The Tallest Tree in Town

The workmen had the children stand aside. They were all excited, the younger ones running around screaming, the older ones talking amongst themselves in hushed voices, there was a scuffle at one point between two of the younger kids that amounted to nothing but a couple of grazed knees and they stood apart afterwards, the only sullen faces there.

"Okay, kids, watch out. This fella's comin' down! There's gonna be a whole lotta dust, so brace yourselves!" the workman went back to his colleagues and soon the chainsaws started and the smiles of the children stretched hard across their faces. Even the two fighting boys cheered up. The tree had been around for a long time. It was well over a hundred years old, probably the tallest tree in town. There had been many accidents surrounding it over the years, some of the boys watching had fallen out of it more than once. Some of the workmen had fallen out of it when they were younger too. But now, it was coming down. The council thought it was too dangerous.

The children coughed and laughed as the dust rose around them and the sound of the chainsaw stopped. The noise that old tree made as it fell was awesome, the immense creaking, the snaps, the moans, you could hear history shouting out above the roar of the machinary and the yells of the the kids. The dust settled and everything was still. The children just stood and stared at the body of all their summers past. Noone would climb that tree ever again now. The workmen began cutting it up, slicing it into smaller pieces before throwing it on the back of the truck. One of the boys suggested ice cream. The children walked away.