The Garden of Silent Genes

The elder whispered in his ear: “Your secret name is Calibán…”

Behind the elder's house grew two plants from seeds taken from the same fruit. One climbed toward the sun. The other curled low beneath the shade.

“They're supposed to be the same,” the boy said.

The elder handed him a small wooden box filled with seeds of different shapes and colors. “Supposed to be?”

That night the boy began to wonder what a seed remembers, what it forgets, and how much of a living thing is decided before it ever meets the world.