My neighbor planted lilac so I planted jasmine then she planted lavender and I planted rosemary and when she planted roses I went a little sideways and swallowed four apple seeds which actually makes sense since apples are also roses in the botanical cousin kind of way but apples are better in ways that are becoming more and more apparent because the seeds I swallowed have been growing for a while now and soon I’ll be fully an apple tree and well you know I always thought photosynthesis would be painful but it’s not it’s like the inside of a blush that changes the air to the perfect temperature which is delicious but I can’t tell my neighbor that since we stopped talking a year ago because though her garden is lovely she is not as she would like to sow unkindness and watch it grow so now we only communicate with this garden volleyball and I know she is confused and doesn’t know what to do next because she likes things very yes or no or win or lose and she does not know if what I’m doing can be put in the good bag or the bad bag but I know I know because Noah the teenager from down the street who sometimes mows my lawn and sometimes gives me science fiction book recommendations that I say I want to read because I’ve never gotten into sci-fi and I guess now I won’t because of becoming a tree which also in a way is like becoming a future book he Noah will come by and take seven apples from my branches to bake a crumble for his boyfriend and while he chops and mixes and doesn’t add quite enough sugar to the apples and adds a little too much to the crumble so it comes out a little sour underneath and a little too sweet on top Noah thinks about how sometimes he watches his boyfriend walk with his skinny skinny legs and he is reminded of a new born deer barely staying upright but his boyfriend doesn’t fall because his big heart is tethered to the sun and when Noah gives his skinny legged love the too sweet and too sour crumble his boyfriend hugs him and whispers oh thank you into Noah’s neck and Noah feels the air turn into the perfect temperature and he is as happy as the air is perfect then I think the me that is still human and also an apple tree that this is why I swallowed those seeds and I why play this game with my neighbor and I think oh I’ve won I’ve won I’ve won