A Good Life? by Christine Reeves

They say I am dying. I overhear it in the whispers of those around me. It is not unexpected, all living things must die, yet I do not feel my time has come. I am not ready to go.

On reflection I can see how easy my early years were. As a youngster I had few responsibilities, just grew and enjoyed being alive. As time passed I became aware of life’s problems and learnt to appreciate the value of family.

When the world around you is changing, you do everything you can to survive and our close-knit community always tried to support one another. That was not easy. Taller and stronger than my neighbours, it was inevitable I would became a leader and accepted the role I was destined to fulfil. We experienced many threats. I tried, yet to my shame I was often powerless to provide the protection demanded. Our numbers decreased.

We all need food. But the greed and ambition of others changed our way of life irrevocably. We starved. I watched as my family, my friends, slowly succumbed.

Now, old and gnarled, I am the only one left here. Many so-called experts have examined me, say my time has come, that I am diseased. They say I have had a good life. How can they? No one knows what my life has been like.

What chance did I have? Poisons affected the skies, chemicals infiltrated the water, contaminating the food I needed to live. Development wrecked my surroundings.

I was once a mighty oak, the greatest tree in the forest. For centuries man threatened and attacked me and mine. My entire community has gone. Now man has decided my life must end too and I must be felled.

A good life?

Says who?

Christine Reeves has always wanted to write a novel, so far an unfulfilled ambition. To help develop her skills she started Creative Writing classes, but soon realised a novel was a distant dream. She now concentrates on flash fiction and ‘very’ short stories.

Photo – Carol-Anne O’Callaghan. 

Help save some oak trees currently under threat. Full details at http://saveleatherlane.org.uk/ 

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