Tree of Wishes

Bad Internet Press: An Anubis Perspectve

Being a person and a dog are two completely different experiences. For example, when I jumped into a pile of crunchy, dead leaves for the first time as a dog, bathing myself in shades of browns, yellows, and oranges, I thought to myself, "This is the best day ever!" Then the next day, when I was strolling past the pile as a person, I shrugged and thought, "Meh. Nothing special." That's weird, isn't it? Lots of things are weird, like squirrels burying acorns they're never going to find or how I already knew what 'hibernation' means. It's obvious the former is because squirrels are dumb and should be chased on sight, but why do I know all of these big words?

Maybe I'm thinking about it too much. As long as I get food and belly rubs, I should be happy, right? I never bothered to ask questions when I was a normal dog. I didn't have to consider how uncomfortable others might be when I sit on their lap in the wrong form either. It's really hard, but at least I get to enjoy these experiences as I am now.

One of the fun things about me living here is all the people I get to meet, which is as easy as hopping over the walls and seeing who's on the other side. Not only am I doing my duty as a guardian by checking out who's stopped by, but I also get lots of attention and pets! On one certain day, there was a guy with thick glasses and a camera dangling from his neck standing outside. He was fidgeting with his phone when I went up to greet him, eagerly waiting for him to acknowledge me. Much to my disappointment, his eyes refused to lose their focus on whatever he was doing, not even when I nudged his beige pants with my nose. I would have talked to him if I haven't been instructed not to talk to visitors unless it was necessary.

By the time he bothered to put his phone down, Cypress had arrived at the gate to unlock it. I was planning on calling him 'master' since he was the one taking care of me, yet he insisted that I didn't. I don't understand much of what he does, like why he bothers to unlock the gate before asking questions, but maybe it's to show trust.

"Are you here to make an offering today?" Cypress asked. He always asked this first. In general, how he handled each visitor was very systematic and robotic. Another weird quirk of his.

The guy shook his head, then pulled a business card out of his red shirt pocket. "No, I'm here to write an article on the tree. If you'd like to schedule an interview, I'd be more than happy to come back another day."

Cypress took the card and examined it, and while I was expecting him to quirk an eyebrow or something, his face remained the same as usual. "I see. We can do an interview right now. I can answer as many questions as you like."

"Great!" the guy said, probably not expecting this but excited to go through with it nonetheless. He beamed and raised up his camera. "Do you mind if I take pictures too?"

"Go right ahead."

"Great!"

The two walked together down the cobble path, chatting about while the guy took a million pictures of the tree at every angle, which left me having nothing else to do but follow behind them. The guy started with the basic stuff like how the tree worked and how the ritual took place, then he got to the more personal questions.

"So Mr. Sylvan, what do you know about the history of this tree? Has it always been here?"

"It could have been," Cypress answered, deliberately leaving the answer up to his own interpretation. "My family has been guarding this tree for generations, yet we're not entirely sure if its origins ourselves. The archives date back a thousand years, but more could have been lost to time."

"I can see that. Where do you think it came from then?"

"The legends say that the tree came from the seed of a larger, more magnificent tree. Which one is unknown. For all we know, it could be from another world."