Page 83 - It Ends with Us

Atlas is the first friend I’ve ever had that ’s ever been inside my ho use. He’s

al so the first friend to know ho w much I like to garde n. And now he ’s the first
friend to ever as k me why I garde n.
I reac he d do wn an d pulled at a weed an d star ted tear ing it into little pieces
whi le I tho ught ab out hi s question.
“Whe n I was ten, my mothe r got me a subscription to a website cal led Seeds
Anonymous,” I sai d. “Ever y month I would get an unmar ked pac kag e of seeds

in the mai l with instructions on ho w to plan t the m an d care for the m. I
wouldn ’t know what I was growing until it cam e up out of the ground. Ever y
day af ter scho ol I’d run strai ght to the bac kyard to see the progress. It gav e me
somethi ng to look for ward to. Growing thi ngs felt like a reward. ”
I could feel Atlas star ing at me whe n he as ked, “A reward for what ?”
I shr ugged. “For loving my plan ts the right way. Plan ts reward you bas ed
on the am ount of love you sho w the m. If you’re cruel to the m or neglect the m,

the y give you nothi ng. Bu t if you care for the m an d love the m the right way,
the y reward you with gifts in the form of vegetab les or fruits or flowers.” I
looked do wn at the weed I was tearing ap ar t in my han ds an d the re was barely
an inch left of it. I wadde d it up between my fingers an d flicked it.
I didn ’t wan t to look over at Atlas becau se I could still feel hi m star ing, so
instead, I just stared out over my mulch- covered garde n.

“We’re just al ike,” he sai d.
My eyes flicked to hi s. “Me an d you?”
He sho ok hi s he ad. “No . Plan ts an d hu man s. Plan ts need to be loved the
right way in orde r to sur vive. So do hu man s. We rely on our parents from bir th
to love us enough to keep us al ive. And if our parents sho w us the right kind of
love, we turn out as better hu man s overal l. Bu t if we’re neglected . . .”
His voice grew quiet. Almost sad . He wiped hi s han ds on hi s knees, tr ying

to get some of the di r t of f. “If we’re neglected, we end up ho meless an d
incap ab le of an ythi ng mean ingful.”
His words made my he ar t feel like the mulch he had just lai d out. I di dn ’t
even know what to say to that . Does he real ly thi nk that ab out hi mself?
He ac ted like he was ab out to get up, but before he di d I sai d hi s nam e.
He sat bac k do wn in the gras s. I pointed at the row of trees that lined the

fence to the left of the yard. “You see that tree over the re?” In the middl e of the
row of trees was an oak tree that stood tal ler than al l the rest of the trees.
Atlas glan ced over at it an d dr ag ged hi s eyes al l the way up to the top of the
tree.