yevlax

Every Boy Needs A Tree







Me: "Hello, Mr. Tree. How are you today?"

Mr.Tree: "Hello there, young one! It is a bright and shiny day, and my roots are drying out!"

Me: "I thought you liked water?"

Mr.Tree: "Oh, all trees like water, my lad, but too much of anything is a bad thing, and thats the opposite of moderation."

Me: "Understand. I've had some trouble with that before."

Mr.Tree: "What brings you here, lad?"

Me: "I'm waiting for a therapy appointment. The bus always drops me off too early, so I've been trying to find a good spot to sit and wait where I won't bother anyone. You looked friendly."

Mr.Tree: "You have judged me correctly lad! I have greeted many men and many women, all sitting on that very bench you sit upon now, and I talk to them all."

Me: "Do you dispense wisdom?"

Mr.Tree: "Oh no, I dispense peace."

Me: "Peace huh? I could probably use some of that peace stuff right now. I'm having a hard time finding some."

Mr.Tree: "What troubles you, lad?"

Me: "Well, lately I've lost a lot of faith about a lot of things. I don't really mean faith in the religious sense, but more of a general sense. Like the pure definition of faith...lost faith in the legal system, lost faith in myself, lost faith in the future, those sort of faiths. The kind of faith that gets you through the day. The faith that the sun will rise tomorrow, and that my life will get better if I work at it. That kind of faith."

Mr.Tree: "Well, lad, even if you aren't religious, this is as good a place as any to come think about faith. The people here have spent quite a bit of time thinking on the subject."

Me: "I suppose they have."

Mr.Tree: "You can rest any time under my branches to ponder these things."

Me: "Thank you. That means a lot to me."

Mr.Tree: "Anytime."

Me: "You know, I had a tree once, when I was a little boy...my tree was taller than you, but not quite as wide. He was a grandfatherly trunk of hollowed out wood, near the end of his life when I met him. I loved my tree. I used to go out into the front yard, every day, and walk round and round in circles around his trunk, talking to myself and daydreaming about fantastic worlds based on Saturday morning cartoons."

Mr.Tree: "Circles, you say?"

Me: "Yeah, my mom told me that when I was really little, like five, that I'd walk around the coffee table and mumble to myself. I guess I've been doing it for a long, long time. I'm too tired to walk much these days, but sometimes I can still manage a short pace to get some thoughts flowing. It helped me think. I miss that tree."

Mr.Tree: "What became of it?"

Me: "Well, my tree was getting older and my parents were afraid that it was going to fall on me one day, so Mom took me out for ice cream while Dad and some friends wrapped a chain around it and pulled it down. I came home to find the stump. I cried some, but later I found a nice creek nearby with a circle-y pattern that was usable."

Mr.Tree: "So you could continue your thoughts."

Me: "Sort of...it was never really quite the same after my tree was gone, though. That was a last piece of my childhood. And sometimes I have a wandering thought.."

Mr.Tree: "What's that, lad?"

Me: "Well, with me not being very religious and all, I'm not certain I believe in the concept of an afterlife, although I've long been fascinated with the idea of infinite worlds. I've made up a lot of them in head over the years, after all. Sometimes, when I remember my childhood and miss it, I think about the concept of heaven. And if there is one, and if I go there, I always hoped my tree would be there...waiting for me."

Mr.Tree: "I'm sure he is, lad. He'll be there for you when it's all over."

Me: *smiling, checking time on blackberry* "Thank you. Well, I have to go to my appointment now. I will see you next week, Mr. Tree."

Mr.Tree: "Goodbye, lad. I will be here, waiting."