the talking tree
This is a story about a talking tree. Now as far as we have always been told, trees don’t talk, but let me tell you a story about a tree named Maple then you decide if trees can or cannot talk.
Maple is a tree that has been growing for a long time and she is very tall. She sits on a sandy beach right next to a nice lake that a lot of people use for having fun. She has no other trees close by her, so she does get lonesome sometimes, but still, she is one happy tree. Her leaves are very big and dark green and they offer a real nice shady place to sit on a hot day. Many people will come and sit under Maple’s shade to eat their lunch before going in for a nice cool swim in the lake.
Maple likes to watch the people swimming. When she would see someone being too rough in the water, or doing something dangerous, she would shout for them to stop or else to get out of the water. The swimmers could not figure out who was shouting at them, but it would make them stop fooling around. Maple’s shouting helped many times. She would get a kick out of seeing the people that would come up on the beach and look all over to see where the shouting came from. They would give up looking after a while, never figuring out who was doing the shouting.
I don’t think I mentioned that Maple was in Florida. Florida is a state that is warm all twelve months of the year. They never have snow, so Maple is in full bloom all year long. She doesn’t shed her leaves like trees in northern states do. The beach that Maple lives on is located in a state park and is quite busy most days. Many visitors are tourists, but there are also many local people that come to this beach, and Maple knows quite a few of them, even by name, because she sees them so often.
Maple loves when people come to the park and beach, except when they don’t clean up their mess. Most everyone does clean up after themselves, which makes Maple happy, but there are quite a few who do not. Thankfully the park has volunteers that come every so often to help keep the beach clean. The state even put in five brand new garbage cans so people will have some place to throw their garbage into instead of the sand. It has worked out real nice. The beach stays a lot neater now, but there are always some people that don’t pick up their trash, even when they are sitting not far from a trash can. If someone starts to leave before cleaning up after themselves, Maple will call out to them to pick up their trash, which of course makes them look around to see who had said that. I hope that when you go to a park or beach that you make sure to clean up your mess before you head home.
One day Maple was enjoying the nice warm day, when a local teenager, Jack, came over, sat down, put on his headphones to listen to music and leaned back against Maple’s trunk. Maple recognized Jack from all the times he had been coming to the beach since he was a little boy. She even knew his name because she had heard others talking to him. Jack reached over in the grass and picked up two sticks laying nearby, then started drumming to the music on Maple’s trunk. He banged the sticks on Maple’s trunk to the beat of the music and did actually have good rhythm, but after a while, Maple got tired of being hit with the sticks. She knew she should never talk to a human, but she was so annoyed with his drumming that before she could stop herself, she blurted out, “Could you please stop!” Jack jumped up and looked around to see who said that. It felt so good to finally talk to someone up close that she continued speaking. “Jack, you look so silly looking around to see who is talking to you. It was me, Maple the tree.” Jack just stood still, staring at the tree, not sure if he should run away. He never heard a tree talk! Maple said, “Don’t be afraid, Jack. I would never harm you. I know I shouldn’t be talking to you, but I’m just so happy to finally be able to talk to someone. But you must promise me that you will not tell anybody about my being able to talk to you. If you do, I won’t ever talk to you again.” Jack said, “I promise I won’t tell anyone, Miss Tree. They wouldn’t believe me even if I did!” Maple said, “Good! And call me Maple from now on.” Jack hesitated, then said, “This is all very strange, but it’s very nice to talk to you… Maple.” “It is very nice to talk to you too, Jack!”
After Jack got over the shock of a talking tree, him and Maple talked about all kinds of things. Over the weeks, they became real good friends. Jack would try to visit Maple every chance he had. He would sit under Maple’s branches and do his homework every day after school whenever he could. Maple had picked up a lot of information about the world around her standing there for so many years. She had learned quite a lot, so she was even able to help Jack sometimes with some of his school work. Jack actually started to get better grades and even got several A’s! Maple was very happy that Jack was doing so good in school.
Maple really enjoyed Jack’s company. It was so good to be able to talk to someone. When there would be other people on the beach, Jack would not talk to Maple, because they didn’t want anyone else to know that she could talk. It was Jack and Maple’s secret. It was very hard to keep that secret too. Sometimes people would see Jack talking and think he was talking to himself, so they had to be extra careful so Jack didn’t look silly to others.
One day while Jack was visiting Maple, she pointed out a little boy who was in the water on an inner tube. He couldn’t have been more than five or six years old. She told Jack she always tries to keep an eye on this little guy because she noticed that no one else in his family ever seemed to watch out for him and he didn’t seem like he knew how to swim very well. Jack told Maple, “Don’t worry, I’ll help you watch him. I’m sure glad that I took swim lessons when I was younger.” After a short while of watching the little boy, Jack agreed with Maple that he really did not know how to swim very well, so Jack got up, walked over to the beach, then swam out to the little guy in the inner tube. Jack said hello to the boy and said, “Would you like me to teach you how to swim?” The little boy said, “Yes! I would really like to know how to swim.” “That’s great! Let’s go check with your parents first to make sure it is okay with them too,” Jack said.
Jack went over to the little boy’s mother and father who were sitting on a blanket on the sand and told them he would be willing to teach their son how to swim. They thought that was great, and thanked Jack for his help. Jack told the parents that he could not start lessons until the next day because he had someplace to go that afternoon. The boy’s parents said they would bring their son back the next day. Jack told the little boy, whose name was Frank, that he was going to meet him at the park tomorrow and they will begin their lessons then. Frank said that he will be there bright and early. Jack said, “Good! See you then.” Jack went back to say good night to Maple and tell her about how he is going to teach Frank how to swim. Maple was so happy to hear that. Jack gave Maple’s trunk a hug and said, “I will see you in the morning.” Maple said, “I am sure that I will be here!” They both laughed.
The next morning was another nice day. Jack came early and sat with Maple until Frank came with his parents. Frank’s mother took him over to where Jack was sitting by Maple and thanked Jack again for his help in teaching her son to swim. “No problem!” Jack said. “You ready to get started, Frank?” “You bet!” Frank said excitedly.
Jack and Frank were in the water for a long time. Jack showed Frank how to float and also how to do a dog paddle. Frank tried but had a hard time catching on. Jack told him not to worry about it, that after practicing it several times, he would get it. After a while, Jack said he was hungry, so they got out of the water to have lunch. Jack had brought a big bag of food that would last for the day. He asked Frank if he wanted a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and he said he would love one. Maple forgot that it wasn’t just her and Jack there and accidentally said, “That’s great that you brought food, Jack.” Little Frank looked at Jack and said, “Did that tree just talk?” Jack said, “Uh oh.” Maple whispered to Jack, “Just tell him that you do magic and that was you that was talking.” Jack whispered back, “That’s good thinking, Maple,” and then told Frank it was him who was talking, not the tree. Frank believed him because, well, what other explanation could there be? Jack and Frank ate their sandwiches and rested a little bit before they went back into the water. You know the rule, you don’t go into the water right away after you eat.
After a couple more hours, Frank’s mother called him to come out of the water because they needed to leave. Frank and Jack headed over to where she was standing. Frank’s mom asked, “So how did he do today?” Jack told Frank’s mom that even though he was learning quickly, he still needed to practice more because he still was having some trouble swimming without the inner tube, so he still should not be in the water on his own. Frank’s mom asked Jack if he could continue lessons the next day, but Jack said he was going to visit his grandmother and would not be back for two days, but he would definitely start lessons again then. They agreed to meet in two days. Frank said goodbye to Jack and Jack headed back to say goodbye to Maple, as well as to remind her he would not see her for a couple of days.
The next day, Maple was looking out at the water, enjoying watching everyone having a good time, but she could see some dark clouds off in the distance that seemed to be moving their way. Around noon, she saw Frank and his family walking towards the beach. As soon as they reached their spot and put their blanket down on the sand, Frank grabbed his inner tube and ran out into the water, and as usual, his family was not paying attention to him in the water. He was staying on the inner tube, just like Jack had told him to do until he learned how to swim better, but all of a sudden, as that dark cloud approached the beach, a big wind blew up and flipped the inner tube over. Frank fell off into the water and the wind pushed the tube even farther away from him. Frank tried to remember what Jack had taught him the day before about how to dog paddle, but was too scared to think straight. Maple saw all this happening and saw that Frank was panicked too. She started shaking her leaves to get Frank’s family’s attention so they could help Frank, but they didn’t notice her or that Frank was in trouble and needed help. Maple didn’t want to bring attention to herself, but she had to do something to help this little boy.
Trees are not used to moving, and even though the wind was pushing against Maple, it still took a lot of energy on her part to bend over as far as she could and wiggle one of her branches that was hanging very low and was closest to the water. She kept wiggling and stretching this branch until it got low enough to go into the lake. She used all her energy to bend over more and push and stretch the branch out further and further until finally it was right next to Frank. When Frank saw the branch, he quickly grabbed on to it, then Maple slowly pulled the branch, and Frank, back towards the shore. By this time, all the people on the beach had gathered around to watch as Maple pulled him to safety.
They watched, not believing what they were seeing, as she took her branch out of the water and laid it gently on the sand so Frank could slide off. He immediately ran over to his mother and father and told them how he was drowning, but the tree saved his life. They could not believe what just happened, even though they saw it with their own eyes. No one could understand how a tree could do this, but they did know that if it wasn’t for the tree bending over like that, Frank could have drowned. Everyone agreed that it must have been the strong wind that pushed the tree branch over into the water where Frank was able to grab onto it. Frank told everyone that it wasn’t the wind, it was the tree that saved him and he heard the tree talk just yesterday. Everyone just smiled at Frank, then ran to grab their belongings so they could get home before the storm hit.
Poor Maple was so tired from all the bending, stretching and pushing that she didn’t have the energy to straighten back up or pull her branch back up, so she just stood there bent over with her branch just laying there on the sand for the rest of the night. The next day was rainy, but the strong winds were gone. Maple was still exhausted from the day before. She was kind of glad that it was a rainy day because the park would be empty which meant she would have time to rest, rebuild her strength, and straighten back up to normal before the crowds came back.
The next morning the sun was shining bright and Maple was standing almost straight up again. She was feeling good and happy to see the crowds of people who were happy to be able to go to the beach again after the rain. After a few hours she noticed that Jack was walking over to her. She was so happy to see him and he was happy to see her too. He gave her trunk a hug and asked her how she was doing. She told him the whole story about Frank and the wind flipping his inner tube. She told him about how she pushed her branch out so Frank had something to grab on to. Jack was so surprised to hear her story. He said, “Maple, you are a hero. Frank was so lucky to have you do what you did!”
Maple told Jack how she is having a hard time straightening back up. Jack looked at Maple’s branch that was laying on the sand and noticed that the storm had blown so much sand on top of Maple’s branch that it was almost totally buried, making it difficult for her to lift it back up. Jack dug at the sand on top of the branch and cleared it away so that Maple could raise it back up. Once she lifted her branch, she was then able to straighten her trunk back up too. She gave a big stretch and said, “Thank you Jack! It feels so good to stand straight up again.” Jack said, “I am very happy to do anything for the hero tree!”
About an hour later, Frank and his family showed up. Frank ran over to Jack who was sitting with Maple and excitedly told Jack the whole story. Frank told Jack that even though everyone says the wind pushed the branch into the water, he knows that it was the tree that did it. Jack just shook his head and said, “You never know. Anything is possible.” Frank then told Jack that he really would like to start his swim lessons again because he really needs to learn. He told Jack he was never so scared when that inner tube got blown away and he couldn’t remember what he learned about swimming. So Jack and Frank practiced and practiced for several hours and Jack could see Frank improving. Almost drowning really made Frank work hard at learning how to swim.
After a while, they took a break to have something to eat. While they were sitting under Maple’s leaves in the coolness of her shade, eating sandwiches, a man walked over to them and said, “Excuse me, but do you know anything about a tree saving a boy in the lake yesterday?” Jack smiled and said, “Sir, you are standing right under the tree that saved the boy, and this is the boy the tree saved,” pointing to Frank. The man said, “Great! May I ask you some questions about it?” Jack told the man that he wasn’t there yesterday, but that Frank would be able to fill him in on what happened.
The man told them his name was Mr. Myers and he was a writer for the Early Times Newspaper. “One of the people who work for the paper was here yesterday and said it looked like a tree saved a young boy’s life, and I thought that sounds like it would make a wonderful and interesting story.” Jack said, “I think you are right!” The man asked Frank questions and he answered them the best he could. Frank said that he knows everyone else was saying the strong wind pushed the branch into the water, but he knows it was the tree who purposely put the branch in the water to save him. Frank even told the reporter about how the tree spoke to him a couple of days ago, and that he believes the tree is more like a person than a tree because it can think and even save people. Mr. Myers said that he would be sure to include all of that in his story, then thanked Jack and Frank for their time. He gave them his business card with his phone number on it and told them if they had any more information to add to the story to call him.
After Mr. Myers left, Jack said, “That sure was a surprise Frank. I’m glad the paper is covering the story. That was really something big that Maple did. She saved you from drowning.” When Frank went over to where his parents were sitting, Maple whispered to Jack, “Frank needed the help and I was the only one that saw him. I had to help him.” Jack whispered back to Maple, “This is a real good story to tell everyone. Maybe it will remind people up that they should be keeping an eye on their kid while they are in the water.” Maple whispered, “But I don’t want people coming over to see the hero tree. I wouldn’t like that.” Maple didn’t need to worry about that though, because after the article came out in the newspaper, only a few people ever came over to see the “hero tree” because, well, most people just didn’t believe a tree saved a boy from drowning. It was more believable that the wind pushed the branch into the water, but Jack and Frank knew that Maple was the true hero.
Well years went by and everyone grew older, including Maple. Frank actually did learn to swim so well that he joined the swim team at his high school and won many 1st place medals. Jack grew up and eventually opened a successful grocery store. It became so successful that he opened a whole chain of grocery stores. Frank was still good friends with Jack and worked for Jack as manager of the stores.
As for Maple, she was getting to be an old tree and her branches were falling off. The sand under her was giving away so she was leaning way over. The park wanted to cut her down and get a new tree to replace her. When Jack heard this, he told the head of the park that he would buy her. The owner said, “Are you crazy? That tree has had it.” Jack said, “You would be surprised to know what this tree could do.” So Jack made arrangements to have Maple carefully dug up and planted in his own backyard. It took a lot of money and a lot of equipment, but Jack didn’t care. He wanted to take care of Maple and protect her from being cut down. He even hired a tree doctor to come out and help make sure Maple was planted correctly and had everything she needed. Maple was so glad that Jack was able to help her. Jack said, “Maple, you are a very good friend to me and I love you. I will always take care of you.” Maple said, “Thank you Jack. I love you too.”
Jack had met a wonderful girl that worked with him in his very first store. They started dating, and after a few years, they decided they wanted to marry. Jack told his fiancé, Ella, now that they were engaged, he had to tell her all about Maple and how she could talk. Ella laughed and said, “You are always kidding me.” Jack said, “This time I’m not kidding. Come with me and I will show you.” Jack took Ella out into the backyard to meet Maple. He said, “Maple, I want you to meet my girl, Ella, who I am going to marry.” Maple just stood there motionless. Ella looked at Jack and smirked. Jack looked up at Maple and said, “Ella is going to be part of our family, so it’s okay to talk to her.” Hearing Jack say it’s okay, Maple shook her branches a little, then said, “I am very happy to meet you Ella.” Ella stood there shocked for a few minutes, then looked at Jack and said, “I can’t believe this! A talking tree!”
Jack and Ella were married a year later. They held the ceremony under Maple’s branches. Ella lovingly decorated Maple’s branches with ribbons, flowers and lights for the big day. Ella was so glad that Maple could be part of their big day and Maple was so excited too. She really liked all the decorations and how they made her look so fancy. Frank, who was Jack’s best man, told Maple that she looked even more beautiful with all the flowers and lights everywhere. Maple said, “Aww, thank you Frank. You look very handsome in your tuxedo too!” Yes, Maple did eventually talk to Frank. Jack decided when Frank graduated from high school, that he was old enough to handle the news that Maple was indeed a talking tree. Frank was so relieved when he heard Maple talk for the first time because he had always known that he heard her talk when he was a little kid and also that she had saved him from drowning.
After things settled down, Jack and Ella bought an outdoor dining set and patio chairs that they placed under Maple’s branches so that they could visit with Maple every night at dinner or just relax in chairs around her trunk, all three of them enjoying the evening together, and sometimes four if Frank joined them. All of their other friends and family could not understand why they didn’t put their patio furniture on the deck like everyone else did but instead had it under that tree. It didn’t matter if they didn’t understand, Jack, Ella and Frank knew why.
After Jack and Ella were married for a couple of years, they had a baby boy. They named him Acer, which is the scientific name for “maple tree”. Maple was so thrilled that Jack and Ella named their baby after her. She was filled with joy to see Acer grow up under her branches. Jack made a baby swing for Acer and hung it from one of Maple’s branches. Ella and Jack would push Acer in the swing for hours and Maple would sing to him the whole time. When Acer got a little older, he would climb Maple’s branches, the whole time Maple warning him to be careful. Jack and Acer even built a tree house in Maple’s branches. Maple felt so loved to be able to be a place for Acer to play and for Jack and Ella to visit.
Maple truly felt like one of the family. When they had a problem and needed someone to talk to, Maple was always there ready to listen. For being a tree, she sure did seem to always have the answers that would help take their problems away. They were one big happy family that loved one another very much. Maple thinks back on that day years ago when she first spoke to Jack to tell him to stop playing drums on her bark. If she had never said anything, she would never have had this wonderful life.
Now remember that trees can’t talk. Or can they? Next time you are out in your backyard, try saying hello and see if you get a response.
I hope that you enjoyed the story and thank you for reading it. Have a good day.....bye now!
