THE AUTUMN LEAF by Jenn Webster
Summer was now only a memory for another year; in its place was a season that is known as Autumn, and Autumn can be known for all kinds of surprises, both wacky, fun, and romantic. And so, that was certainly the case with a woman who went by the name of Lisa; Lisa had loved Autumn just as much as summer ever since she was a little girl, especially when she could not wait for the leaves to change color and then fall from the trees!
One day, Lisa went to the park to search for any tree with leaves perfectly colored for the occasion. She walked to the park, and by her luck, Lisa found such trees that were now changing color, and just in time, too! The leaves were changing colors from red to orange to yellow and even brown! Lisa just could not believe all of the leaves on those trees that were being colored right before her eyes!
Then Lisa saw a leaf on the tree that had just changed to a dazzling red, and to Lisa, it was a beautiful sight. She then saw the leaf struggling to wither and about to fall out of the tree. Then the bright red leaf did just that- it fell from the tree, and then Lisa was very eager to try and snatch that red leaf in her hand!
Get Jennifer Webster’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
Once the red leaf fell on the ground, Lisa then took out my hand and grabbed it from the ground…but at the same time, someone else was trying to grab the red leaf from the ground, and it was a man! The man was going to catch the red leaf, but instead, he caught Lisa’s hand that was catching the leaf! Then the man became a bit embarrassed and said to Lisa, “Oh, I am so very sorry about that! I thought that I was going to get that leaf, but I suspected that you caught it first!”
Lisa smiled and replied to the man, “Oh, that’s OK…I had just caught this red leaf! It is going to be perfect for my collection of leaves that I keep in my scrapbook!” “Oh, I have a scrapbook, too,” the man replied, “only it does not have too many fall leaves…Just some other things that I have collected from my childhood right up to today!” “Wow, that has to be some collection,” Lisa replied, “maybe you should try collecting leaves more!” The man replied, “Well, I try my best to try something else new, but it always comes back to collecting the same old stuff!”
Lisa then said to the man, “Then…maybe I could help you out and introduce you to the world of collecting leaves! Oh, and by the way, my name is Lisa!” The man replied, “Oh, my name is Tom, it is so very nice to meet you!” Then they shook hands and went back to Lisa’s house so she could help him learn more about autumn leaves and collecting them.
Back at her house, Lisa taught Tom all about collecting and preserving fall leaves before placing them in a scrapbook; Tom followed what Lisa taught him, and he began to get quite good at it! Tom began to smile at Lisa and said to her, “You know, Lisa, this is kind of fun to arrange leaves for the scrapbook! And you know, even though I do not know how I would tell you this, I think I kind of like you.”
Lisa soon began to feel the same way about Tom, and she told him she liked him too. Soon, they began a relationship. The next day, Lisa and Tom went out to the park again to look at the colored leaves some more; as they were looking around the park for those trees, they found that some of those trees were almost bare, and that was because most of the leaves that had fallen! And then, Tom saw a leaf, one that had been changed to yellow, picked it up, and then gave it to Lisa, saying to her, “You know, I believe this one’s for you.” Lisa took the leaf, put it in her pocket, and kissed him.
And so, all of the leaves that were on the trees in the summertime had fallen once fall came around; and afterward, the trees became very bare, nothing but twigs of wood on those trees. Soon, winter came, and Lisa and Tom began shopping for Christmas gifts for each other. When Christmastime came around, the two began exchanging gifts: Lisa gave Tom a jeweled tie, and then Tom gave Lisa a very small gift. She opened it, and it was a diamond engagement ring! Tom then got down on his knees and proposed.
The following spring, Lisa and Tom were married, and with their newfound marriage came the natural hope that autumn would come around again so they could watch the leaves change color, a reminder of that wonderful time since they first met.
©2026 Jenn Webster
AUTHOR’S NOTE: I hope you enjoyed my new story; I share it with you because I believe in the gift of storytelling. If you would like to enjoy more storytelling, then please read my newest Kindle eBook, “Rainbow’s End”, available for purchase now at the Amazon Kindle Store!: https://a.co/d/05CeQ9aq
