Thoughts at the Bottom of a Beanstalk
Once upon a time there was a little boy named Jack who was
about to climb his very first beanstalk. He had a fresh haircut
and a brand-new book bag.
Even though his friends in the neighborhood had climbed this same
beanstalk almost every day last year, this was Jack's first day
and he was a little nervous. So was his mother.
Early in the morning she brought him to the foot of the
beanstalk. She talked encouragingly to Jack about all the fun he
would have that day and how nice his giant would be. She
reassured him that she would be back to pick him up at the end of
the day. For a moment they stood together, silently holding
hands, gazing up at the beanstalk. To Jack it seemed much bigger
than it had when his mother had pointed it out on the way to the
store last week. His mother thought it looked big, too. She
swallowed. Maybe she should have held Jack out a year...
Jack's mother straightened his shirt one last time, patted his
shoulder and smiled down at him. She promised to stay and wave
while he started climbing. Jack didn't say a word.
He walked forward, grabbed a low-growing stem and slowly pulled
himself up to the first leaf. He balanced there for a moment and
then climbed more eagerly to the second leaf, then to the third
and soon he had vanished into a high tangle of leaves and stems
with never a backward glance at his mother.
She stood alone at the bottom of the beanstalk, gazing up at the
spot where Jack had disappeared. There was no rustle, no
movement, no sound to indicate that he was anywhere inside.
"Sometimes," she thought, "it's harder to be the
one who waves good-bye than it is to be the one who climbs the
beanstalk."
She wondered how Jack would do. Would he miss her? How would he
behave? Did his giant understand that little boys sometimes acted
silly when they felt unsure? She fought down an urge to spring up
the stalk after Jack and maybe duck behind a bean to take a peek
at how he was doing.
"I'd better not. What if he saw me?" She knew Jack was
really old enough to handle this on his own. She reminded herself
that, after all this was thought to be an excellent beanstalk and
that everyone said his giant was not only kind but had
outstanding qualifications.
"It's not so much that I'm worried about him," she
thought, rubbing the back of her neck. "It's just that he's
growing up and I'm going to miss him."
Jack's mother turned to leave. "Jack's going to have lots of
bigger beanstalks to climb in his life," she told herself.
"Today's the day he starts practicing for them... And
today's the day I start practicing something too: cheering him on
and waving good-bye."
Back to the top of
this page