The Leaf Man and Judy

Short Story by Kay Norfleet

​Fall is a comfortable time to be outside. So Judy and her children took advantage of that lure, actually the season made it more inviting to be outside than the hot summer days. The children ran away from the river up the hill laughing as they sought to catch the fluttering red leaves. She was so happy in that moment; she almost let her mommy protective nature slip because they weren't near the river.
 
Coming toward her on the path next to the river was a man, seemingly harmless, yet somehow she knew there was something special about to happen, and she wasn't sure that would not include harm to her children.
 
He smiled and that somehow that relaxed her motherly feelings. Then she noticed the red dripping from his hands. Her ease vanished.
 
"I'm one of Jack Frost's helpers," he said.
 
He swung his hand around showing her a pail of red paint.
 
"Really?" she answered. 
 
Then he bounded up to a sugar maple on the hill, shimmying up the trunk, and began carefully painting the leaves. 
 
Judy took in what she thought was VERY unusual behavior and reacted with her mommy radar exploding.
 
"Children, come here," she shouted. "We're leaving."
 
Their protests were plentiful, yet she persisted.
 
"He's nuts." She pointed at him and declared. "Nutty people do nutty things."
 
Bewildered kids and mother scrambled along the path away from the man painting the leaves.
 
"There's a guy whose painting leaves down by the river," she reported to a policeman as she and the children ran by.
 
"What?"
 
Nevertheless, the policeman wandered down the hill to the river and, sure enough, there was an old man in the maple tree carefully painting each leaf. 
 
"Now what police ordinance makes painting leaves illegal?" he mused.
 
Oh well, "disturbing the peace" will have to do. And so the policeman arrested the old man with his paint can and ushered him to the station.
 
An embarrassed policeman tried to explain the charges.
 
"Disturbing the peace?" the desk sergeant questioned.
 
"What do you have to say for yourself, sir?" After all, he thought, when questioning a Jack Frost helper shouldn't you be deferential?
 
The older man, still with a paint can, answered with a smile.
"I'm trying to assist Fall by painting the leaves and shaking the limbs so the children can play among the falling leaves. Children who find such play do not have the time to cause trouble."
 
The sergeant nodded. "No use denying your words." 
 
"But you scared the mother, isn't that "disturbing?"
 
"Perhaps Judy (note that he knew her name) should be more thoughtful. I did not accost her." 
 
"Painting leaves isn't too logical, right?" the sergeant asked.
 
"Isn't the 'logical' part up to the onlooker? Don't you think that a thoughtful response more reasonable?"
 
At that point another officer entered the discussion. He was a judge upon whose opinion the painter's case was decided. He had been privy to the former details.
 
"Why didn't you explain to her what you were doing?" he asked.
 
"Explanations take time."
 
"By the way, what were you doing in that tree?"
 
"I was trying to augment nature. I was trying to give children something to delight in. I was trying to let Judy see that someone wanted to give her enjoyment by pointing out nature's marvels."
 
"You ought to put those words on a placard and wear it. Perhaps that explanation would be appreciated," said the judge.
 
"Why do you think you should be the one to announce Fall," he asked.
 
"I admit that I'm no one special, yet I believe someone has to call attention to at least one of the mighty wonders of nature.
 
"Okay, I'll agree with that, but how did you learn to climb and paint so carefully."
 
"Well, back home I climbed a lot of trees, and just recently I've taken some painting classes. The patience you need to paint each leaf on a tree is learned and learned throughout life.  Patience is self- restraint, your capacity to restrain your desire to hurry and in this case NOT to do a quality painting job (or a quality in any job). You do realize, don't you, that the most important trait in painting each leaf, carefully, is patience. The onlooker, if he is seeing and understanding, will realize that.
 
"I'm still puzzled by your actions," the judge deliberated.
 
"Don't actions call attention to someone or something faster and with more understanding than words? Those children were having a good time with the leaves I'd already painted. They didn't question my antics. Their mother did. I bet that Judy will go home and use my painted leaves to decorate the mantle, her dining room table, her front door, or who knows what else. She'll do all that without thinking that someone did something for her. But WHY? How about you?"
 
The judge pondered these words. How often had someone done something for him that he had just taken for granted? The change in seasons meant he had to find appropriate clothes, it also meant he had to adjust to a certain way of living, ie. shoveling snow, cleaning the gutters of his house, mowing the grass (and weeding, don't forget weeding) but rather than any of that he did not focus on WHY. The paint man was hoping his actions would make people focus on WHY and appreciate the WHY.