SHORT STORY (14) THE FRIENDSHIP

THE FRIENDSHIP BY GERARD O’NEIL

The rock and tree had been friends so long that neither of them could remember exactly how they had met. The rock had vague memories of being blown out of a distant volcano and landing in the forest. His friend, the tree was unable to shed much light on the subject as every time she reached old age, and then fell over, to begin her life over again, as a seedling, she lost her memory. The rock did not mind his friends’ loss of memory however as it meant that every five hundred years or so he got to tell over all his old jokes.  He especially loved to tell his friend the tree his favorite joke about “the mountain, the cloud and the bumble bee.” Sometimes if she was very old,  the tree laughed so much she fell over.

The rock liked being a rock as his life was so interesting. At least once every hundred thousand years or so something exciting would happen to him. He could remember as if it was only yesterday, the time a passing dinosaur stood on him. His friend the tree had laughed for centuries afterward. He got his own back a few million years later however when a mammoth decided his friend the tree would make a great back scratchier. The mammoth almost up rooted her in his attempts to alleviate his itch.

One of the good things about being such good friends was that they worked well as a team. As the tree spent most of her time at a high altitude she would pass down to the rock interesting observations about such things as cloud formations, passing birds, the weather prospects etc.  The rock for his part, informed the tree about happenings at his level. Such things as the passing of animals, how much rain had managed to penetrate the forest canopy etc. Most of the shared information was of little importance but it was an enjoyable way to pass the time.

Like most friends they shared things in common. One of these things was their fear of fire! They knew that fire had the potential to put an end to their existence. Its heat had the capacity to shatter the rock into hundreds of little pieces and its flames to turn the tree into a pile of ashes. With this persistent danger they regularly (every five hundred years or so), practiced their fire drill. When it was time for the tree to come crashing down, because she had grown so old, she would deliberately fall across the rock to push him below the soil.

For millenniums life continued its normal routine. Every five hundred years or so, the tree would complete her cycle and come crushing down on top of the rock buying him in the soil.  As the tree began to grow again from a seed she had previously deposited next to the rock, her roots would intertwine around the rock to bring him back to the surface.

Then one day something happened that would change the friends’ harmonic life style. A rumor began to spread far and wide amongst the trees, that a new species of creature had been spotted.  When the tree heard about this from her other tree friends’ she immediately passed the news down to the rock. She informed him that this new species apparently resembled a monkey, but walked upright. Everyone who had seen them thought the new species as being extremely ugly!

During the following ages the ugly creatures were seen more and more frequently  and in ever increasing numbers. They were perceived by those who saw them as being extremely dangerous as sometimes they carried fire sticks.

One day a light haze appeared on the horizon. As the day wore on it became thicker and darker. Everyone realized that this could mean only one thing FIRE! Soon news arrived that a huge fire had broken out and was advancing in their direction. But the worst part was that for no apparent reason the fire had been deliberately lit by the ugly creatures.   

As the day progressed the raging flames entered the  valley and advanced in direction the dirction of the friends. They watched helplessly as their neighbors’ were consumed by the flames or shattered into thousands of tiny pieces by the heat.

Then the inevitable happened! A spark ignited the tree and soon she was totally engulfed in flames.

“Now,” shouted the rock!

With an almighty roar the tree came crashing down on top of the rock burying him in the soil out of reach of the flames, just as they had practiced so many times in their drill. In a few short minutes what remained of the tree was reduced to a pile of ashes which the wind soon scattered.   

Some month’s later it began to rain heavily. Without the protection of the forest the rain washed away the soil from around the rock exposing him. Upon reemerging he saw to his horror that the surrounding landscape was totally devoid of any living thing.

Soon after the rains had passed, the ugly creatures began walking to and fro spreading a new type of seed from a bag. These seeds sprouted into grass. The rock had never seen grass before but thought them to be an extremely boring species. They spent their time gossiping amongst themselves. They never talked to him as they thought they were superior to all other living creatures!

“Oh how I miss my friend the tree,” the rock thought sadly to himself.

Once the grass was established, the ugly creature brought  a strange beast to live in the valley.   It ate grass and was so stupid it allowed the ugly creature to steal its milk!

“Oh how I miss seeing animals such as pumas and deer running freely in the forest,” the rock thought sadly to himself.

Sometimes the ugly creatures would sow a different type of seed. This plant spoke a strange language which the rock could not understand, but most amazing of all was it needed the ugly creatures to help it survive.  The moment its seeds were ready to fall to the ground, the ugly creatures came and collected them. Some they fed to the beasts they stole milk from, and some they ate themselves. A very small percentage were saved and sown on the ground the following year.

“Oh how I miss the conversation of intelligent plants,” the rock thought sadly to himself.

From his position on the treeless hillside the rock had a privileged view of all that was going on in the valley. Occasionally a passing bird would drop a seed from a distant forest, but if it had the good fortune to germinate and grow, moment it put its head above the level of the grass, the ugly creatures came and killed it. They exterminated the plant either by cutting it down using a slasher or by pouring chemicals all over it. The ugly creatures loved to use large quantities of chemicals. They did not seem to care that when it rained this chemical washed into the streams and killed the fish that lived there.

“Oh how I miss seeing fish swimming in the stream,” the rock thought sadly to himself.

Then one day one of the ugly creatures came and stood on the rock in order to get a little higher so that he could more easily bang the sign he was carrying into the ground. The rock could not understand the words on the sign but the gossiping grass told him it meant that the valley was for sale. The rock wanted to laugh aloud.

“How was it possible to sell something that did not belong to you,” the rock laughed to himself?

He watched fascinated as a few days later, the ugly creature returned with two other ugly creatures, obviously a couple. They shook hands, exchanged some pieces of paper and then took down the sign.

A few days later the ugly couple began to  strange things. They expelled all the beasts that allowed their milk to be robbed, and then enclosed the valley with a fence preventing there return. The rock was fascinated and became curious to see what the couple was going to do next.  In fact for a long time they did nothing. This caused the grass to become worried and agitated.  It soon became apparent that without the beasts constantly eating them, the grass lost their ability to remain eternally youthful.   As the grass reached maturity it died. When all the grass was dead, the ugly couple returned. They brought seedlings from a distant forest and began to plant them all over the valley. Soon a new forest was beginning to  grow where there had always been forest.

The rock could not have been happier. He once again had someone interesting to talk too. When the seedling closest to him had grown into a tall tree he asked a favor of her. He asked if she could grow a root in his direction and roll him slightly. She was delighted to oblige. In a very short space of about fifty years she finally moved him ever so slightly. In doing so the seed he had been protecting  since the great fire,  was able to geminate.

“Hello rock,” the rocks lifelong friend the tree said! Did any interesting happen while I was asleep?

      





COMPREHENSION CHECK
                                                                                                              

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 

(1)    How long had the rock and tree been friends?

   Neither of them knew.

(2)    What was the rocks favorite joke?

  The joke about: “the mountain, the cloud and the bumble bee.”

(3)    Why did the rock like being a rock?

  The rock liked being a rock, because every hundred thousand years or so,     

   something exciting happened in his life.

(4)    What happened to the tree when the mammoth used her as a back   

   scratcher?

  The mammoth almost up rooted the tree.

(5)    What did the rock and tree have in common?

  They liked to talk to each other, and they were both afraid of fire.

(6)    What name do we know the ugly creatures go by today?

  Men!

(7)    How did the forest catch fire?

  The ugly creatures deliberately set the forest ton fire for no apparent reason.

(8)    Did the tree succeed in protecting her friend the rock from the fire?

  Yes. She pushed him below the surface by falling on him.

(9)    What happened to the other rocks during the fire?

   As they were exposed, the heat from the fire shattered them.

(10) How did the rock remerge from the soil without the help of his friend the  

        tree?

        The rains washed away the soil from around him.

  (11) What is the modern name of the beast which allowed the ugly creatures to    

         steal its milk?

         A cow.

(12)  What is the name of the stupid plant that needed the ugly creatures help to grow?

        Grass.

(13)  What would happen to the seeds passing birds would drop?

          If they managed to take root and grow they were killed, either by being cut  

          down or having chemical poured on them.

 (14)  How were the last ugly creatures different from the others?

          They expelled the cows, fenced the valley, they then allowed the forest to  

          regenerate.

(15)  Where was the tree hiding while the landscape was being rearranged?

          She was hiding under the rock as a dement seed.

(16)   What did the tree want to know when she returned?

          If anything interesting had happened while she was had been asleep?

(17)  Have you ever planted a tree?

(18)  What are you doing to make this world a better place?

                                                                                                                                                      

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