The Only Tree in the Forest

by Hap

Chapter 4

Life isn’t fair.

I’m not the tallest tree around. I’m not even up to the canopy yet. I only just dropped my first crop of acorns last fall.

I’d seen the scars on the other trees, the taller ones. They say The Ash was covered in them. The taller a tree gets, the more it will draw lightning.

But I’m the shortest tree around, and I was struck.

Every thunderstorm, I had been terrified. Each crack would send shivers through my leaves. I would remember the story of the mightiest ash, exploding into splinters with that very sound. Even in the hot summer storms, when the hail falls with clouds of steam, I would imagine frost nipping at my leaves and ice clawing at my bark.

But it wasn’t ice I should have feared. When it happened, I didn’t have time to be afraid. There was searing pain and a crack of thunder inside me, and I instantly knew that my heartwood had been burned.

When the storm was over, the other trees laughed and told me I looked fine. No scars. That I was lucky. Tough. But I could feel it smoldering still, when the sun rose the next day.

Without the hardened heartwood, I am little more than a hollow shell of soft sapwood. I am just waiting for rot to set in. Or for the wind to blow me over.

Life isn’t fair.