Start your story with two people planting a tree together.

Posted in Short Story on Dec 2, 2022

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✍️ 50 stories

“Doug” by Wendy Kaminski

Submitted to Contest #175

My husband and I found Doug at a Home Depot Arbor Day event during our first year in Washington State. Doug and his fellow twiglings were enveloped in plastic and laid out on a table en masse, free to all takers in celebration of the day. Though he didn’t have a name at that time, he was a Douglas Fir, and so - naturally - he became known as Doug before we even left the store.We weren’t there that day for that purpose, so I spent the entire trip home Googling the care and feeding of your new baby fir. We had bitten off a lot more than we mig...

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“Seeds” by Zack Powell

Submitted to Contest #175

Content warning: Allusions to teen pregnancy and child loss *** The tree, like most things, is Beth's idea. It is August, late summer, too hot for TV and too cool for bathing suits. School starts again next week, fourth grade. Now is the perfect time, Beth says, to plant a tree. "They need sunshine to grow, Annie," she adds, holding her watering can in front of her like a Halloween bucket. The two of them stand at the edge of Beth's unmown backyard, out where the grass makes their knees itchy, out by the fence that's missing one of its...

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“Your Elm Tree” by AnneMarie Miles

Submitted to Contest #175

When I was still in my mother’s belly, my parents planted a tree together in the backyard of their new home. They hadn’t even moved in any of their belongings into the house yet, but my mother had insisted: “She is already sprouting her little limbs, Mason! I want her tree to start sprouting, too!”With both their hands cupped together and full, my parents both dropped a hearty scoop of fresh soil onto the seed. My father patted it down with a shovel he’d borrowed from his dad. My mother gave it its first water using her old iron watering can...

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“Personal Growth” by Matt Francis

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #175

The edge of my spade finds a crack in the dirt, and very carefully I push my weight down onto its handle, driving the blade deeper and deeper into the ground until it is covered completely. Switching my grip, I pull back on the handle and remove a small pile of earth from its shallow, pitiful hole, dumping it unceremoniously to the side. I wipe my brow of the sweat that is already starting to form there. Small, devious, and glistening clues giving me away as somebody new. Somebody who has never done this part before. But it's not the digging...

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“An Object of Surpassing Beauty” by Delbert Griffith

Submitted to Contest #175

2018“Keep on digging, son. You’re almost there,” Jax Gershon said. He watched as Jeremy dug out a spacious hole near the creek behind the house. He looked at the other seven crepe myrtle trees that dotted the landscape in the area, all planted in the last five years.Jeremy wiped the sweat from his brow and kept on digging, though he was less than happy about it. Why can’t the fools just ground me instead of this shit?The sun was already making life miserable for Jeremy, despite it being only March. The trees had already leafed out, but the s...

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“A Carefully Manicured Lawn” by Haley Roeder

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #175

Hestia and her young neighbor slide the oak sapling into the gaping hole dug in the earth.“Hold it straight, now,” Hestia says gruffly as she shovels dirt around the root ball.“I can do this part, if you want? I’m younger and, uh,” the neighbor trails off as Hestia gives her best scathing look.They finish the task in silence.---40 Hours AgoHestia opens another Diet Coke, the crack and fizzle a welcome sound to her ears. She knows it will be the death of her, but it is her vice of choice, and she will gladly take it to the grave. When the aci...

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“Scraps” by Elisa Stone Leahy

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #175

SCRAPS By Elisa Stone Leahy There were only three of them in the backyard, but it was cramped and crowded. It defied physics how cramped it felt, Rain thought. Perhaps it was because they were sharing it with approximately two million mosquitoes. More likely, she decided, it was because the smell of manure on Uncle Roy’s mud boots and Ms. Watson’s cheap perfume mingled into an oppressive cloud that weighed down the air around them. The backyard was only the size of a large bathroom, or a garden shed, but on this end-of-summer day it seeme...

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“Victoria” by Grace Cawley

Submitted to Contest #175

Brum-brum-brum-brrrrrrr, the chainsaw of the construction man begins to cut down my favorite tree. My beautiful cherry weeping tree. She had baby pink flowers sprouting from her ends. She had strong, sturdy roots. She had spots of shade that held touches of sunlight. She had a large trunk and a flatter spot on one side of it that had been molded there after generations, perfect for my back to rest against. She was so tall, and so magnificent, I swear she touched the heavens with her tallest branch. She was the perfect tree to get comfortable...

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“Cherry Blossom Tree” by Chirag Gandhi

Submitted to Contest #175

As the sun began to peek over the horizon, two friends, Sam and Sarah, stepped out into the backyard of their childhood home. The dew on the grass sparkled in the early morning light, and a gentle breeze rustled the leaves of the trees that dotted the landscape. Sam and Sarah had grown up in this house, and they had always dreamed of turning the small patch of dirt in the corner of the yard into a flourishing garden. Today was the day they were finally going to make that dream a reality. "Are you ready to do this?" Sam asked, looking over ...

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“It Starts With a Song” by Jess Newkirk

Submitted to Contest #175

The icy wind blew the dead, orange leaves around their feet. They stood quietly, with the shovels in their hands. A single oak tree stuck out of a burlap ball between them. “It’s too cold for this,” Aimee mumbled. Caleb chose not to respond to her. He looked down at the ground and rolled his eyes. He didn’t want her to know that she was annoying him. Today was supposed to be a healing day. “You can wait in the car where it’s warm,” he sighed. “I can dig the hole.” Aimee watched her brother as he put his foot on the head of the shovel and...

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“Aperol” by Jennifer Cameron

Submitted to Contest #175

I birthed you, bottle fed you, bathed you and then I buried you. At 28 your pulsating heart had decided it had been broken too much to meld itself back together. You always had loved too hard and too fast. And now I broke like I was showing my solidarity with you, whilst my fingernails collected dirt in half moon shapes. The earth was neat and compact, and he was sat on the grass adjacent to me, his legs crossed and eyes wet. It had actually been his idea; Ashton had said we should plant a tree in your memory for future kids to climb the s...

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“Shay and Azure” by Tamarin Butcher

Submitted to Contest #175

Shay stabbed Azure's shovel into the ground with grim determination, but it was difficult to make any real progress with the rain beating down relentlessly, causing mud to slide back into the hole almost as quickly as she dug it. "This is ridiculous," muttered Azure, fighting with the second shovel. His second-best shovel, as he was at pains to point out. "All for a fucking tree..." "You have a better idea?" snapped Shay. There was still a heavy sadness sitting on her heart, but ever since their adventure in the forest, it had eased, imp...

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“There's Magic in the Little Things” by Gabrielle Briana

Submitted to Contest #175

As the orange blood Moon reaches its apex in the star- kissed sky, Zilina holds her palms to the Heavens. She kneels alone in a wide clearing nestled amongst the dense trees. The flattened land is littered with the splintered remains of the trees that once stood here. Zilina whispers prayers of gratitude, harnessing the Moon’s power. I want to help. Suddenly, Zilina’s process is interrupted by the soft sound of Dollie’s voice in her head. Zilina closes her eyes to block out the distractions. Please. Zilina’s eyes fly open. She replies throug...

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“From Seeds of the Great Oak” by Kimberly Walker

Submitted to Contest #175

From seeds of the Great Oak With every grade advancement, my daughter’s homework challenges me as much as her. Now in Science class, they are learning about plants; we will research the oak tree for her project. Wow, in Virginia alone grows, 139 variations. The oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus of the beech family. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus (stone oaks), as well as in those of unrelated species such as G...

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“How to Name a Tree” by Dylan Mass

Submitted to Contest #175

“Good afternoon class. Today we are going to be discussing your senior project. You have three categories to choose from and anything goes, as long as it remains within the boundaries of your category. Any questions?” “I have one,” A blonde girl, roughly seventeen, with gray eyes, and not the British grey, but the American gray. Her face is always set in a permanent smile, which has led people to calling her a clown, even though nothing about her resembles a clown. She is also one of thousands of descendants of Genghis Khan, the great milita...

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Start your story with two people planting a tree together.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 50 stories

“Doug” by Wendy Kaminski

“Seeds” by Zack Powell

“Your Elm Tree” by AnneMarie Miles

“Personal Growth” by Matt Francis

“An Object of Surpassing Beauty” by Delbert Griffith

“A Carefully Manicured Lawn” by Haley Roeder

“Scraps” by Elisa Stone Leahy

“Victoria” by Grace Cawley

“Cherry Blossom Tree” by Chirag Gandhi

“It Starts With a Song” by Jess Newkirk

“Aperol” by Jennifer Cameron

“Shay and Azure” by Tamarin Butcher

“There's Magic in the Little Things” by Gabrielle Briana

“From Seeds of the Great Oak” by Kimberly Walker

“How to Name a Tree” by Dylan Mass

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story about someone who volunteers to read for others at the local library, and how it impacts their community.

Write about a character who discovers something while raking leaves in their neighborhood.

Write about a professional who is called back to serve their community after retirement.

Write a story that includes someone saying, “Thank you for that.”

Contest #175

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

176

Contest entries

105

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

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