The Eye Tree, Part 1

She is old now, and not so comely as was her wont.

But she’s as vigilant as ever.

This is The Eye Tree, as she looked in late fall of 2008.

I met her when I was a gradeschooler; it’s not important exactly when.

I know some of you have trees like this…or at least have been around such specimens.

They watch you. Sometimes, they speak…especially to the receptive.

I was receptive, as were my siblings. We obeyed the orders of The Eye Tree. At her direction, we dug holes, looking for things I’ll explain another time. We planted flowers, and left our own objects buried, and then, we built a refuge.

We called it The Stick House.

Unfortunately, perhaps (who can say?), it’s been burnt since then, and I have no pictures to show you.

But it was wonderful to us. With branches blown down by the wind, or discarded by the trees themselves, we constructed a cabin, of sorts.

There was a hearth room, cozy, with thick, high walls, and well shaded by over-arching boughs.

The second, the Supplies Room, was small, difficult to get to, and at one point was covered completely with a stick roof. It was triangular in shape, with the longest side being perhaps 10′ feet in length.

The Main Room had a branch bench seat built into a back corner – comfortable, secluded, inviting…. It also had a roof, on a few occasions, but this was difficult to keep in repair.

We had built the walls out of branches, weaving and wedging them together, and packing cheat grass mixed with mud into the cracks. This made for surprisingly solid construction.

Meanwhile, The Eye Tree stood to the north, looking on with pride and satisfaction, straight into the heart of the hearth room. She seemed content to dwell with us, and watched over her project – it truly was hers, and we were her dupes – with motherly care.

 

To be continued next Sunday…

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Advertisement