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- Story Listed as: True Life For Adults
- Theme: Survival / Success
- Subject: Survival / Healing / Renewal
- Published: 04/17/2013
Horatio in the patio
Born 1949, F, from Zurich, SwitzerlandHORATIO IN THE PATIO
by Dill McLain
It was one of these first warm days of the year. Horatio looked down over the calm sea. From his position on the hill he actually had a splendid view. The warmth of the sun touched his body. He took a deep breath. His eyes followed the sparkling spots in the sea. Far out was a boat. Blue endless sky over the endless sea. Horatio sighed. If only his great wish became true. His dream. Tears ran over his face.
Horatio was a cactus, precisely a prickly pear, standing at the edge of what once was a small garden in front of a deserted house on a hill near the sea. He was the only one left of his close family. Around him was a variety of colleagues, like for instance a group of agaves, a bit further towards the empty house another family of prickly pears and then lots of wild rosemary and thyme bushes. Horatio was disabled. He could not stand upright. He had to bend over because of some damage and therefore grew slowly and in one direction. His right arm was not there anymore. His left shoulder was damaged because the rusty rest of an iron grill of the back of a chair was pressing on him since a long time. The heavy burden was there all the time, day and night. He had to learn to live with it. First he thought he would die. The pain was terrible and permanent.
It all had happened when the house on the hill was plundered one night by five men who obviously knew that the owner would never come back because he died somewhere in a northern country and his young wife had no wish at all to ever go back to their lost house on the hill near the sea. The five furious plunderers apparently knew all this and no one stopped them breaking into the house and then wildly rumbling around inside for many hours. One could hear breaking glass, falling objects, cupboards collapse, as well as stamping and roaring, probably when special discoveries were made and special objects were discovered.
The plants around the house were all under shock and remained silent and frightened.
Then the five plunderers started to throw objects and furniture through the broken windows into the garden in a total wild scenario. Some heavy objects fell into the plants and there was no chance of survival for several of them. Horatio’s family was hit and buried by the two iron racks of a double bed and father, mother and sister died in that night. The iron back of a chair falling from the second floor, cut off first Horatio’s right arm and then landing on his left shoulder had remained resting there since that horrible burglars night.
The night which changed his life. The night which turned him into a cripple. The night which destroyed all hopes. The night which made his life a nightmare.
Some other people came the next day and carried some leftovers away. The garden looked a disaster. The house seemed to be exhausted and sad. The open windows gave the impression of dead eyes. A half torn down curtain hung out of one window, moving weakly with the wind. The plunderers even destroyed part of the roof and tiles were lying around everywhere on the ground.
After this the place seemed to be forgotten. Some of the plants could recover. Others died. New ones grew.
Horatio had to endure several difficult and painful weeks. But he could recover and somehow adapted to the new and uncomfortable situation. Obviously, it was not time yet for him to leave this world. He thought of greater things.
His wound healed and he managed to find a new balance, bending over to the left which helped to release a bit the heavy iron burden pressing on his shoulder. However, he needed a lot of energy and strength and could therefore not produce a blossom. And it was clear to him that unfortunately this was his sad fate. He would never be able to produce blossoms. Never. It was the dream of every cactus to bear a flower.
The thyme plants a few steps away laughed at him at first, but with time they felt sorry for the small lonely cactus, who was very brave hearted, and finally they became friends.
Horatio also knew that his life probably would be a short one because he heard from the wind about building plans. The new landowner intended to construct several duplex villas on this hill and it was clear that the days of this lost garden around the plundered house as well as the days of many other plants were counted.
They would all die, or worse, be replaced by expensive new plants. No wild rosemary, no wild thyme and for sure no small cactus of his kind.
Horatio stared at the sea without really seeing it. Yes, his young life would soon have an end. And his greatest wish – at least once have a cactus blossom – would not be fulfilled. This hurt so much that Horatio started crying. Tears ran down his cactus face and he could not see the sea anymore. The thyme and rosemary tried to cheer him up with spiky jokes. But it did not help.
After a long time the tears were exhausted. Horatio stood there simply dreaming at the sea.
It was siesta time. All of a sudden a man and a woman appeared behind the five houses about 50 meters downhill. They were the new owners of one of these former schoolhouses and seemed to really like it here. Already twice they were climbing up the hill to explore the situation and admire the view from amid the plunder.
The two were carrying iron tools as well as plastic bags. They climbed straight up in the direction to the remains of the old garden. In front of the fence they stopped and seemed to examine the plants. No doubt, they were interested in smaller agaves. After a serious examination they independently started to dig out two agaves not far away from Horatio. They maintained a conversation while digging carefully about ‘what do we know about the roots of agaves, how deep do we have to dig ?’. They seemed to take their business seriously and also considered the condition of the plants. Finally, the woman managed to dig out a tiny agave and the man stood up with a larger agave. The two plants were carefully placed into plastic bags. Then the woman said ‘look, there are also cacti of the kind we like so much. Someone must have thrown heavy garbage on these poor cacti. Unbelievable !’.
She bent over in order to examine the spot. It was difficult to stand there on the slope and she could not move on because of a rusty wire fence.
Horatio’s heart was beating wildly. Of course, they would never consider a crippled cactus. Of course, not. It all was anyway just a dream.
The man said to her into the silence ‘what do you think about this one ?’. The woman turned around and saw her husband bending over and holding an unusual model of a cactus. ‘Why not !’ she answered.
The cactus in question was Horatio who stopped breathing. The woman also bent down, finally they both kneeled in front of Horatio and started to release him. The woman tried in a difficult action to reach out under the rusty fence and lift up the iron rest of a chair on which rested part of an iron head of a bed, while the man dug out the roots of the plant. It was a difficult task. Almost a surgery.
Horatio’s heart jumped. All of a sudden the heavy burden was released from his shoulder. He felt dizzy. World started to move up and down in front of his eyes. The last he saw were the yellow walls of a plastic bag into which he was carefully placed. Then Horatio fainted.
When he awoke he looked around and could not believe it: he sat in a mini square garden of 50 cm surrounded by small stones in a romantic patio, on one side a rocky wall, the other side the house wall. To his left along the rock were two more mini square gardens with agaves in each.
He looked over his shoulder and realized that he was sharing the spot with a vine. Unbelievable, he Horatio in a patio !
He felt absolutely great. A rebirth.
The next day the couple came to say goodbye to their new plants and left. For many weeks they were away. A woman spraying water from the roof of the next house watered the vine. Horatio also got some fresh drops. He and the vine became friends and often chatted about vintage.
Life was beautiful.
Some weeks elapsed. Spring came. Horatio’s body really recovered. And one morning he felt a change in his body. Something was going on. Yes. He was healthy enough now. He was a real cactus. A cactus which could produce a blossom. He was very, very happy.
The house door, which had been closed for weeks, opened the next morning. The couple was back. They immediately checked how the plants were and obviously were very astonished and pleased. The two agaves had produced new leaves, the vine was already hanging way up on the rock and had born several grapes.
Then both stood in front of Horatio and wondered about how he was. ‘After all he went through I think he likes it here’ said the woman.
Later in the day she came back, bent over and examined Horatio. Then, she showed great surprise. She knelt down and closely looked at his cactus body for a long time. She jumped up and rushed into the house. Horatio heard her saying ‘you know what, the cactus is getting a tiny blossom !’. ‘Yes, I saw it too this afternoon. Our tiny Horatio is having a blossom and then a baby cactus fig !’ said the man.
Horatio smiled in the patio. His dream became true.
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