The Falling Tree

“Hey,” I called. “Hello? Hey. Hey!” – Bloody hell – “Timber!” I yelled at the top of my voice.

The man ahead of me on the path of the National Trust property finally turned to face me.

“The tree,” I said to him. “That one beside you? Look out. It’s coming down.”

I indicated the big old eucalyptus, titling towards him, slowly pulling up its roots, disturbing the ground.

It looked like it was gathering momentum.

That tree was definitely falling.

The man gave me a double thumbs-up and moved towards the tree with his hands out . . .

*

Ever since that day, I’ve questioned what he was possibly trying to do.

The only answer I’ve ever been able to come up with is that he thought he’d be able to stop the tree from falling; that he could hold the tree up.

Maybe his intention was to plant the tree back in its hole, and that it wouldn’t just crush him.

Whenever I do think about it, I think about what a stupid a thing to do that was.

As I said in my statement to the police, off the record, I thought he might have been a bit unhinged.

That tree was a real loss.

vss #27