I Speak for the Trees

When I was younger I lived near a small forest. Undeveloped forestland is great. It is great for hiding from life's background noise and if you need excersize, running though a forest can provide this.

I was a huge fan of Dr. Suess's "The Lorax" for I felt I was a Lorax of sorts. I felt since I spent so much time there, I felt it was my responsibility to look after the plant life and see that it was maintained in any way that a 10 year old could assist.

The lady that owned the property didn't care that I entered it and allowed my parents to post "No Hunting" signs on it to prevent me from being shot, skinned, and mounted over a fireplace. Not that it stopped the resident rebel hunters from trespassing anyways, my father had many a skirmish with those pricks. Much of the time it happened because they were getting permission from somebody that didn't even own the land, a guy I'll call Reg. Apparently the land was so old, many residents had forgotten the true owner.

One day the owner decided to reap some benefits and sold some trees to a lumbering company. I was rather angry at this, but there was nothing I could do. I sat in silence and watched the bulldozers come. Like locusts, they took what they wanted and trashed the rest. They planted a small pine forest and then vanished.

It took a couple weeks for me to straighten the trees that were knocked askew. My grandfather and Reg cut up the refuse and took it for firewood. This happened all the while I was tending to the survivors.

A few weeks passed after that and I decided to check on my work. As I scouted I heard the sounds of a chainsaw. I snuck up on the noise to find Reg cutting down LIVING trees. Now I was a bit upset at this. I kept watch on him until his chainsaw happened to run out of gas. Then after he left I sprung into action removing popular parts of the tractor he was using to haul the wood, then buried them beneath leaves and branches.

From his perspective it was a bit Blair Witch-ish and after he managed to get the tractor home, he didn't return to my knowledge. Also, he planted a forest of his own. It seemed to me that he was making amens with the sprits he pissed off.

I am nature's wrath.