROOF Emma Fraser When I was a year old, my father took me to the roof. He carried black plastic bins, bags of soil, and Home Depot saplings. I carried small bags of seeds. We started out the season with tomatoes, eggplants, and scallions. This harvest would be the first of many. When I was four years old, my father took me to the roof. This time we carried bags of soil and our usual saplings. We also added carrots to our garden. It didn’t work out well since the carrots ended up looking more like stubby fingers, but we appreciated them. When I was eight years old, my father took me to the roof. We took with us all the necessary gear and a handful of hard black onion seeds. I remember that my hands stunk from the hearty aroma for days. When the harvest came around, I snatched some onion bulbs and hid them in a small, iron chest the size of my young hand. They sit on the ledge of our guest bathroom to this day, waiting to be replanted. Every so often, I look inside the chest. I try to remind the seeds that I still care about them and the memories they hold. West Indian Lantana Yuhan Liu