Tree of Life

Book I Chapter 02

TREE OF LIFE BOOK I

CHAPTER 02

When Julian got home to his apartment after school that day, his mom told him to change out of his clothes because she wanted to do a load of laundry. He said okay and went into his room. He stripped down to his underpants, took his things into the bathroom and threw them into the hamper. He sauntered back into his room.

Unzipping his shoulder bag, he went to dig his homework out and found it was still a mess inside from earlier. His pens and other things were all mixed up with everything else. And there was this gritty, black dirt everywhere too.

He shook his head. “Stupid Bobby.”

Reaching in, he removed the heavier books first, and then upended the whole bag and shook it. All manners of scattered bits and pieces fell onto the floor and he began to pick them up one by one.

And there it was.

“What the…”

Julian picked it up. He didn’t know what it was. He had never seen anything quite like it.

It looked like a twig. But a really old one. Or a piece of root. Some kind of plant, anyway. Julian screwed up his eyes and peered close at it. It measured about half an inch by three. It was cylindrical, like a twig from a tree, but a straight twig. All worn and rough to the touch, it looked about a million years old. It was black. It wasn’t exactly like dirt, though. The blackness was just its natural colour.

He happened to glance at his hands. His palms and fingers were now covered in black soot. Like the dirt in the bag.

“Ew!”

The grit must be continuously sloughing off the twig somehow…

“Gross!”

He tossed it off to one side and rushed over to the sink in the bathroom. Turning the water on, he tried wiping off the soot with the first spurt of water that came gushing out. But as soon as the soot mixed with water, it thickened and turned into a paste, which made it even harder to get off.

“Julian!” His mother stood in the doorway, hands on her hips. “What on earth are you trying to do in here? It’s such a mess…”

“Mom! I’m naked!” Julian squirmed off to one side.

She laughed. “Yeah, like I’ve never seen you naked.”

“Mom!” He squirmed in the other direction. He slipped and fell to the floor, bum first. His back banged up against the edge of the tub. “Ow!”

His mother gasped and rushed forward. Her hands flew out to him, to his body, to his hands. “Are you all right?”

“Mom…” He sat up. He rubbed his back and flinched from the pain.

“What is this stuff?” In the process of helping him, she had picked up wads of the thick salve that Julian had smeared all over his hands. Now it was all over her hands too. Ignoring it for the moment, she went to help him up.

Julian went to stand up but winced when he put weight on his left leg.

“What’s wrong, honey?” His mom eased him down again. “Is it your leg?” She went to examine it.

“I must’ve pulled it. I’m all right, Mom. Don’t worry. It’s just a cramp.” He took his thigh in his hands, just above the left knee and began to rub it down, massaging it.

“Poor baby.” She joined in too and helped to massage the pulled muscle. “You know you have to be more careful with this leg. The doctor said…”