Stories Told to Seeds in Gabon

My mother, an angiosperm Moabi, encased me in fruit. Sweetly I sat stuck; the moist pulp was creamy. As she grew the fruit around me she told me her story until I was too heavy and fell from her branch. 


I had only been on the floor for a day when it happened. I was plucked up by a Baka boy. I could feel the warmth of his hand and then, smiling as he bit into my soft casing, I felt the warmth of sunlight. Juice rolled around my small mass. I could feel myself igniting from within. When he was finished with what was useful to him I was back on the Congo floor.


The layers of leaves were impenetrable. No light could reach me, but I was thirsty for it. I waited here longer than forever, just hidden under soil and leaves; avoiding premature decomposition.


I heard the moans of my great aunt. She creaked and splintered in slow motion. The sound was tremendous. It was a thousand waves crashing and a hundred thunders roaring. And then the feeling was incredible as I flourished from within. Raw sunlight blasted my dark brown shell. Bursting chartreuse, I immediately budded. I sunburned jade.


I was surrounded by exploding saplings. Vines shot up as fast as bullets, leaving their stems weak. They sprouted arms to hug other trees. Climbers spun chaotically quickly, spiraling and coiling around tree other trunks and branches. The Macarangas were the worst. They flaunted their broad leaves. Stealing my sunlight, they stretched wider and taller.


I was disinherited. I lost my chance to be great tree, my chance to house flocks of grey birds, my chance to grow thick bark and collect rings, my chance to grow Moabi fruits for Baka boys. Each day I felt the area of sunlight on my leaves dwindle. It wouldn't be long until the Macarangas would blanket me from sunlight and I would cease my photosynthesis.


My mother told me that Macarangas grow fast because their leaves are so large, but they never grow to the size of a great tree. My mother was massive. She cast shadows on all other trees. She created her own clouds that fed the Ogooue River.