ONLY A TREE
I loved that tree. After
school I used to climb its broad trunk and sprawl panther-like with my face
pressed to its warm bark.
In summer the leaves hid me from Ma and her chores, while in
winter the branches provided the perfect platform for launching snowballs.
I
kissed Jenny Thompson in the tree’s shadow and our carved initials grew taller
with me.
Fighting far away I visualised it protecting my home but
when I came back it was gone.
“You’ve killed my tree!” I yelled.
Pa stared. “It was
only a tree, son – your Ma wanted a porch.”
........................................................................................
Friday Fictioneers is a group of over 100 writers who post 100-word stories prompted by a photograph on Rochelle's blog. Please go over and read some of the others.
http://rochellewisofffields.wordpress.com/
Grown-ups never understand, do they?
ReplyDeleteEven though they must have been young once!
DeleteOnly a tree!!!! This is evocative and sad. Alicia
ReplyDeleteI expect I'm not the only one whose parents have got rid of a favourite thing, whether a motheaten teddy or a tree.
DeleteDear Lizy, Good story! Too bad Ma wanted a porch and Pa didn't see the initials carved in the tree. Really good job Lizy! Nan :)
ReplyDeleteToo bad he didn't just go to the DIY store either!
DeleteMade me smile - a porch is nice...
ReplyDeleteIt is, but not at that price.
DeleteIt's NEVER just a tree! Loved your story! :-)
ReplyDeleteCiouldn't agree more, Courtney.
DeleteI can sympathise with him.
ReplyDeleteMe too, Patsy - I've been there!
DeleteSome people become attached to things and others do not, and the folks who don't just don't get the importance of things. It's tough for me to ever throw out my kids' old toys and their Mom was ready to dump them the minute they stopped playing with them!
ReplyDeleteI posted a reply, Perry, but it slipped through as a comment!
DeleteHeartless woman! My 4 kids - three of them in their 40s - still have their favourites. I even had to make a new skin for John's bear to save it from being dumped by his OCD wife!
ReplyDeleteYou can never go home again is what comes to mind. Things change when you leave home. When you come back, what is, is no more.
ReplyDeleteLily
Lily - I was talking to a friend about this only the other day - her childhood home was demolished!
DeleteHeartbreaking! By the end of your story, I loved that tree too. Great job!
ReplyDeleteThanks Dawn - I'm too soft-hearted even to watch a tree being felled!
DeleteA tree.. that's so much more for some.. not just a kid.. but for some with the right attitude...
ReplyDeleteExactly. We had a hurricane in the south of England 20 years ago and I admit to beging more saddened by the thousands of trees ost than by the flattened cars!
DeleteLizy, As I remember, the poem goes "only God can make a tree." It's a shame so many people are willing to cut them down, especially if the wood is worth money. It can be heartbreaking when parents throw things out. A friend's father was an alcoholic and threw out her photo album she'd kept since childhood. : ( Well written. :) ---Susan
ReplyDeleteIt's not only alcoholics who throw away precious things! I had a collection of badges that my mum chucked out without asking me first.
DeleteIt's never just a tree. I'd never part with my one armed Cowboy figurine :-)
ReplyDelete