2261. The date palm © Bruce Goodman 25 October 2021

When little Yolande was helping he mother cook some scones she was allowed to eat one of the dates. The date still had the stone in it. “Why don’t you plant it in the garden and see if it grows?” suggested Yolande’s mother. So Yolande did that. It didn’t take long before the date stone sprouted. In fact it took only a few years before the date palm was taller than Yolande and she was now at high school. When Yolande was sixteen she was diagnosed with a rare blood disorder. She died just before her seventeenth birthday. The date palm is now huge, and being right next to the house, it is upending the house’s foundations. Yolande’s mother doesn’t have the heart to have it removed. Contact Author Back to Index Next Story Previous Story