DreamTree

The boy lifted a puzzled face, slight frown between his dark brows. "Mom, there's a word here with a drawing but I don't know what it means."

"Not now, Estifan. I'm trying to finish this report before your father gets home. You know he likes to use this table for making supper."

So the boy waited. He slid down into his chair and kept scrolling the text, but once in a while he blinked at the PC screen and knew he wasn't absorbing anything. Finally he paged back to the photograph and looked at it, long and thoughtfully.

"There, that's done." Serena saved her report, turned off her laptop, and stood up. "Come on, clear the table. I can feel his car turning the corner."

"Feel?" Estifan grinned up at her. "You psychic or something?"

"You'd be surprised what happens to people who've been together as long as Roger and me."

"Can you look at this first, please?"

So she came around the table and looked at his screen, at the black lines etched gently in flowing curves against the pale blue background. "What do you mean, what's that? They're trees. And we're one of the lucky households with two. I explained all that a long time ago."

"I know they're trees. But that's not what I don't understand. It's further down in the paragraph."

She was still as she looked at the picture. Finally she asked, "What word?"

"Here." He pointed with his finger. "What's a forest?"

"Roger, he doesn't know! He's grown up on the Island, on our lovely Island, and he doesn't know!"

"How could he?" Roger said sadly, slumped on the side of their bed. "When I left the Forestry Service ten years ago we knew our day was done. The companies refused to let us interfere with their so-called rights to log however they pleased. How could our children grow up knowing what a forest once was?"

"I have to take him to the Park."

"You need to apply months in advance to do that, Serena. Sounds like this project he's doing is due in two weeks."

"But why doesn't the school take them? I thought that's what keeping the Park was all about. So at least one place on the Island would be safe and we could hike there whenever we wanted."

"I heard the School Board has decided not to have the kids wanting something they can't have."

She stood in the middle of the floor, hugging herself, eyes closed. "It's time, Roger. I have to take him to the Park. And I don't know if I'll be able handle it, going back ... now."

"Finally!" Estifan sat up straight in the centre of the back seat, eyes gleaming, tugging at his seatbelt straps. "I never thought four months could feel like four years!"

"You've got a lot of living to do then, son," Serena smiled. She had to smile, for him. This was her generation's sorrow, not his. She reversed the Landrover out of their parking spot, manoeuvred around the corner of the cooperative complex, and they were on the road.

Traffic was light. With gas so expensive these days, a lot more people were walking and biking, saving their tanks for special days -- such as this one. Her son was going to the Park, for the first time in his life.

The highway wound between the rock mounds and cliffs. Estifan moved to his right, rolled down the window and leaned out. The only sound was their engine and tires on the road. The sky was bright blue. No clouds dimmed this day for him. She was glad, somehow, that she'd managed to tell him about trees without going into why their Island now looked like Iceland. There was a huge difference, she knew now, between allowing a few generations of sheep and goats to nibble down seedlings and allowing one generation of clearcutting by one huge logging company. So they drove on, and once in a while a shrub, or a grove of small bushes, broke the rock face. She saw her son look at them, but he must have caught her mood a little. He said nothing.

In two hours they arrived at a barrier that blocked the road. Serena gave the gatekeeper her permit to visit and the Park entrance fee. "Leave your vehicle over there please, ma'am," he pointed.

There was a van already at the far end of the parking lot, and Estifan grinned. "I know that licence number! It's Ismah's family! She didn't say they were coming! I wonder where they are? Will we see them?"

"Probably. There's only one path now, I hear. Got your water? Let's go!"

Rolling rock hills soared around them, blocking the horizon on all sides. An arrow pointed towards a path nearby, and Estifan laughed. "Why did they do that? The path's easy to see!"

"It hasn't always been easy to see," his mother responded, and he glanced up at her quickly. Her face was white and her mouth tight, as it always was after she and Dad had a fight. But today there'd been no fights, just this great trip. So what was it? Why had she been so quiet all the way here?

"Mom?"

"Mm?" Serena glanced down and saw his worry, so again she forced a smile. "Come on. We came to hike, so that's what we'll do."

"Do we have to take the path? Can't we climb the rocks?"

"No, we can't. There's still some soil left and the Forester is hoping the seeds they keep planting will someday take root and turn into grass and trees again. And we'll have a forest here again." Her voice was weak and wild. She knew it was too late, that what had once been hope could now only be stupid optimism. But how could she not say it?

They came to the beginning of the path and went along it, taking the turns as the hills curved. And in ten minutes they came around to a sight that made Estifan catch his breath. "A forest! Mom, that's what the encyclopaedia was describing!"

Three trees, each as tall as a house, branched out under the sun. "It's not..." But she stopped. What could she say? Except, "Let's keep walking."

"Do I have to stay on the path? Can't I go over and touch them?"

"You saw the sign at the gate," she answered, almost angrily. "Stay On The Path. You saw the fine if we disobey. It's as much as I make in a year!"

"Yeah, I know, but who's watching?"

She pointed up, and for the first time he noticed the glider hovering, taking the drafts as the pilot monitored the Park.

Just then they heard voices. A family of four came around the turn ahead, the children's faces shining and their talk excited.

"Estifan!" One of the girls ran along the path towards them. "Yo, dude -- it's wonderful! Absolutely awesome! Wait until you see it!"

"Hey, Ismah! What's ahead?" Estifan was about to ask more when he noticed the faces of the adults. They had the same silent whiteness around tight mouths as his mother did.

What was ahead?

The path was barely wide enough for the two families to pass, but they did. Estifan waved goodbye to his friend and hollered after her, "Talk to you tomorrow after gym!"

"Yeah sure!!"

Then they were alone in the deep silence again, winding their way past more rock hills. A group of yellow shrubs brightened the side of the trail, and Serena stopped to bend over and smell them, gently, fearfully, her feet firmly planted where they should be.

He waited ahead for her, for once not fidgeting. Whatever she was feeling, it was important, so he did his best to hold in his impatience to get to the End of the Path.

Around the next turn -- and he stopped, his mouth open. Ahead was a clear flat grassy area about half a kilometre across, edged with trees. Trees, standing ten deep in some places, mingled greens, uplifted branches dripping with silver-edged moss that dangled like cobwebs, trees with gnarled roots hidden by ferns waving in the slight breeze that brought him the most deliciously sweet scent he'd ever smelled. And in the centre of the grove ... The Tree.

The footpath ended under their feet, with a fence firmly across it between them and the forest. There was no need for a sign. Anyone who had walked this far knew why it was there. For beyond was sacred space, deep with the mystery of soil and insects, and birds flitting heard but unseen behind the leaves.

The Tree soared high. Estifan looked up, up, up until his neck ached and he had to lean against his mother to get his eyes any farther up. Then he saw the top, and gasped. Was that a cloud hovering there? Was it so tall?

The Tree was ancient, its straight trunk clothed in vibrant moist moss that rivalled the grass for brilliance in its greenery. Its branches were as large as many of the trees encircling it. Dozens of birds' nests cluttered its sweep.

"Wow," Estifan finally breathed. "Awesome."

"Yes."

He looked up at her. "Mom, now what's wrong? Have you ever seen anything so amazing?"

Should she tell him?

"Yes."

"When?"

She looked down at him, and gently placed both hands on his shoulders as she pulled him back to lean against her again. "When I was as young as you, my father brought me here."

"Is the tree taller now?"

"I don't know. I couldn't see the top ... then."

Estifan suddenly didn't want to ask, but he knew he was close to the reason for her pain. So he waited.

And she went on: "It wasn't a Park, then. It was a valley called Carmanah, and it had the tallest spruce in the world."

"The Tree."

"Yes. But back then, when you came here you had to walk between hundreds of big trees to get close, and when you were close if you wanted to see The Tree you had to walk right up under its branches and look straight up ... not from back here."

"But isn't this better now? You can see all of it!"

"That's exactly what the logging company said when they requested permission to clear this section of land. Makes The Tree easier to see".

^ back to top