As the blade cut deeper, and the tree’s once-flesh-now-dust flew into the air, it passed the 1960s—Nixon, hippies; 1950s—Cold War; 1940s—WWII; 1930s—depressions, dust bowls; and 1920s—prohibition and revivals. Buried deep inside the bole of the tree, the blade approached the growth rings of 1913, the year the first avocado trees were planted, and the year Richard Nixon was born, just down the street from where I stood.
