Elephant Ears, Not the kind you think

Through the Elephant Ears is the second story and the title of the book. Elephant Ears were plants that grew up to ten feet high, with broad green leaves and a bamboo-like stalk that made "perfect pea shooters and collectively even better tunnels." The actual name of the plant is Japanese Knotweed and it was brought to North America in the 1800's as an ornamental plant. Now, it is considered an invasive species and people struggle to remove it from their properties. When I was a child we used to play in the fields of Elephant Ears, making tunnels, and trails from one place to another. We cut up the hollow stalks and made pea shooters; I can still taste the bitterness of the plant on my lips. They provided a place of our own and endless hours of fun in summer. In winter they were a nuisance as the dead, brown stalks poked through the snow and ruined our toboggan runs. There was nothing worse than sliding down the snow-covered hill only to hit a clump of dead plants bringing the speed of the sled to a dead stop.

Vigilante justice, life-altering guilt are the key components of this story. Kat views what can happen in a blink of an eye and the aftermath of such an event.

Japanese Knotweed- aka Elephant Ears