The Old Tsar in his Garden

In the shade of a trailer, he sits amidst the tufted pathway near the bottom of the backyard, enthroned in his chair, the old Tsar overlooking his garden. Creeping thistles incline their pink-purple heads, edged in amongst cleaver and stitchwort. Yellow dandelions horizontally spread their manes in salutation, while common nettles bow assent beside crab grass that seems to whisper in fear of his past campaigns. “He’s old,” the crab grass utters in the breeze. “But he’s still dangerous.” The central walk leads directly to his seated bulge, an old rusted mower and axe leaned against a mossy stump supporting his authority. Thousands of tiny wrinkles, like interlacing trenches cover his hands, neck and face. No one intimidates the fraught weeds more, remembering their predecessors cut down like toppled statuaries and spikelets scattered to the wind as bewildered pigeons.  Only he, elevated in his chair and however obliquely, derives a type of pleasure from remembrances of mowing. Recalling more youthful days when steering the turning blades he would raven down the scenery as Keats said children do sweet meats.

***

Paul David Story is a writer and actor who has appeared in numerous films, television series and Broadway plays. He currently resides in Arcadia, CA with his wife and dog. His short story, The Mountain Lion, was previously published in Gambling the Aisle and he is currently working on his first pilot. You can follow him on instagram @pauldavidstory