A Peculiar Growth… and a Mouse

By Michael Patrick Vitale

I was in my quaint living room in Los Angeles, California. I have a beautiful fiddle leaf fig that occupies a space directly to the right of my work desk. However, its appearance was different than I normally remember it. It has been carefully manicured to have its main branch subdivide into several different shoots of branches, each with their own constellation of leaves. It is quite beautiful. It differers from the predominate majority of their variety that has a lone shoot, or trunk, which will continue to grow to the heavens, until it either buckles under its own weight, and begins to curve, or if a ceiling or otherwise, inhibits its upward expansion.

While I have tried to maintain the relative size of this tree by restricting its new growth, on this curious occasion, I noticed a peculiar new growth, that I had never noticed before. It resembled an oblong organic pod or tray running horizontal along the top. I had never noticed this before. It appeared to have a lid. I was curious beyond belief. I slowly began removing the organic lid. There was an overwhelmingly sticky bond between the lid and the organic tray; it resembled an adhesive viscous secretion of sort, as I pulled the lid away and back from the tray; this viscous material remained attached to both ends, the tray top and its constituent container, for lack of better words. Rather than remove the lid, I pushed it away, as one might do with the heavy top on a sarcophagus. While it was not a heavy lid, the secretions and absolute queerness of the entire growth on a fiddle leaf fig, creeped me out. So, I do not think I was eager to touch it a lot. I do not feel like that I was full of fear, but I most certainly felt on edge, as if, to be prepared for the unexpected.

What I found inside were two distinct things. It appeared to be a spiders nest as there were two or three sprawls of spiderwebs inside. Instantaneously, I felt as if this might be the home of the spider I was observing the other night. In addition to this, I also saw what looked to be a new miniature version of a fiddle leaf fig on the inside of this organic container.

Having inspected the contents, I pushed the lid back over the top of this organic tray of sorts, so as not to disturb the creatures or spiders living inside this peculiar organic case. I was overcome with a feeling of bewilderment by this whole ordeal, if not a bit of fear, perhaps as I appeared to be dealing with something previously unknown—in my home no less.

I look down on my floor, in front of the desk, to see a cute white mouse, with a rather elegant and appropriate tail. I am ashamed to admit that my initial feeling was that I needed to eradicate this rodent. It began to scurry off towards my bedroom. I had a reassured feeling that my cat would take care of the mouse.