One Woman and Her Tree

Taking a stroll in the local park was something Cameron Mendes always thoroughly enjoyed; Being spring and the weather warming up a trifle, she loved to take refuge under a grand gnarled oak tree and grab her sketch pad or a thick juicy book and sojourn into a deep stupor of reading or drawing. Taking a load off on just such a spring day seemed a great idea, so grabbing some old, tattered pumps and slipping them on she grabbed “War and Peace” and pottered along to the park, whistling out a tune and slapping her thighs in time as she went she cast an aura of creative beauty. But, taking her usual route along the small tributary of stream that lead her to her tree she heard, rather than saw first, the sound of a saw hacking away. Running full steam she rounded a large bush and saw her oak tree being savaged. Screaming a scream that would never be heard over the sound of the saw she ran back along that path, vowing to never beat this path again.
Many years later, Cameron was enjoying a stroll in the park with her granddaughter, Zandra, when she found herself on that treasured old path. It had been some 50 years since she had seen her tree fall to the clutches of the Arborist and she had become an avid supporter of Anti-deforestation. Her thoughts engulfed Cameron as she thought back to the days of her younger self when she had rested on hot summer days under the friend that gave her cool shade and a handy place to sit in when the grass was wet. Coming down the path hand in hand with her granddaughter she rounded a now out of control bramble bush and saw something wonderful. A new tree, a new oak that had been planted, bursting with green life. Zandra ran to the tree and set herself at the base and smiled to her grandmother, and Cameron saw herself in that young girl so young and full of potential to grow, just like the young sapling.