Banana Tree

I can't remember when a row of banana trees was planted along the fence of the office building in the south of the company. When I started to pay attention to them, four or five of the seven or eight banana trees already had fruits. On the fruit-bearing trees, hundreds of twin banana brothers and sisters were divided into several rows around a main stem, and each row was clustered into a circular arc like a rehearsal. Each of these little people is wrapped in a long green shirt, like a curved crescent moon, and like a boat carrying a heart.

The leaves of the banana trees were big and dense. I stood under the banana trees and looked carefully, and there was a bunch of newly grown bananas with a purple flower bud similar to a lotus flower at the front. The fruits and flowers of these banana trees immediately caught my eyes, and I couldn't help but take a few more steps around to have an encounter with them every time I went to and from work, even though I didn't pass by the south fence. When I went to the south office building to do my work, I also intended to slow down and enjoy the comfort of walking under the natural umbrella of the sky.

The banana tree is about three or four meters high, and its trunk is wrapped up by layers of leaf stalks, unlike other trees whose trunks are solid wood. The leaves of the banana tree are so spreading that the leaves are like a slanting paper, and the unspread leaves are like an inverted book. The most beautiful metaphor for these new leaves is the phrase "green wax is still tired in spring" in "Dream of the Red Chamber", in which Baoyu changed the word "green jade" to "green wax" after being suggested by Baochai. The sun shines, a big green leaves shining, even if there is no wind, they are like a big fan slowly swaying, the wind is coming to dance, graceful.

The weather in the south is windy and rainy. After a few storms, some of the leaves of the banana trees were cut into a green band of cloth by the wind and rain, and the edges of the old leaves at the bottom, like someone took a paintbrush and deliberately painted them with a light gold edge. The light yellow color intersected with the thick green color, adding a few more different styles to the banana trees. After a typhoon, these banana trees have become more ragged, but none of them have fallen, and the top few "green waxes" seem to have grown much taller. They have been transplanted for less than a year, so how can their roots be so firmly rooted?

The banana trees are so graceful and resilient, no wonder the dashing and open-minded Tanchun in "Dream of the Red Chamber" liked it the most and called herself "Banana Guest", and I loved them more and more every day. I was in a hurry to make a living during the day, so the time I spent with these banana trees was very limited. At 8 or 9 o'clock in the evening, after a day's work, I walked under the trees at the end of the day, so that I could have a close contact with them.

At this time, the street light sifted through the banana trees and the light shone brightly, which always made me mistakenly think that it was moonlight. When I look up, I often do not find the shadow of the moon. In this city sky, the thin moon is hanging behind a tall building. I said to myself in my heart, let's think of this as moonlight. If you have the moon in your heart, there is no breeze anywhere.

"The banana trees under the moonlight are intertwined with shadows and light. The breeze is passing by, and the air seems to be floating with a few shallow, leafy fragrances that cannot be smelled during the day. At the moment, although the lights are everywhere, but compared to the hustle and bustle of the day, it is much quieter. One day I actually heard a few clear and crisp birdsong under the trees, and this long-lost sound made my heart tremble, and the air in front of me seemed to move. I widened my eyes and searched carefully by the light of the street lamp, there was really a dark shadow of a bird flying through the leaves, up and down. In this flashy city, these few bird songs are really rare. Although it is not like the birdsong in my hometown, I still feel very close to it.

The bananas on the banana trees grew bigger and fuller day by day, seeming to burst through their green robes, and experienced local colleagues told us it was time to pick them.

"Aren't they yellow yet?" We outsiders asked curiously.

My colleague told us, "If we wait until the bananas are yellow, the rats will have already chewed them up, so there will be no one to eat them."

So there is this kind of learning. The plant's security uncle stood on the ladder and carefully cut down the bananas with a curved knife, and our office was fortunate to get a large bunch of bananas. This bunch of bananas is afraid that there are dozens of pounds, in the fruit prices are rising, only a shallow taste of fruit, we suddenly also have the feeling of "tycoon".

According to the method pointed out by this colleague, we put the bananas in a big waste cardboard box, stuffed with newspapers around, and started to "wo bananas". In the following days, one of the things I did every day at work was to open the carton, take a look, squeeze, and see how many "banana babies" had ripened. Three days later, there were finally two slightly yellow. I couldn't wait to peel them open and eat them, they were astringent, but I was too embarrassed to throw them away. I ate them with my head and laughed to myself, "So bananas are also bitter and sweet." My colleagues pursed their lips and laughed.

Two days later, in the morning, when I opened the office, a unique fragrance of bananas came to my face. When I opened the cardboard box and lifted the newspaper, I saw that our bananas were finally ripe. These "natural" bananas were not as shiny as the ones sold outside, and the skin was dry and wrinkled, but they were soft in the mouth and had a much stronger aroma, not to mention that we watched them grow up and "ripened" them ourselves.

As we ate the bananas, we also shared stories about them. Local colleagues said that when it used to rain, they forgot to bring their umbrellas and ran home with a leaf on top of their heads; they used the leaves of banana trees as a base for steaming baba, so that the steamed baba had the fragrance of bananas and did not break easily. They also told us that the banana trees with fruit picked should be cut down immediately, and the seedlings will naturally grow into banana trees again from the original place, which is a very amazing and eye-opening method to reproduce the next generation.

More colleagues, like me, came from other places, and there were no banana trees in our hometown. A colleague from Sichuan said that she first ate bananas or her brother's girlfriend from the city brought them to her. The new sister-in-law put the banana into her hand, but she didn't take it because she was shy, so she had to put the broken banana back on the table. Later, when her sister-in-law and brother were not in the room, she quietly took the banana, but did not know how to eat it, so she simply nibbled on it with the skin, which was numb and astringent. She muttered: "How do city people like to eat this damn thing", and half of it was simply thrown under the bed. The kind sister-in-law came in and picked up a banana, peeling it open and eating it as if nothing had happened, and only then did she realize that she had to peel the banana.

The colleague's story made us laugh, there are so many fruits under the sky, who can guarantee that they will all eat? Not to mention the fact that when we were kids, how many times could we enjoy eating these things that cost money to buy? Looking at the bananas on my desk, a past incident about bananas also came to my mind.

That year, the family's year was not good, and my father decided to work in Hankow with my uncles after the winter sowing. It was my father's first time to go out to work. My mother chanted every day at home, "It's good to be at home for a thousand miles, but it's difficult to go out sometimes", and I didn't know whether my father had any work to do or food to eat. My heart was also gripped tightly, I could not sleep well every day, and almost every night I dreamed that my father had returned.

One day after school, my brother and I were surprised to find that my dad had really come back, and there was a bunch of yellow and orange bananas on the square table. Dad shared a few with each of us, and we were so happy. Although we knew bananas, it was rare to eat them once a year. With these delicious treats in my hands, which only the daughters of village cadres can often bring to school to eat, my heart was sweet, thinking that my dad must have earned a lot of money and come back early.

Soon I vaguely learned from my parents' conversation that Dad had only done two days of work in the month they went out. It was too difficult to find work, and usually you have to pay for your own meals. Finally, Dad bought a ticket to come back with the only 20 yuan left on him. Dad said to mom: the next trip to Hankow is not easy, always have to give a few "little glutton" with a little "festival", so a ruthless, at the station with the remaining five yuan to buy a bunch of bananas. Knowing this, the bananas in my mouth suddenly became tasteless ......

......

Immersed in the memories of the past, the corners of my eyes gradually moistened. We prosper other people's cities, but desolate our own hometowns. Thanks to these banana trees, they not only make my eyes clear, but also let me look at my hometown from here, thus nurturing new strength.