Little Yellow Leaves

An oval shaped lemon color leaf floats my way. It is small enough that it rests safely in the palm of my hand with ample space. As I display the leaf on my palm, I can almost feel the autumnal sights and sounds. The pumpkins, the apples, the cool, crisp air. "Does this mean we're near land?" I say to Olivia while holding up my leaf. " I don't know." She replies, still concentrating on the distance ahead.  More little yellow leaves turn up. Not much at first. Just two or three, but they multiply quickly.  So fast that it looks as though rain is falling from the sky. Our vision becomes obstructed. All we can see is millions of tiny leaves. Olivia takes her foot off the petal. " We might as well stop here. I can't see anything." Before I have a chance to respond a faint beam of light catches my eye. "What is that?" I ask, pointing towards the light. "A lighthouse?" Olivia suggests. "You think we should drive towards it?" "It's worth a shot." Olivia continues driving. We're slow at first, but once the light is stronger she feels confident to pick up her speed. She drives practically at full force. I have to hold on tightly to my seat. " You think this is necessary?" I shout over the roar of the engin. "Come on, live a little. Besides I'm dying to know what is ahead of us." She screams in excitement as out yacht plows through a wave. I lean back and try to relax. I do this by closing my eyes and pretending I'm on a roller coaster. It actually works for a while. The boat goes up. It goes down. It zigs. It zags. It's a fun ride.... until it abruptly crashes into a rock. The crash causes me to jolt forward a little. "Sorry, guess I was just excited to get here." Olivia says to me while I rub my neck. I look up to see smoke coming out of the front of the boat. " We should probably get out." She cautions. We crawl out of the boat and on to a long , thin, rocky peninsula. At the very end of the peninsula is a lighthouse. On the opposite side ,on the sandy shore is one single tree. It leans toward the ocean. All of its leaves blow out to sea. It is as if it constantly regenerates new leaves just as the old ones blow out to sea.  I point to the tree. "Look! That's where the leaves must have come from." Olivia nods and points towards the lighthouse. "And that is where the light was from. Let's explore some more."