(3/3) I have a few moments of rest — unfortunately, those minutes do not last, because the teenagers are my next visitors. I can tell they are teenagers because they take out sharp, pointy objects and carve into my trunk meaningless letters, and the shape of a heart. It truly annoys me. Is there not any other way to portray whatever those young humans portray on harmless trees?
After ten teenagers carve their meaningless slop, I have about two minutes before the men and the children return. The men are different from children, as they scrape bark off of my trunk using the same sharp object teenagers use, most likely for some purpose, though my mind cannot figure it out.I suddenly feel the scrape of the man’s knife interrupting my thoughts, and my branches quiver at the pain. The sun soothes the scratches from the other side, and I know that the men will soon be gone, as it is nearly the end of the afternoon. Soon the elderly will come.
Slowly, the sun moves down, and it covers nearly the bottom of my trunk. The man stops cutting bark off of my trunk, the children leave the tree, and I am left in peace. As slowly as the sun moves, my scratches and other wounds heal. By the time the elderly come my wounds will have no more pain. Finally, I feel an elderly — a woman, no doubt, for she is skinny — lean against my trunk and press her wrinkly hand to one of my wounds very gently. It is soothing, although it sparks slight pain. Slowly she sits down and leans her back against my trunk. I feel understanding flow from the woman. She knows how it feels to be old. Perhaps the old woman was leaning on me — but I was leaning on her, as well — her understanding of pain and her sympathy for my wounds. Another elderly — a man — sits against my other side, and I fall into a slumber, comforted by the understanding of the elderly.