New Addition

Meet Leafy, the newest addition to my cubicle. Leafy began life when he fell from a big, beautiful Jade plant in Lulu's office window (yes, she not only has a door, she has windows. It pays to be the Golden Child.) Know one knows how long he laid there atop the dirt, gasping for nourishment, before Lulu found him and lovingly placed him, business end down into the soil surrounding the mother plant.

We watched him for weeks, occasionally giving him a little wiggle to see if he had roots yet. A sibling who was rescued the same day didn't make it. His roots never developed and his little nub began to rot. It was a sad day in the asylum nursery. Having witnessed little brother's demise, we doted upon Leafy even more, checking him daily, talking to him. Then one day, it happened. I gave Leafy a little wiggle and found that he'd developed roots! Our little feller was gonna make it!

I brought a pot from home, borrowed some potting soil from Louise, left over from when she massacred repotted her day lily, and prepared little Leafy's new home. I carefully moved him from the nursery to his new home on my desk, but not without trauma. I accidentally broke off the roots we'd waited so patiently to develop. It's now been about two weeks and finally, Leafy has roots again.

Other residents of the asylum can't enter my cubicle without commenting on Leafy, that his pot is too big, that he looks sad and lonely in that big home all alone. I threaten them with rubber bands, I'll not have them tarnishing his tender, young self-esteem. There have been hushed mutterings of kidnapping by Jasper and I thought it was the end when Leafy was approached by the small, sticky fingers of visiting offspring, but disaster was diverted.

Every Friday I carry him to Lulu's office to sit in the window over the weekend for a dose of real sunlight, then retrieve him on Monday mornings before I pour my first cup of coffee. The other day someone asked me why I didn't just go to the store and buy a Jade plant, they're only two dollars down at the grocery store. I nodded at that single little leaf in that big pot and said, "That would be easier, but this is an exercise in faith."