Once upon a time, there was a lady who lived in a house in the clouds. Now, because this is a true story, you know that the house wasn't really in the clouds but it was perched so high up in the hills, you felt as if you really could touch the clouds as they floated by.

Sometimes Miss Mary, for that was the lady's name, would sit on a chair out on the back patio and look at the ever-changing colors of the sky and the many green trees that surrounded her. And she was at peace - except for one little thing.

Miss Mary had always wanted to plant a garden - not a very big garden, just a little patch, big enough to grow the vegetables she liked to eat-- peas, beans, carrots and tomatoes--you know, the same things you like to eat too. She had tried to grow a garden many times, but because there were so many tall trees surrounding her house and patio, they blocked out the sun, and the garden was in the shade. Now, we all know that the sun is needed if you want to have a garden.

"Ah well," said Miss Mary, "Such is life," and after several attempts, she gave up and turned to painting flowers on black velvet, a thing she dearly loved to do.

And so the days passed--ordinary, pleasant, nothing- special days.

One day in spring, however, a day came which was quite different from all the others. Miss Mary was sitting in her favorite chair in the patio, looking up at the sky and clouds, listening to the birds singing in the trees, at peace with her world.

Suddenly, she became aware of a most unusual sight. There, between two bricks on the floor of the patio, was a small green something. When she got up for a closer look, she saw that it was a tiny plant, not more than an inch high, with two little green leaves.

"Well," said Miss Mary, "This young fellow must first have been a tiny, little seed, but where did it come from??" Then it seemed that the birds in the trees were singing, "It was carried on the wind, it was carried on the wind." "H-m," said Miss Mary, "Perhaps it was."

So the time passed pleasantly, quietly. Each day found Miss Mary sitting in her chair in the patio, painting her flowers on black velvet.

But the days were not ordinary as before. Each day the plant grew and grew, up in the air and all over the patio's brick floor. Little yellow flowers appeared amongst the green leaves. Still, Miss Mary was not quite sure what kind of plant it was, until one day she saw something round and small and green, growing where some yellow flowers had dropped off.

As spring days turned into summer, these small, round things grew bigger and bigger and the green things turned red. What do you think they were? Why, tomatoes, of course.

Imagine that--tomatoes growing on a brick patio floor in a place where there was very little sunshine because of the many tall trees, you know.

Was Miss Mary surprised? Was she happy? Did she invite all her neighbors in to help her pick all the tomatoes and drink lemonade afterwards? Oh, yes, she did. And many stayed for supper and visited long after the golden-red sun went down behind the hill.

So summer turned into autumn and autumn turned into winter. Since the bearing days of the tomato plant were over and the tomatoes gone, its vines died and were covered with falling leaves and winter rain.

When spring came again, Miss Mary would once more sit in her favorite chair on the brick patio, painting her flowers on black velvet, watching for the tomato plant to grow.



But alas, she waited in vain, for the plant never grew there again. One day, as Miss Mary was raking up the leaves, she said to herself, "I wonder what ever happened to that tomato plant. Where did it come from and where did it go?"

Then, it seemed as if the birds, who had been singing in the trees around the patio, replied, "It was carried on the wind, it was carried on the wind."

And so it must have been. Miss Mary sat on her chair on the patio and watched the seasons come and go; but the tomato plant never returned.

Copyright © 2003 Mary L. Ports