The Tree

There was tree at the edge of a river. It stood there silently for many years. Occasionally when the wind blew it would creek and moan. One time the wind blew so hard it lean over so far it thought it would break its back, but it remained standing tall and firm. The storm had killed some of his neighbors which made him very sad.
He could remember there was a chair beneath him where the old man once sat for hours and played his fiddle. The tree really liked the old man, they had grown old together. He was planted when the old man was born. The old man had always treated him well. When he was a young sapling, there was a great freeze. His young branches were covered with ice and he thought for sure he was going to die. Then he saw a light coming from the distance, it was the young boy and his father. They covered him with a blanket and staked him up. When they removed the blanket he stood taller then ever.
There was the frayed end of an old rope hanging from his lower limb. The rope had once held a tire, that the man had hung one summer long ago. The man and his friends would swing from the tire and drop into the river. It was a good summer when the man’s laughter filled the air.
That winter the man only came one time. He was dressed all in brown, his hair was very short and the laughter was gone. He had a young girl, Mary with him and they kissed beneath his branches. Two summers passed before the man returned. When he returned he appeared a lot older and much sadder. The tree didn’t understand why the man had been gone so long, so he asked the river and the wind. The river told him that he heard from the ocean that some of his brother rivers ran red. The wind told him that at times the ground got so loud it made him groan. This made him quite sad.
That spring he was filled with pride when the man and Mary were joined together underneath his branches. He made sure they were well shaded and he asked the bird who had a nest in his branch to sing a song. The tree thought the bird had sung the most beautiful song he had ever heard. In a short time, there were little ones crawling underneath him. Soon they were climbing and swinging from his branches as the man once had. The man was busy so didn’t visit too often, although the tree missed him, somehow he understood. The seasons past from winter to summer then back again many times. The man’s hair turned from black to grey and then to white like snow. The tree noticed that when the man hair turned like snow, the visits got more frequent. The man would sit in a chair underneath his branches. He and his friends would talk for hours arguing and laughing. Sometimes he and Mary would sit together and the old man would plan his fiddle low and slow.
One day Mary stopped coming. The old man came a few more times and then he stopped too. Then one day the tree saw the man’s oldest some coming toward him. Behind him were two boxes being carried by the old man’s grandchildren. The tree was surprised by how gray the son’s hair had gotten. Everyone was dressed in black and there were two holes dug and the boxes were placed in them. Tears were flowing from the eyes of those who gathered beneath him. The boxes were covered with dirt and a prayer was said. The birds sang the saddest song the tree could remember and it filled him with sorrow. His limbs swayed to the song. Then he understood the old man would not be visiting him anymore. He and Mary would become a part of him, forever. This made the strangely sad and happy at the same time. He lived 2 scores on and many people would live in the house and would sit under his branches, but he remembered the man best of all.