Two enormous pine trees stand like pround soldiers, keeping an eternal vigil at the gravel mouth of the driveway that is lined by grey asphalt snakes of curb. The tall grass of the pasture moves on the gentle breeze, as a ripening fruit begins its treacherous journey from the apple tree to the ground. A crisp white fence surrounds the pasture like railroad tracks, and slopes down towards the house. The large, stuccoed monster towers above all but the tyrant trees, and rose bushes' climbing vines clambour slowly up its front side, opening marmalade petals to release their sweet scent. Lonely pawprints mark the passage of a cat through the soft dirt under a giane pine, which sheds intricate cones to cover the animal's tracks.
The backyard is a wide expanse of grass upon three levels of ground. A green, shadowed Japanese maple hovers its branches in the corner of the first level, surrounded by a tarnished wooden deck, damp with algae and dew. The second level, the most vast, has a small garden on the west side, where carnations, lavender, and rhododendrons brighten up the eternal green. On the last and lowest level, a cedar tree stands wide and tall in a circle of oddly-shaped rocks. A crooken fence encloses the yard with a small gate marking the border between cleanly kept yard and primeval forest. |