Maple Tree's

Jack was having trouble remembering things recently. Maybe it was the stuffed pressure he felt in his head, or the dreadfully stale air in the small hospital room they had put him in, but time just had started to feel fluid to him recently.

...

Boredom… It was definitely boredom. His bones ached to be outside. To feel some of the icy winter air in his lungs. The kind that burned as you inhaled, but still felt so fresh. It was a Monday night too, He was missing the schoolyard pickup game all his friends would play after school. He wondered if they would be able to keep up their winning streak without him.

…

They probably wouldn't.

…

To hell with this.

Jack watched the nurses out in the hallway pass by. The small window to the hallway he had been afforded was too small see through from his bed, so he had to use his ears. He slowed his breathing and began to concentrate on the sounds coming outside his room. A few muffled voices, The occasional patter of steps, a sneeze from the other room over.

It seemed like hours went by before... He finally heard it. A slight shake of the room as a door was closed outside. This was his chance. With some effort, he lifted the covers off of him and rolled out of bed. He felt a slow ache in his joints as he extended his feet to the floor. A familiar dull pain engulfed his body. He had no doubt that the nurses were right. He was sick. In fact, he had never felt so sick in his young life, but being in this suffocating room would do nothing to cure him. He couldn't help the compulsion he felt. It was like drooling over the pastries in a bakery window. You knew it was not the right thing to do, but that magnetic feeling in your heart pulled you closer to the decision.

A smile crept across his face. This would be fun. His mother would be furious, but this would be fun.

In a silent smooth motion, Jack stepped towards the entrance to the room and peered through the glass. Just as he suspected, The door closing was the receptionist going to the bathroom. He snickered at his own genius. Carefully, He slipped out the door and into the waiting room. Lucky for him, there was no one there. Why would there be? It was the middle of the night.

Looking for an elevator, he was surprised to find that he was on the ground floor. It was odd he didn't notice this earlier but, He didn't think too much of it. It just meant an easier time for him to escape.

Jack moved to exit the building, but before he did, he eyed the full coat rack next to the receptionist desk. Another sly thought crossed his mind. It wasn't really stealing if they were going to eventually find him and force him to give it back.

He snatched the biggest, most cozy looking coat on the rack and hauled it around his shoulders. The fuzzy interior of the coat felt itchy on his skin, but comfortingly smothered him in a blanket of warmth. This would do nicely.

Finally prepared, Jack let himself slip out the door and into the night. A strong wind threatened to push him back into the building as he exited. It felt like he should easily be able to battle it, but he was apparently weaker than he thought.  His muscles ached to be back in his warm bed with the covers over him, but quitting was far behind him now. With some effort he stuck his head down and plodded forward.

The surrounding courtyard of the hospital was a dimly lit circular garden of bushes and trees. Large oaks lined the outside of the garden providing some respite from the wind. Weathered wooden benches sat on the inside of the circle with views of the surrounding bushes. In the center of the courtyard, there was a sprawling maple tree providing moonlit shade for most of the area. Its shallow roots spread out across the entire garden lifting pieces of concrete pathways and invading the space of nearby shrubs. Its leaves varied from spring green to dirt brown and everything in between. It had only just begun to shed leaves and yet had already lined the whole area with a veritable explosion of warm colors.

As Jack walked, he started to feel a burning sensation in his lungs. Perhaps it had something to do with his sickness? He wasn't really sure. Either way, He found a spot under the maple tree and sat for a moment to rest. A warm film of sweat lined his forehead. It was much hotter than he thought it would be. Wasn't it supposed to be winter? He took off the jacket and dropped it into a nearby bush. He was sure whoever gave it to him would find it eventually.

The wind started to pick up and cooled Jack down. It passed over the film of moisture that had formed on his arms. He put his back to the tree and took a long deep breath. Warm earthy flavors of maple mixed with dirt and wood filled his nose. As he exhaled, he felt the stress and aches leave his body for just a moment.

Peace. Fresh air. This is all he wanted. Just a bit of fresh air.

“Jack?”

An older woman, perhaps in her forties, was standing in the moonlight.

“Hello?” Jack was weary of this stranger that knew his name. She didn't look like a hospital worker. In her hands, she had a plastic shopping bag, weighed down by some unknown contents.

“Are you… Alright?” She said sheepishly. Her silky brown hair rippled in the wind.

There was some unseen connotation to her words. “Yea… Just a little sick is all. Wanted to get some fresh air.”

He half expected the woman to move on, but instead she sat down next to him.

“Did you not hear me? I'm sick! I don't want to give it to you.”

He could smell her. A mix of lavender and lemon. The smell tugged at his brain. Something about it seemed familiar.

“And what is ‘It’? What are you sick with?” She questioned

“Well…” He wasn't really sure to be honest. Nobody had told him to his memory. “I don't know.”

The woman gave him a soft smile. “That's alright”

Jack shifted a little away from the woman. Mother had warned him of strangers in the night… but there was something eerily familiar about this woman. Was she an old teacher? A friend's mother? She knew his name, so he must know her from somewhere.

“Do you know the story of this tree?” The woman spoke while rustling through her plastic bag.

“No” 

“It's a funny little tale.”

An awkward silence surrounded them. Then suddenly, She started to speak.

“This town used to be a lot smaller than it was now. Where we are sitting used to be a huge open orchard owned by a couple brothers. Both brothers had inherited the land from their father when they had turned 18. Now the first brother, We can call him Brother Maple, wanted the land to be a sprawling maple orchard. Brother Maple knew the trees grew well here and felt they were the most profitable for the pair. In his head, he could imagine the carefully planned plots maples creating miles of sprawling forests for him and his brothers descendants to cultivate and profit off of for generations. However, His other brother, We will call him Brother Lemon, had a different idea. Brother Lemon was a bit more of a risky soul. He wanted to plant lemon trees.”

Jack cocked an eyebrow “Lemon Tree’s? This far north? They wouldn't grow!”

The woman smirked “That is exactly what Brother Maple thought, but Brother Lemon was adamant. He wanted to plant lemon trees. So the two brothers argued, and argued, and continued to argue until one night they came up with a solution. The brothers would split the land, and cultivate it separately. They agreed that after 40 years they would tally how much money each had made off of their tree’s and whoever made the most money would cut down the others trees and plant their own for both their descendants to profit off of.”

Jack leaned in.

“Brother Lemon was confident he would win. He knew it would only take a few years for his tree’s to bear fruit, and several decades for his brother's trees to be suitable to tap. He also knew that in this valley, there is an abnormally long warm season, and that theoretically, lemon trees should be able to thrive here, despite the latitude.”

“Brother Maple, Who had counted on the fact that his brother's foolish lemon trees would die when it reached winter, was surprised to find that his brothers trees were producing large fruits within a few years. Worrying that he might lose their wager, he came up with an alternate plan. His young maple trees had yet to be tapped, but they were still beautiful things to behold. Sculptures of wood that bore beautiful colors in the fall. Brother Maple noticed that his trees would attract visitors, and eventually, tenets.”

Jack saw where this was going

“Before long, Brother Maple's side of the land was a burgeoning town. Its streets were lined with beautiful golden maples and filled with young families who had been drawn by their beauty.”

“Brother Lemon saw this success, and began to wonder if he had made a mistake. His lemons were world renowned, yet his land was empty except for his lemon tree’s. He would walk to the edge of his half of the land and see the lights of his brother's new town. He was convinced that his lemons were the best for their family, but he also missed his brother. He was…

The woman hesitated for a moment

Lonely”

This tugged at Jack's heart a little. He felt for the Brother Lemon, but in the end he had sealed his own fate.

“40 years came and went. By all rights Brother Maple should have won. His new town was a roaring success, but Brother Lemon had done something neither of them had anticipated…”

“He sold the land,” Jack whispered.

“Just That! He sold his half of the land, and by their agreement, had made just a bit more money than his brother by selling his trees. The day after their agreement was finished, Brother Lemon hired a team to cut down all the Maple trees on his brother's land. The new inhabitants of the town complained, but ultimately Brother Maple kept to his word. One by one, all his Maple trees were to be cut down”

A maple leaf fell into Jack's lap.

“After days of cutting tree’s Brother Lemon finally came to the final maple tree in town. The one we sit under now.”

A rush of air swayed the tree back and forth, a drizzle of leaves patterned the courtyard.

“Upon looking at the tree something stirred in Brother Lemon's heart. Wasn't the whole point of this wager to secure a better life for their children? Brother lemon had not only forsaken that, he was taking his brother's happiness too. A terrible feeling welled up in Brother Lemons heart. A pressure built up by years of loneliness and regret. All at once, Brother Lemon apologized to his brother for his pride, and begged for his forgiveness. He had let the two grow old without each other and had not only grown apart from his brother, but had grown to resent him.”

“Expecting nothing but grief from his brother, Brother Lemon was surprised to find his brother was more than willing to forgive him. He offered his estranged brother a place in his home, and an opportunity for the two to be together again.”

…

The woman stopped, leaving only the wind to speak in her place.

“What about after that?” Jack asked “What happened after that?”

“That's a different story hon”

Something else stirred in Jack's heart. “Why was Brother Lemon so adamant on farming lemons anyways? Why risk it, when he knew the maples would work?”

She responded by pulling a lemon out of her plastic grocery bag. “See for yourself”

Hesitantly, Jack took the lemon. It was quite large, just like the story's lemons. He squeezed his thumbs into it to split it open. A familiar motion. A zesty aroma met his nose and mixed with the maple around him to create a new more interesting scent. Slowly, He sunk his teeth into the flesh and took a taste.

The sharp acidic sourness of the lemon made his cheeks tense up. Instantly, Jack was transported back in time. Orange light flooded the room and coated his skin with a soft blanket of warmth. Trickles of sweat beaded down his spine and stained the back of his shirt making it damp and sticky. Not a pleasant feeling, but it was made nostalgic by the scene in front of him. Half a lemon sat in front of him on a table, the other half was in the hands of his brother. He had just taken a bite of his half, and His Brother was laughing at the twisted face he made when he tasted the tart fruit. However, it was made worth it, when it was his brother's turn. In one quick motion, he took a bite of the lemons flesh and made a face that was most akin to a fish. Jack's side hurt as he struggled to take a breath through his laughter.

And then he was back. Under the maple tree, with his niece. She had stood up and was offering him a hand. 

He needed it, He was getting tired.

“Alright” She said “I think your little escapade has gone on long enough. Sleep will do you good”

Jack didn't want it to end just yet. “Can we…Can we at least take a walk around the block?”

She sighed, A conflicted look on her face. “Fine… but just the block. I will not be caught out past 2 am with you again. That nurse of yours already gives me dirty looks!”

Jack smiled and took her hand. The two of them walked toward the street.

It was lined with young maple trees.