Grass

Grass

“What are you doing?”  I was asked in the evening after work and a hot bike ride back home. 

“Just reading my book,” I responded.

“Then come cut the grass,” I was told as I was handed my machete.    Well more of a big outdoor kitchen knife.  As I watched the boy with me cut the grass with ease and my knife barely doing anything unless I held the grass while chopping at it, I can’t do it,” I declared, “this knife sucks.”  I tried a bit more and trimmed the grass a little bit, but not far enough before giving up on the grass cutting expedition. 

I looked over to the right and saw so many dead leaves on the banana trees and made that my next expedition.  The banana leaves were high up and being on a hill with random sinkholes didn’t exactly help my situation.  I am glad everyone else was busy doing yard work so they didn’t see me fall several times, one time breaking my shoes.  Or see me trying to jump with my knife to get some of the really high dead leaves...which was a relief.   With all of my struggles I at least got a lot done and had a huge pile of rubbish.  (Yes leaves are rubbish in Samoa.) by the time it was time to go inside for dinner. 

I looked around and so much grass was cut, and the trees looked better, I was impressed with our accomplishment.  I fixed my shoe, got stuck in the hole again, and headed back home for a tall ipu of water.