Tree Talker

Jennie rubbed her hand along the oak tree’s bark. She felt the smoothness of the groove where her hand had traced the length of the trunk so many times over the past thirty-five years. Her family had received the tree in celebration of Jennie’s birth, and she and the tree had been constant companions ever since.   

“I’ll miss you,” Jennie thought and pictured herself far away from the tree with tears in her eyes. She pictured herself in her current shorts and t-shirt, but then corrected her image to long shirt and pants with hiking boots to protect herself from Amazonian bugs. 

She felt a strong question from the tree.

 “Oops, shouldn’t have shared that one,” she thought to herself. How did she explain to her tree that she was travelling thousands of miles to talk to another tree, a tree that was more famous and much older than her tree? She had told her tree about vacations to the beach and mountains and even the Magic Matters theme park, but she just had a nagging feeling her tree might not appreciate this adventure. She had never shared her superpower of communicating with trees with any human and she was unsure how the tree would respond. Now she had made it worse by springing the picture on the tree with no explanation.

She envisioned a picture of hiking in the mountains through rocky paths with spindly trees and buzzing insects and sent it to the tree. 

The tree sent back a picture of an insect with a question and a feeling of cold. Jennie responded with a slightly guilty affirmative and unclasped her hands from the tree before she could make the situation worse.

Jennie arrived at the airport two hours before her flight. She wanted to make a good impression with Dr. Rivers, and she was taking no unnecessary chances of a missed flight. Jennie opened her notebook and studied the project information. Dr. Rivers had discovered a new type of actinomycetes bacteria in the soil around a particular tree in the Amazon Rainforest that could degrade almost any type of plastic in a matter of days. This tree was the last known remaining tree of its species, and Professor Rivers so far had not found the bacteria around any other tree. Dr. Rivers hoped to isolate the genes from these bacteria and transform them into E. coli where they could be further multiplied and manipulated. Jennie had just completed a graduate program in bioengineering, and had seen Professor Rivers featured at nearly every major conference in her field over the past five years.  Now she had the chance to intern under her for three months.

A chill ran through Jennie. She was depending on her ability to communicate with the tree to gain insight that would impress Dr. Rivers. She had used her ability to talk to trees for her own social purposes, and occasionally in finding a lost object, but never before for her personal gain. She had even quieted the trees in their attempts to help her in games of hide and seek as a child.

Nearly twenty-four hours later Jennie’s plane landed in Manaus, an hour drive from the research site. Groggy and aching from the cramped position, little sleep, and tension about the whole trip, Jennie gathered her belongings, changed into her protective Amazon clothing, and found a taxi. 

Stepping out of the taxi, she surveyed her surroundings. Birds twittered, frogs croaked, and water trickled. She could taste the freshness of growth in the air, and everywhere green punctuated with bright colors greeted her. Jennie allowed a breath of moist air to fill her. There was so much to explore, but first she needed to rest so she could take it all in.

The taxi had left, and a white wooden building was the only form of civilization in front of her so she entered. 

“Welcome,” a woman at a neatly organized desk that nevertheless appeared to contain encyclopedias worth of data said. “You must be Jennie.”

“Yes,” Jennie said.

“I’m Professor Rivers. I’m so glad your travel worked out. It can be difficult to get here. I’ll take you to your room for tonight and we’ll go to the research site tomorrow.”

“Thank you,” Jennie said. 

The next morning Professor Rivers greeted Jennie with a warm smile.

“Good morning,” Jennie said, forcing the words to leave her mouth.

“I hope you had a good night’s sleep.  You’re in for a fascinating day,” Professor Rivers said. 

“Thank you,” Jennie replied. Somehow that didn’t seem like quite the correct response. Professor Rivers’ kind manner was already making Jennie want to impress her even more.

Jennie and Professor Rivers walked for half an hour until they came to somewhat of a clearing in the forest. A tree that had to be at least 80 feet in diameter stood in the clearing and the soil around it glittered. Professor Rivers began to talk of her discovery first that these actinomycetes bacteria created the sparkles in the soil and second of her discovery that a plastic bottle lost in a rainstorm had been half decomposed when her team had come back for it the following day. She then launched into a discussion of the metabolic pathways that might be involved in such a process. Jennie listened in awe. This discovery could mean so much. 

“You keep looking up at the trees,” Professor Rivers observed. 

“I’ve always liked trees,” Jennie answered. 

“Then let’s go look at our famous tree,” Professor Rivers said. “It is quite unique. Maybe you can help me figure out why the bacteria grow around it.”

Jennie nodded. All morning she had been lagging behind Professor Rivers but she had to restrain herself to keep from rushing past her now. Jennie stared upward at the tree towering far above her and completely blocking the view in front of her.  She noticed the patterns in its bark and the holes where creatures had made their homes. She studied the ground around the tree while Professor Rivers expounded on its species and estimated age. Hesitantly, Jennie reached out and touched the tree. Instantly, a cannonball of information flooded her mind, from rainstorms and floods to sloths and frogs and even to rocks and sparkles. 

“You look confused,” Professor Rivers said.

“Just thinking,” Jennie said.

“We’ve had a lot of information for today. Let’s get back to the shelter. There will be plenty of time to start work tomorrow,” Professor Rivers said.

Jennie wanted to stay at the tree, but she didn’t want to seem too crazy on the first day so she followed Professor Rivers back to the shelter.

The next morning, Professor Rivers assigned Jennie to catalog sparkle density at varying distances from the tree. Jennie obeyed but stared longingly at the tree each time she changed locations. At lunch, Professor Rivers suggested they eat under the tree and leave some plastic to observe its degradation.  Jennie positioned herself where she could touch the tree with her left hand while eating. As they sat down, Jennie wrapped her arm around the tree. It was an awkward angle, but possible for her to eat with her right hand still. The tree again flooded her mind with images, this time of fire and snow, squirrels and anacondas. This time Jennie waited until a pause and sent the tree a picture of two trees just alike with a question. She amended the picture to include three, then four, then eight, then many trees just like this tree. The tree responded back with sadness and sent Jennie a picture of a tiny version of itself with wilted leaves. The images from this tree were so much more poignant than images from her tree and Jenny felt like wilting herself. Jenny sent back another question and the tree showed a picture of soil abounding with sparkles in the top layer but less colorful beneath. The tiny tree was unable to reach below the sparkles. The tree then showed Jennie the image of moving the tiny tree with a question. 

“Jennie, Jennie, are you okay?” Professor Rivers was asking. Jennie turned her attention to Professor Rivers and nodded. “You were making the most terrible faces. Did something on the tree bite you?” Professor Rivers asked.

“No,” Jennie said. She paused, wondering how this was going to come out. “I think there is a little version of this tree that could grow elsewhere if we moved it. There’s too much of the bacteria in the top layer of the soil and it’s smothering the little tree from growing.”

Professor Rivers screwed up her face. “Where?” she asked. 

“I don’t know,” Jennie said. 

Now Professor Rivers looked even more confused. “Then why do you think it’s there? Do you need a break for the day?”

Jennie looked at Professor Rivers and took a breath. She had always wondered what it would be like to share her superpower with another person. Professor Rivers seemed kind. Maybe if it sounded too crazy, Professor Rivers would dismiss it as a joke.

“I can communicate with trees,” Jennie said. She continued before Professor Rivers could interrupt. “I put my hand on the tree and we send pictures back and forth. I can also feel emotions and questions.”

Professor Rivers nodded. “Can you ask the tree where this little tree is?”

Jennie mentally hit herself. That would have been the obvious question to ask the tree.

“Yes,” Jennie said. She put her hand back on the tree and sent it a picture of the small tree placed at various locations around them. The tree sent back a picture of the small tree followed by a zoomed-out picture of the small tree. Jennie thought she recognized the area. 

“I think I know where it is,” Jennie said. 

“Then let’s go find it,” Professor Rivers said. 

Jennie led them to the spot the tree had pictured and found a wilted tree with one leaf that resembled the large tree’s leaves. 

Professor Rivers looked at Jennie. “Thank you for sharing your gift.  It will do much good in the world.”