Landscaping

I grew up in a house in Mississippi. A year or so ago I went by it, and the present owners had cut all of the trees down that I used to play in when I was a kid. All of the trees. The whole yard had trees. Oak trees, and pine trees. They are all gone now.

I used to climb this old Magnolia tree that my folks planted when I was around two years old. It grew like wild fire and by the time I was able to climb it, it was thirty feet high with strong thick branches. I would climb it and swing from it like a damn monkey. When I was up there I would pretend that no one could see me. That I was the look out. That I was a soldier, or lion, or something hiding. Something ferocious. It made me feel like I had a place to go that was mine.

My dad also built us a fort that went up three stories, with bunk beds and electricity in those same trees. There was even a working phone, and a cable swing that ran a hundred feet or so to another tree. It allowed me to be full of dreams. It allowed me to live in a fantasy world.

There were also some bushes that ran along the fence on the side yard that were thick and you could just disappear in them. I used to hide in there and make believe I was a hunter as I tried fruitlessly, to kill birds with my Daisy pump pellet rifle. All of this happened in those trees.

All of those trees are gone now.