Mr Jakes

It being the first of October, and Autumn definitely in the Forest air, I took myself down to the pub for a lunchtime pint to cheer myself up.

The usual crowd were there at the Duke’s Head, but I took a table in the corner and comforted myself with a pint of the local brew. I caught the eye of one of the regulars, whom everyone simply calls Mr Jakes – if he has a first name there are not many people who know it, so we just call him by his surname. He doesn’t seem to mind. Mr Jakes doesn’t mind anything very much; he’s our local “philosopher”, but not generally guaranteed to cheer you up.

Mr Jakes came over. He noticed what I was drinking – “Reverend James” it’s called, dark and bitter. It suited my mood, and probably his, knowing the sort of man he was. But today, he surprised me.

“Look out of the window”, he said. “What do you see?”

“Trees”, I said “Changing colour, losing their leaves, getting to ready to shut down for winter.”

“Like you, you mean?” he said. “Do you think you’ve reached your Autumn? Are you now lean and slippered as you look forward to second childishness?”

“I wouldn’t have put it quite like that”, I said, “But you might have a point”.

“Well think again”, he said. “I know I’ve got this reputation for being an old curmudgeon, but deep down I’ve got another side, and I love Autumn. When you take a second look at the Forest I think you will too, because each of those trees turning a different shade bears a special message, just as if some lover had nailed it on with a hammer.”

He sensed my puzzlement.

“Listen”, he said. “A leaf on a tree is like a little factory. It uses sunshine to make sugars. It draws in carbon dioxide and shoves out oxygen. It does that all through spring and summer, but then it decides to retire and it throws off its green work overalls to reveal what was there all along – the real leaf in its true golden or red colours. It now does nothing at all but enjoys being what it is and shows itself off to the world as it dances in the breeze. It’s the best time a leaf could have – no work, all play.”

“And your meaning is?” I asked.

“That could be you,” said Mr Jakes. “You’ve finished your working days and you now have your Autumn to enjoy, being just what you want to be and doing just what you want to do. You can put on a show, let people know what you’re good at, start something new that you’ve never done before, go to those places you’ve been to before. Or, to put it another way, now that you’ve reached your Autumn, life can be just as you like it”.

© John Welford