The Madrona Heroes Register: Underneath It All

Chapter 11 - The Mango Mural

“Hungry?” The old man had a way of surprising Ollie.

This was a pattern they had gotten into. Sometime in the middle of the afternoon Xander would appear out of nowhere with a mango in one hand and a large kitchen knife in the other. He would slice chunks of fruit onto a plate. Ollie always worried the man would cut himself but despite his age his hands were steady.

“Thank you.” Ollie responded as he always did.

It had taken most of a week but Ollie had finally worked his way back to the area of the greenhouse where the mango tree was located. Ollie had assumed that the fruit was bought at the supermarket, but the man had taken special pride informing him that he grew it himself right there in the greenhouse.

Row after row in the sprawling greenhouse now had beautifully illustrated signs courtesy of Ollie. He hadn’t realized how large the structure was, but it seemed to stretch on forever with lots of different sections, each walled off from the next. This section was different though. It wasn’t just the mango trees. It had a windowless door marked “PRIVATE”. Ollie had seen the old man disappear through it periodically.

“What’s in there?” Ollie said between mouthfuls of mango.

“Behind the door marked private?” Xander asked.

Ollie suddenly felt self-conscious and wondered if he had been impolite to ask.

“Curious?” Xander prodded.

Ollie had no idea what the right answer was at this point, and decided silence was the best policy for the moment.

The man continued as if Ollie had responded in the affirmative. “Curiosity is good!” The man said and let his stern mask turn into a smile.

Ollie smiled out of genuine relief. He was actually enjoying his time in the greenhouse and didn’t want to get in trouble. 

“Those without curiosity are like boats without rudders. They float on the ocean, but they have no direction.” The man leaned in close. “You’re not a rudderless boat, are you Ollie?”

Ollie shook his head.

“I didn’t think so.”

Ollie thought for a second. “What should I do next? It looks like I’m gonna be done soon with drawing signs unless you have a secret underground level of the greenhouse.” For a fraction of a second Ollie thought he saw the man’s eyes flicker, but the moment passed and Ollie decided he’d imagined it.

“More curiosity. I like it. There’s always more to do.”

Ollie let himself smile out of relief once again. His one positive summer camp experience wasn’t going to end anytime soon.

“What would you like to do?” Xander asked.

“Well, I do love drawing.” Ollie answered.

“Have you ever heard of etching?”

Ollie wasn’t sure.

“Etching is a process whereby the artist uses a pointy tool to make scratches in a black coating that reveals the white canvas underneath. There are some positively beautiful etchings.”

“That sounds more like erasing than drawing.” Ollie laughed.

“Yes. Exactly.” The old man was getting excited. Sometimes we make art by removing, rather than adding.”

“You want me to etch?” Ollie said.

“Sort of.” The man led Ollie over to a nearby table. “See this Chondrodendron Tomentosum? And I know it’s Chondrodendron Tomentosum because of the beautiful label you drew yesterday.” the man said conspiratorially before he continued. “All told we have about three dozen separate versions of this species growing right here. But see this one here?”