The Hero Tree

A seed, the wind, the rain. A sapling, a tree. A placid life, for many years. Footsteps, hushed voices, matchbox, flame. Fire. Fire erupts. Belches smoke and terror. The tree screams. Help, help. No one. Others, crippling to charcoal. The tree stands alone. No one came. Humans, monsters, the tree thought. We will help the forest, those humans say, yet the tree stands alone. More rain. Drains the sounds of the blaze. The tree, hurt but alive, sees a flower sprouting on his scorched arm. The tree bleeds his sugary sap. He smiles at the flower. The seed, the wind, the rain. Another sapling. Another tree. A human. The young tree is terrified. The human moves closer, “Here you go, have some water” the human says. The young tree sees, humans are like trees, sometimes they grow crooked, dark but not all. Some grow tall, proud, strong and beautiful. Now the tree that began a beautiful new forest is long gone, and so is the flower that encouraged him to move forward. So is the younger tree after that one. And the human girl that inspired the young tree to see beyond what his father told him. We should all remember that one standing hero tree that saved the forest and be motivated to do what he did. If the storm doesn’t bring a rainbow, paint your own, just as the tree created a seed, and saved the forest.