On the way to Valco mall there is an empty lot. An empty, desolate wasteland of broken dreams and half-baked plans. One single, lonely tree stands in the corner, bare and fruitless. No flowers grow. Not even weeds. Dirt, brown and hard, covers the area. Sometimes it becomes muddy when the rain tries to wash away the despair. You can see tracks from bulldozers and cranes trying to shape something, make it different. Wind howls over the barren land.
But I don’t see it barren. I see love and life. Potential. The grand, old tree now a grandfather amongst young saplings. Bearing leaves and new twigs for kids to crunch up. I see those few dry grass sprigs becoming a full, blossoming garden. Trees, shrubs, and herbs. Flowers blooming everywhere. The cold, infertile ground will become supple and worms will crawl beneath. Now the trucks can return, loaded with granite and marble. Pipes also. They’re building a fountain. Or perhaps a grand building for the flowers to lean on. A hospital?
And then I see change. The flowers turn to strong, supporting concrete. The fountain is removed and put in a museum, and the children’s children will see it and frown in boredom. A supermarket stands where the hospital was. From dirt, to grass, then concrete. And one day the concrete will rot away, the store shut down. And another stranger will drive by and see that one single, lonely tree that stands in the corner of a big dirt pit.