Whistling with a Signpost

By Bors Radu

The sweet night ruled over the outskirts. There were lights in the sky and lights in the
city but which were the real stars was impossible to tell. It didn't matter anyway. Soon the
jealous sun showed his face with sharp shiny teeth and scared away all the little shining pixies
to dispel the magic of night. By that time I could still feel the solitude around me. For some
few minutes there weren’t any cars. No horns, no noxes, no huge lines. Just peace and quiet.
As the timid sun arose, I streched my tired branches. You probably wonder why I have
branches, right? Well it’s a long story but I’ll try to shorten it: I...am...a tree! Surprised? Don’t
be! Trees are living beings, so why shouldn’t they think? Or talk? Anyway, as I was saying, I
am a tree. An ash tree to be more precise. But this is less important. What is important to us
trees is our age. And I assure you that I had seen many winters, before humans built the road
which passes near me. I am older than the road, and even older than the city which has been
brought here piece by piece after the road was done. I witnessed every car and every carriage
that has ever entered this city. I saw the road expanding with every year and a small fear
started growing inside of me, that maybe, someday the road will be so wide that I’ll have to
be cut down. But enough about me. Let’s get back to my story
”Another day another leaf”. This was my only thought in that beautiful morning. You
see, we trees aren’t quite the smartest of all beings so we think much slowlier than humans.
The bird family I usually host between my leaves were singing to me. I realised this was
merely a phase of my existence. Life must be more than staying all day long in the sun and
growing roots. As I was thinking of this, an old blue pickup truck came about 3 metres of me
with metal pipes in his back. I watched how three people came out of the truck and started
assembling the pipes with mounstrous lust. By the time I realised they were all dressed in
dirty blue overalls, they finished and left. I watched the freshly formed dust cloud after they
left until wind sent it to oblivion. ”Oh, how lucky are those dust pixies, travelling with the
wind wherever his huge arms takes them.” Then suddenly, with a noiseless flash, darkness
came in. I woke up several hours later when the sun was setting. For those of you who don’t
know what happened, I’ll explain as easy as possible: trees don’t dream. We are just too
limited due to the inexistence of a nervous sistem. It’s our way of living. My mother used to
tell me and my other three thousand brothers that whenever a tree tries to dream bad thing
happen. She used to tell us of her mother which always dreamed of being a rose. One day, a
lightning struck her. I was lucky now. I passed out before having any thoughts of a dream.
Anyway, when I woke up, the sun was setting. I looked in my right and saw a huge
screen mounted on a steel bar (for those with less imagination, this was a signpost as I found
out later). This abomination of nature seemed repugnant to me at that time. It was
propostruous! How dared the humans make a steel tree? As I looked closer I noticed its ugly
square shape. Grose! Even a lemon fairy knows that every tree must have its branches in the
shape of a fractal. But this,... this vile creation defied any of nature’s laws. And above all, it
was in my yard!
I was too tired and angry to protest so, I went to sleep. The next day came before I
even managesd to fall asleep. I woke up hoping that the wicked thing will be gone. I was
disappointed to see that it was still there, showing off his bright colors to the passing cars.
And what was even more concerning was that drivers looked at it with a grin on their face. I
became curious about this steel tree, so I spent the whole day analizing it. It really wasn’t
anything to watch. A boring collumn, and a square shiny screen was all to her (we trees do’t
like calling even lifeless nouns ”it”. It’s rude!). Thus passed the whole day with my repulsion
growing with every second. At nightfall, when the sky pixies started dancing, laughting with
the Moon and making fun of the city trying to immitate them, something wonderful happened.
The ugly tree suddenly lit with a bright and warm light. I couldn’t believe my eyes. A very
own sky pixie. Here in my yard! So beautiful and yet so terrifying! I was just a humble tree,
when she was a Sky Guardian sent here to protect me. I wasn’t afraid of the road anymore.
That night I didn’t sleep. I spent it looking at the marvelous tree, ashamed of my first
thoughts about her. She was the moon and the sky, the echoes of my soul. She was all the
fairytales I couldn’t forget. So misterious. ”Who knows what wonderful secret lies beneath
her light?” I was more curious than ever to find out. All night long I tried to speak to her. But
she never answered, like a beautiful queen which is being disturbed by a stray. Now I was the
ugly one. I loved her with all my leaves and was ready to fall in my knees just for her to
notice me. But she wouldn’t. She smiled and lit the path to all the strangers going to the city,
except for me. And this hurt more than one thousand chainsaws slaughtering me.That night, a
terrible freezing rain started.falling As I couldn’t sleep, I noticed she was uncovered,
unprotected. With a last hope for her attention, I used all of my powers to strech over her and
defend her from the cold rain. I sent her all my leaves even if this meant that I was going to be
exposed. But just when I finished, as suddenly as it started, the cats and dogs rain ended.
I remained streched waiting for her smile. But nothing happened. Again, the sweet
night ruled over the outskirts. Once more there were lights in the sky and lights in the city but
which were the real stars was impossible to tell. But this time it mattered. Anew the jealous
sun showed his face with sharp shiny teeth and scared way all the little shining pixies to dispel
the magic of night. All except one: my pixie. By that time I could still feel the solitude around
me. Suddenly I heard the first car of the morning. As it approached I noticed that it was the
same old blue truck. What were they doing here? Did they come to take my lover away? I had
no intention of letting them. But to my surprise, the men in blue overalls came to me...

Another lovely morning in the city of Nonsense. As usually, Bob woke up very early.
He had a job now and a family to look after. He brushed his teeth with the little toothpaste
left, he put on the dirty blue overall and rushed to breakfast. The fried bacon and eggs were
desgusting. His wife had never been a good cook, but this was the worst breakfast of all time.
As he went to his car, he remembered to take the chainsaw. ”Don’t forget to bring this tree
down! It’s gonna block the banner!” said Tim when two days ago they mounted a new
commercial signpost in the outskirts. Bob forgot about it and he got a warning from his fat
boss which was called ”big fish” because of his huge fishlike lips and his goggled eyes. In no
time he got to the tree and went out of the car. ”Need any help?” shouted Tim. ”Neah. It’s an
easy one!”. As he said this he powered his chainsaw and started cutting the tree down.