On-the-spot #7

KTC

Stand in the Place Where You Live
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Eveningsdawn

Just Sing.
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She has changed over the years, my Arbra. When the old black and white photograph I hold in my hands was taken, she was a young tree-spirit, full of life and fire and love. Her limbs were strong, and stretched out to the sky, lifting as if her energy buoyed them up.
She herself was young and beautiful, with hair the brown of tree trunks and eyes as green as leaves. Like her tree, she was not willowy; instead, she was tall and strong, and I was always able to look her in the eye. Her laugh sounded like wind in the branches...
Arbra is older now. Her trunk is a little weaker, her boughs fewer in number. There are crows-feet around her eyes and laugh-lines around her mouth. But she still stands tall, and reaches her limbs to the sky, her joy in life seeming to lift her up, so that her roots can be seen.
 

Marisa Louise

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As I sat beneath the tree, I felt its energy and power. The day had been rough and there had been nothing, I felt, nothing that could possibly help me to get over the mountain I now had to climb.

The times have changed, I suppose. One smack on the face of my daughter and there were several authorities at my door, prying her tiny hand from mine without a care of any story. All they cared to know was that my daughter had been smacked and that, from their perspective, nothing could deserve that. Parhaps they are right.

I don't believe I deserved to lose her. I was a good parent despite my occasional drinking. But I can tell you those court cases gave me a lot of inspiration to change my ways. To change my attitudes. When they told me they were awarding her father sole custody, I nearly flew off the handle. How could he be given such a beautiful thing, and how could I not deserve to have that any longer. I changed my ways quick I tell you, and this vacation is a part of that.

Yes, this tree is magic. I can feel it. Its different, just like us; my daughter and I. And I'll take a piece of its bark to remind me. I've found myself for my girl, and this magic tree has given me new hope and strength to fight. Fight for who I love.
 

McCann

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I hacked my way throught he udnerbresh, desperately trying tof ind my way. "DAMN GPS!" I screamed. "Where the heck is that geocache!" I knew that taking up this hobby would be the end of me, but I just HAD to buy one fo those things with my gift certificate.
"It'll be fuN" I said. "exercise" I had quipped. "BULL HOCKEY!" I yelled.

"And why are these things so hard to find!"
I chop[ped through the last of the bushes and came into the open air. A huge open area... with a giant tree in the middle. A gorgeously grotesque tree. They kind you only see in pictures on websites trying to get you to write odd things as practice.
"Oh my GOd!" I cried. "Who knows where the container has been hidden in that thing! It's huge. ANd the post said it was a micro-cache!"
A microcache. Some demented person's idea of fun. Planting the clue in a film canister. Good luck finding that you moron.
I'd like to smack the

Times up!
 

Stew21

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Jacob used to climb that tree. He said it made him feel big. He would puff out his chest so it was full and ready for a healthy fist-thump when he said it. Then he'd show us the gaps in his smile where his front teeth had fallen out.
After the rain came, the torrents of summer, he would wait anxiously, squirming in his seat by the window. He scanned the skies for rays of light that would signal his return to the tree. And as soon as the ground became golden and the grass shone bright and newly wetted green, he would run, hop the fence, run down the road and climb.
Some people find comfort in trees. Some find their inner-quiet. Some say that being in nature brings them closer to God. Jacob just wanted to be closer to the sky.
 

melaniehoo

And thus we begin the edits
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When I went back and saw the tree from my childhood, it wasn't as I remembered. The leaves were still droopy and the trunk had that creepy, spider-vein quality, but it didn't hold the same power over me. As a child I took my time approaching her, careful not to startle her so she'd envelope me in her arms. Playing beneath her branches I was queen of the forest, reigning over the bird and squirrels. Boys would come along and try to knock me off my throne and if they wouldn't listen to my rational explanation as to why I was the rightful heir to the throne, I'd pop them in the jaw. They usually listened after that. But today, standing before the tree, I didn't see the majestic throne of my youth, only a part of my childhood, much smaller than I remember but still as beautiful.
 

auntybug

teh other evil broad
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"God, I miss this place," she said as she sat under the banyan tree that spanned an entire city block in Lahaina. She was on her fifth beer, ready to head to a bar for something stronger. She always claimed to hate going home, but found herself drawn there every couple years. However, this trip could not be helped, and it most certainly wasn't for pleasure. Her eyes swelled with tears as she stared at the empty space beside her where her friend should be sitting.
 

JLCwrites

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Old age creeps upon every living thing. Beaten down by weather, scraped by climbing children and pecked at by birds and other woodland creatures. Smaller and more weary, this tree surveys the world, the ever-changing landscape as forests are replaced with high rises, and parks shrink with little effort. Yet his own gnarled branches are spared. But he doesn't feel lucky.

To be the one who survives while others crumble into dust. To be the one who watches friends, creatures of the earth die, to watch your own little seedlings destroyed. It would an act of mercy to feel the blade of a chainsaw rip through his own mottled skin. However, his torment seems to be celebrated with only a small plaque standing guard before his knotted roots.

Johnson Park
est. 1875
 

Kerr

I vant to bite you
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Several hundred years ago, a group of Indians were instructed by their Chief to stand on this spot guarding the tepee of an elder he believed had gone over to the darkside. The Chief rode away in search of other elders known for their wisdom in handling the spirit world. When they returned, the tepee was gone and so were the young warriors. In place, they found several trees that leaned together as though to gain strength. The Chief rode some ways to the North, South, East and West, certain he had come to the wrong place. Afterward, certain his warriors had come under a spell, he ordered kindling put around the base of the trees to be lit. The kindling burned away, but the trees remained. They are still there today, leaning together, in some places becoming one.
 

HeronW

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They never learned, you don't mess with a ecomage, not if you want to, well, they do live, and they contribute. Their interior feelings and greed still show as rough and scaley but that's so they do not die from being stripped by my other 'lessons'. The shade is scanty and the fruit bitter but over the decades, they will learn, they will change, or they will truly die.

No one messes with my home, not the corporations, not the cowboys, not even those whose ancestors I called by name the first time I passed through, not even family.

I am kind, I left them together, huddled in fear as they did, screaming and waving their blades in my direction. I let them keep that connection, each facing a different wind.

They taste the sun, the earth, the rain, and my wrath. that should suffice, for now.