Heart of Dampness

Legends were told about Ms Z's enchanted garden with tons of apples where cheerful GoodGymers could bounce with joy on a trampoline in the rain. Tonight, Kash had none of that kind of fun. Except for the rain.

The weather forecast had a 100% chance of rain and it was 100% accurate. Kash phoned Ms Z to double-check whether the task still went ahead before leaving work. It did. Waterproofs - check. Head torch - check. Thick gardening gloves - check.

Ms Z asked Kash to collect rubbish and fallen leaves, especially the ones under a tree.

"Can you see the tree?"

The path into the depths of Ms Z's garden seemed to lead into the heart of an immense darkness. Kash approached a small tree in the front of the trampoline she knew from Sevan's report. She brushed and scooped some leaves that gathered under the trampoline into a green bag. Then she realised there was a world behind the trampoline. That's where The Tree lived.

The back of the garden was filled with the smell of the damp earth, the unseen presence of fox pee, the darkness of an impenetrable night. Under the tree laid a carpet of wet leaves, adorned with things that looked in the dark like oversized walnuts crossed with fox poo. Kash, recalling Sevan's report, realised that those were apples - very, very mature apples.

The heavy rain did not stop pouring, so Kash's sweatpants felt almost like she had just jumped into the water. The good thing was that her previously grubby shoes no longer had traces of mud on them as the rain washed off all of them.

She dived under a child's slide she encountered in the garden and penetrated deeper and deeper into the heart of darkness until she reached the back of a shed. She swept most of the leaves until that point and picked up small pieces of rubbish.

After 75 minutes on the task and packing three bags of leaves, Kash decided it was enough. She cleared everything that was sensible to remove in the darkness and dampness. Ms Z was very grateful for what Kash achieved.

Kash had a short walk back to the nearest tube station to return home in West London. A paper bag with a present for her friend she was carrying throughout the night practically disintegrated in the rain. Kash popped into a supermarket and was lured by a delightful scent into the bakery section. The croissants were fresh out of the oven, so Kash bought one and devoured it, hiding in the station. It was the best croissant Kash ever had in her life.