The Gingko

Sue is thinking of planting a tree in the strip beside her house, between the sidewalk and the street. "What's your favorite tree?" she asked me.

The Gingko. A living fossil. The oldest tree on earth. The tree that survived the atom bomb in Hiroshima. The tree planted by Chinese and Japanese monks and nuns at Buddhist meditation centers. 

But she plans to plant a pear. Fine. Food for people who walk by.
She tells me I misunderstood that. The pear was an idea for her back yard, and she hasn't decided on a tree for the sidewalk strip.

I'm sick. Trying to recover. My immune system is a failure.