Why did you paint the grass green?

There once was a boy who lived in a big house. It was big, because he was not so big. Later in life when he revisited the house, with his man sized eyes, he wondered what happed to the vast field that was the back yard. How did it shrink so...

He remembered one summer day when the sun beat down as it did every summer day that year. The adults complained much, that it has been weeks of 103 degrees every day. The grass had yellowed, and the back bark of the boy's favorite almond tree had grown darker somehow as the heat radiated from it. The man remembered that day, as he looked at the house, and saw the empty back yard with both almond trees missing. He remembered and it hurt a bit.

As he began to recall the joy that was those two Almond trees. He remembered back, How the little boy didn't seem to care how hot it was on that summer day. Other than the sweat that ran down his face, he was on an enterprising plan. He would have the coolest sword made from scrap wood that was so carelessly discarded in that massive field of dreams that was his back yard. He cut the wood and shaped it. Mom would not mind using her sharp sword like kitchen knife for the job. She was always good about it. Just so long and it was back in the kitchen when I'm done he thought. The shaping done, all it needed was a little color. Again what luck, not to far way was a whole box full of paint. Except today, they were all back, white and one can of green. Well the shaft was supposed to be imagined as silver... so no silver paint... Leaving it wood color would never do. So black! So the boy took the black and set the shaft of the wood sword against the beautiful black bark of the almond tree. The black paint was heated quickly by the sun and smelled as it left the can. The wood soaked up the paint and dried quickly by the heat of the day. And look at that! No one would know that black was ever used! Stealthily, the boy replaced the black in the box. Now for the hilt. You see the hilt had to be a different color! Well, the boy thought, white would never work... so green it is! Back at the tree the boy was happy as he painted. How great it will be, he thought, what fun with his brothers would it be. He could almost hear the waking of the wood. He made quick work of the hilt. Nice green! It took a bit to dry but there it was. The only trouble was that the wood sword leaned against the tree and this lovely tree grew up a bit out of the ground there was an ever so slight slope to the ground and that lovely grass that grew on that slope was no longer yellow, It was a pleasant green.

As the Man remembered he couldn't help but to chuckle to him self. That boy quickly put back the paint, The kind owner would never know that the paint had ever been used, thought the boy... Till one day, there was a loud "jive me!" that shook the ground. And the question asked. Why is the grass green? Remembering, to this day, The man still smiles thinking about it. He recalls how bright that boy was, “I was a trend setter” the man thinks. It was not long after that that in the state of California lawn care dealers added green paint dye to the fertilizer spray to make the dieing lawns look green in the hot summer. Isn't all grass supposed to be green?

-Sargon