Nobody but the rich call it ‘The Ocean of Grass’ but that is the name on your given map provider. The rich have made sure of that. Those travelers looking for directions on the road should ask after ‘The Lawn.’ Its colloquial name lands much nearer to the sites intended purpose. This is not an ocean, vast enough to be open to the public. It’s not made to be beautiful, though it is. ‘The Lawn’ is a farm and, outside of the rich, only those who tend it are allowed to enjoy its splendor.
‘The Lawn’ consists of a species of grass specific to its 50 or so acres and available nowhere else. The grass is lush green and soft, even when cut. It’s hypoallergenic and poisonous to common pests. It grows slowly and has proven to be resistant to droughts and insects and extremes of heat. The only thing that kills the grass of ‘The Lawn’ is time and that time is exactly one year. This is a feature of a tailored and copyright-protected genetic code. The rich don’t really buy turf from ‘The Ocean of Grass.’ They subscribe.
It takes work to tend ‘The Lawn’ and that work is largely donated. Enthusiasts volunteer to mow just for the sake of saying they have sailed across ‘The Ocean of Grass’ on one of its proprietary mowers. Some have even stolen short moments of peace, slipping off the mowers to lie in the field.
The mowers tend to note this quickly and these volunteers are banned. Testimonials indicate that the turf is absolutely worth it, for anyone who can pay the price.
-an excerpt, Autumn by the Wayside.
