Fruitless Tree

She's just sitting there on the edge of the doctor bed, staring into no where with confusion. The nurse knocks on the door of the exam room and says, "Are you ok?". She says yes as she clears her throat, she begins to slide off the exam table as the sanitary paper they rolled across it slides off with her. The plastic table/bed made her thighs sweat a little being against her bare skin and the paper that was between her and the table had to be pealed away. The doctor had just gave Jocelynn the news, she was going to lose this baby as well. It was looking like she was never going to have a baby, this was her 4th miscarriage. She wanted a baby so badly, she couldn't give up. As she's getting dressed she over hears the doctor and the nurse talking, the doctor says to the nurse what sounded like, "wow another one". Jocelynn immediately thinks they are referring to her miscarriages until, the nurse replies, "sixth one this week". She must have just heard the nurse wrong, she was kind of lost at the moment, each miscarriage broke her spirit a little more, she was thirty-three years old and wasn't getting any younger. It didn't make any sense, her menstrual cycle was normal until three years ago. Did this have something to do with her not being able to have a baby? She wondered to herself on her way to the car walking as if she was in a tunnel, not really hearing anything but her own thoughts. She gripped the heart shaped silver locket she was wearing around her neck. It had a picture of her twin sister on one side and herself on the other. Their mother wore it when she was alive, she had died from a virus. In her thoughts was her father saying, "You're just a tree that can't bare fruit, you're still a beautiful tree". It didn't help, his stupid sayings didn't help and she didn't understand, she just wanted her mom she thought as she sat in the car crying out loud in the driver seat. She closed her eyes tight and tried to picture the sunflower high chair she painted and told herself, "It will happen, I will have a beautiful baby one day. Little did anyone know this was the beginning of a new era. Things were changing fast, the normal life Jocelynn wanted back so badly ceased to exist now.

Three years prior to Jocelynn having problems caring a baby she had received a vaccine for an illness that had gone wide spread killing the worlds population. The illness seemed to mostly effect the elderly and disabled. Some people even believed it was a conspiracy and the virus was man made on purpose to help with our worlds population control. The government closed public places and if you absolutely had to leave your house, you would be required to wear a mask over your mouth and nose in public places. The vaccine was created in a hurry in order to prevent as many deaths as possible. Everyone in the world was told to get the vaccine, and having the vaccine was encouraged by most people, it may have saved her mother's life if only it was available sooner. Jocelynn worked at a school and by all means wanted to comply with anything that would help her class return to their "normal" lives as soon as possible. Was this vaccine safe? Did they know enough about it? It was all over the news, women who received the vaccine three years ago were having miscarriages all over the world. Most of the worlds population received the vaccine, you were almost looked at like an outcast if you didn't get it at that time. There were very few people who refused to get the vaccine and it just so happens Jocelynn's twin sister Rosalynn was one of those few people. Rosalynn had a baby girl, she was her sunshine, she was the light after their mom had passed from that stupid virus and she was Rosalynn's Hope. Literally she named the baby Hope.

Fast forward a couple of hundred years... The world as everyone knew it didn't end with a sudden bang as everyone had thought it would. There was no world wide catastrophic event that blew everyone away, nor was it a nuclear blast or an asteroid hitting the planet. The world was ending ever so slowly, generation after generation fewer and fewer descendants. Everyone was so scared of the virus, who knew it would be the vaccine that would end us all. Any female that got the vaccine could no longer carry a baby and males who got it became sterile. This meant if a man who did not get the vaccine did get a women pregnant that did get the vaccine, she would never carry full term. If a female who didn't get the vaccine got with a man who did, she would never get pregnant. The only way for a baby to be conceived and born would be if a man who didn't get the vaccine got with a women who didn't get it either. Many, Many years went by before anyone even knew this was the reason the human race population had suffered to the point of almost being no more.

It had been a long time sense Justin had seen anyone, he had been on his own for a while now, years even. It was lush and green where he was that day. All of the plants and trees for as far as his eyes could see in every direction were overgrown and wild beyond belief. The ground in front of him was just a hardened dirt path where others had walked before him. It was Just past noon, he could tell from the sun. He was walking this path with his head down to keep the sun out of his eyes and he see's this locket on the ground. He picks it up and it's a heart shaped silver locket. You don't find stuff like this everyday he thought to himself. He also noticed it wasn't covered by dirt or debris, it couldn't have been there very long. Was there someone near me? It looked to be a couple hundred years old. He looked around to see if anyone was watching him and then he opened it ever so gently and inside was a picture on each side of what seemed to be the same young girl. Weird he thought and as he started back on his way. A young women comes out of no where and says, "hey, you that's my locket please", as she's holding her hand out as to gesture for him to give it back to her. He does and is so excited to see another human face. They walk and talk for hours until it was time to gets some rest.

You know what's on everyone's mind including theirs, can they make a baby and can they help the human race live on? They set up a small pop up tent and gather some wood for a fire. She pulls this cylinder shaped container out of her dirty scuffed backpack, she's telling a story about how these matches are very very old. The cylinder container has paisleys on it and it's shaped like a stop sign not a circle. She strikes one on the match box and it lights up beautifully as she tosses it into the wood, it ignites the fire. She says, "The locket, the pictures in the locket are distant relatives of mine. The locket was passed down to me and I was told my relative was one of the first people to procreate after the virus, vaccine sterilization outcome. She was one of the very few and rare people that didn't get the vaccine and never had the virus and it's said, only by me pretty much now but it has been said, I'm named after her." He is amazed by this and her beauty as she tells the story. All of a sudden he says, "Wait, you're telling me those are the last matches like that on earth?", in a sarcastic way. She says, "Yes that's what I'm saying, I'm serious." as she looks at him with confusion. That is all he got out of my rant just now? He say, "and you're just sitting there lighting it up", again in a sarcastic voice. She says, "yes I don't do it all the time, it has to be a special moment and I thought being here with a real person was a special moment." He looks down at the now full blown fire and says, "Yes, yes it is". History is being wrote, 'The Book of Rosalynn', and "The Book of Justin" was being written as we watched it unfold...

Time was different now as the world was being rebuilt. We all have heard people say, "Time is valuable". Time has always been valuable , but I think how we spend it is different. What cost the most is the time spent on anything other than family. Just an example, back in my days mid nineteen eighties or so, The parents all volunteered for coaching little league. They spent their time at practice with their kids, they spent it at games, they even spent it at events or meeting that had to do with games. Now days we're lucky if we can pay someone to coach a team. It cost a few hundred dollars if not more just for our kids to play ball. Our time isn't any more valuable now, we just choose to spend it on other things like cell phones, meetings, Instagram, Facebook, and so and so on. Let people know they matter and give them your time, yes for free. It's only meaningful if it's given willingly and at no cost. We don't need to wait for a apocalypses to do this. We as the human race that is still going strong after all we've been through needs to understand that things happen for a reason. Maybe it's no conspiracy, maybe it's an opportunity for us to spend more time together as a family and grow as a human race.