2004-11-16 - 9:41 p.m. fake: say that the world changed for you under that pear tree in the backyard. down, about a half acre, behind other trees, in the middle of the night. say that was where everything changed. it was where you had sex for the first time. seventeen. before the fruit fell. the limbs, heavy, almost touched the ground at some spots. she was beneath you. say that is where it happened, where your eyes were opened and your lungs inhaled. it is over, now. you're thirty four. your stomach is loose. you can't throw the ball from the fence to home anymore. the tree has grown. you only had sex with her that once. she moved three months later. you weren't with a woman again until you were twenty and out of state. say that this is where it changed. say that this is it. a tree. flattened grass. growing pears. previous - next