The Tree Story

“I remember trees. Only just, but I can remember them.”

Jake looked at his granddad in wonder.

“Really? You can remember trees? You saw them?”

“Not just saw them but touched them and even climbed them!”

Jakes eyes were wide with excitement. His mouth wore a grin that seemed to stretch from his left ear to his right.

“Tell me granddad, please, please tell me about the trees.”

The old man settled himself on the edge of jakes bed and was about to begin his story. A voice shouted out from another room.

“Jake? Don’t get carried away with those stories from granddad. It’s already way past your bed time.”

“Just a short story please dad. I need to hear about the trees. Granddad tells great stories about the trees.”

The old man winked at Jake and the little boy started to giggle. The voice shouted out again.

“Okay, just ten minutes and that’s it.”

This time they both giggled. Jake got out of bed and slowly closed the door. Then he quickly scurried back into bed and pulled the covers up tight to his chin.

“Go on granddad, tell me about the trees.”

“Okay but just for ten minutes then you’ve got to go to sleep. Promise?”

Jake did the thing that his beloved granddad had taught him. He made the sign of the cross over his chest.

“Cross my heart!”

Granddad took a deep breath and made the same sign.

“You won’t believe this but not that long ago there were trees everywhere. Big ones, small ones, green ones, brown ones, ones that were so old they looked like they had a face like mine.”

Jake smiled.

“Go on, more, more.”

“When I was your age my mum and dad would take me to a place called THE PARK. In this place were hundreds of trees. My dad would put me on his shoulders and lift me up into the trees big branches and then I would start to climb. Sometimes I would climb so high that I couldn’t see the ground.”

Jakes jaw dropped.

“And the tree was strong enough to hold you up there granddad?”

“Strong? They were the strongest things in the entire world. At one time there were so many of them they covered entire countries. Africa had an area so full of trees that it was bigger than the United States Of Europe.”

“Bigger than the USE?” Wow.”

“Yep, but then they discovered oil there so they ripped up all the trees so they could dig and find the oil.”

“But what about the other trees, you know, the ones you used to climb?”

“Disease came Jake. First the Ash, then the Oak, then the Beech and soon all trees had a disease. Within twenty years they had all gone. I remember my fiftieth birthday. It was the day that the last tree died.”

“Can’t we just grow some more granddad. Plant seeds and then watch them grow, like we do with the animals in the cold rooms?”

The old man laughed out loud.

“There was a time when all life came to us in an entirely different way. But that story is for when you’re much older. No we can’t grow them anymore Jake, the dirt on the ground is too toxic. It’s full of chemicals that make it impossible for them to grow and besides there’s no room for them now because there are too many people..”

Jake looked disappointed. The voice from the other room called out again.

“Ten minutes is up. Time to go to sleep now Jake. And turn off the granddad hologram. He’ll fill your head full of strange ideas!”

Jake blew his granddad a kiss.

"Same time tomorrow? You can tell me the story of when there were clouds in the sky and the ocean wasn't black."

Granddad smiled.

"Now that WAS a long time ago. Now then, time for sleep. Put your oxygen mask on and turn me off. Sleep tight Jake."