When Will was sent to fetch his sister from the park, he didn't mind going because his father had begun to cry again, right there in the middle of making supper.

Will knew just where he would find Patty, too. A certain gnarly old maple sat near the top of the hill, overlooking the town of Clovis, and the Little Sappersink River that crawled through the middle of it as if ashamed to be seen. Though late summer had come, it was too early for the maple's leaves to have turned blood red and begin to drop onto the white and yellow roses that had been planted beneath it.

Patty, Will, and their younger brother Jerry had all climbed that old tree plenty of times. Jerry no longer did, of course, having died, and Will rarely did anymore. He had long since gotten over the novelty of seeing his own house from the maple's upper branches. Patty, though, often could be found among the branches, when not sleeping or in school. Will never understood why she spent hours up there staring into the sky, surprised by the passage of time when Will came to fetch her. Will hoped he wouldn't be that weird when he turned thirteen.

As Will's boots crunched up the gravel path through the park, he noticed two men standing among the roses, George Geburtis and Kennedy Stone, Clovis's only two full time police officers, other than the sheriff. Will approached cautiously.

"I'm not going up there to get her. You go," said Officer Stone, scratching his scalp with its thin red hair.

"Do I look like I'm in any shape to climb a tree?" Officer Geburtis patted his round belly.

"I'll flip you for it," volunteered Officer Stone, digging into his pants pocket for a coin.

Will gave them wide berth, slowly circling the tree. Whoever was up there, it sure wasn't Patty. The outbursts of giggling weren't hers. So who was it? Will only got a good look at the tree's current occupant after circling nearly three quarters around it. He recognized the old woman as one from the rest home in the cul de sac at the end of Elm St. It was Mrs. Cleveland, thought Will, Clovis's premier music teacher for years before her stroke. She had taught piano to both of Will's parents when they were kids.

Officer Stone lost the toss.

"At least give me a leg up," he said.

Officer Geburtis rolled his eyes, then bent down with hands cupped together.

Officer Stone stepped up, his long arms reaching for the branches above him. He put a knee on Officer Geburtis's shoulder, which resulted in a guttural groan from his heavy, red faced partner. Trampling the roses, Officer Geburtis fell against the trunk of the tree. His lanky partner's feet kicked wildly, struggling for purchase.

"Hey," shouted Officer Geburtis, ducking out of the way with his hands above his head.

"Help me, you fat moron," his partner shouted back.

Will and Mrs. Cleveland both laughed.

Officer Geburtis grabbed his partner's feet and pushed them upward, which was no help at all. Officer Stone scrambled onto the branch, mostly with his arms, then lay along it, clutching tightly and gasping for breath.

"Please don't come get me," said Mrs. Cleveland weakly. "Not yet. Just let me watch for a little while longer."

"Go on," said Officer Geburtis as he rubbed a finger inside his collar. "Go on and get her."

"I'm going. I'm going." Officer Stone inched his way to a sitting position. With exaggerated slowness, he turned himself around and hugged the trunk.

"We haven't got all day," said Officer Geburtis.

"You want to climb up here and do this?"

"You," said Officer Geburtis, suddenly pointing at Will. "Move along. Can't you see we're busy here?"

Will nodded, and slowly retraced his circle around the tree as the lanky policeman crept upward and the former music teacher occasionally cackled.

"Please, not yet," pleaded Mrs. Cleveland. "It's been so long. So long."

"Jesus," shouted Officer Stone. "Oh my god."

"What is it?" asked his earth bound partner.

"It's it's like it's like one of those paintings."

Officer Geburtis rolled his eyes.

"How about you admire the view another time? We're here to get the old thing out of the tree before she breaks her neck, remember?" Then he muttered something that Will didn't hear, but guessed from the tone that it wasn't too nice.

"It's horrible. I'm coming down."

"They're beautiful," said Mrs. Cleveland, who then giggled.

Branches shook as Officer Stone made a more rapid descent.

"What are you doing?" asked Officer Geburtis when his partner fell on his butt amongst the roses.

"Ow ow ow." Officer Stone leaped up and brushed thorns from his seat and hands.

"What are we supposed to do now?" Officer Geburtis had his hands on his hips.

"I don't care," said his partner, "but I am not going in that tree ever again. It's like looking out over a painting by oh, what's his name? Hieronymus Bosch. That's what it was like, only it was real."

"Are you nuts?"

"I'm not going back up there."

"Wheeeee," said Mrs. Cleveland.

"You!" Officer Geburtis pointed at Will again. "I thought I told you to get out of here."

"Yes, sir." Will ran all the way home.

Patty was already there, and supper was ready. His dad seemed as happy as he ever did since Will's mother went away.

Will and Patty lay in the field behind their house and looked at the stars. They had dragged out pieces of scrap plywood as bedding sometime after their father left to visit the widow Macready for the evening. The warm, gentle breeze contained a promise of frosts to come.

"You've been pretty quiet, Will."

"I guess."

"Is there something you want to ask me?"

He rolled to face her, propping up his head on his hand. The way Patty had changed in the last year intrigued Will. She seemed so grown up now, when she wasn't off daydreaming, that was.

"What do you see?" Will finally asked, determined to approach the discussion like an adult as well.

"You mean when I'm in the maple tree in the park?"

"Yeah."

Patty sighed. "What do you see, Will?"

"The town. The fields. Stuff like that."

"Is that all?"

"I see our house. Sometimes it looks like the bathroom light is on, even when it isn't."

"How do you know it isn't?"

"One time I saw it when nobody was home, and when I got there the light was off. Something must shine on the window, I guess." He rolled onto his back again.

"You think so?" Patty asked. They were quiet for a while before she continued. "You ever see anybody through the window?"

"Patty! I don't peek through windows."

"Sylvia Dunn says you do." Patty smiled.

"I don't!"

"She says somebody's been peeking in her window when she gets ready for bed."

"It wasn't me. Besides, she leaves the shade part of the way up. What does she expect?"

Patty laughed until it made her cough. Then she sat up and took a cigarette from her shirt pocket. "Did you ever wish you could look in the bathroom window that night?"

Will knew which night she meant, the night Jerry screamed and screamed in the bathroom. He was alone in there with their mother for a long time, and they never saw him alive again.

Patty lit the cigarette.

"Where'd you get that? One of Dad's?"

"Yeah," she said. "He doesn't miss 'em, not if I'm careful. Want a puff?" She held it out to him.

"Uh, okay, I guess."

He took the cigarette gently, like he was afraid it might bite him. He held it a moment, then sucked on it briefly. He coughed, somehow getting smoke in his own eyes. He handed it back to her and coughed a few times more.

"So do ya?"

"What?" he asked.

"Wish you knew what happened that night?"

"Yes. No. I guess."

He lay down again and closed his eyes.

"Yeah, me too," she said.

They watched the night sky for a while. Patty finished her cigarette. Will spotted something moving, a high flying plane, or maybe a satellite. He tried to follow its progress all the way to the horizon, but blinked and lost sight of it.

"You didn't answer," he said.

"What do I see from the maple tree?"

"Yeah." He rolled over to look at her again.

"Tomorrow." She smiled. "I see tomorrow."

"You mean you see the future?"

"I guess. I've seen the kids I'll have some day. And I've seen what happens to the town when big companies buy all the land."

"When Mrs. Hartwell climbed the tree and thought the town was on fire, was that the future?"

"Nah, I don't think so. I think people see what they want to see, or what they need to see."

"I didn't see anything," he muttered.

"Maybe you saw something, but you just didn't know it. Maybe you're not ready for it."

"Maybe." Will yawned.

"I just know there's sure a lot of people sitting up in that tree lately."

"If you can see the future..." began Will.

Patty after waiting for him to continue, then said, "Yeah?"

"Then you know what happens to all of us."

"Some."

Will yawned again.

"Does mom ever come back?"

"No."

"Does she really live with Aunt Sarah?"

"No."

Will was thinking about his next question when Patty suddenly shook him.

"Wake up. Let's go in the house."

Will shivered in the sudden cold.

As Will trudged up the gravel path early that morning, he saw trash strewn all over the park. Flowers and shrubs had been trampled. There were tire tracks in the grass and toppled police barricades. People milled around even at this hour, a few perched in the branches of the crimson maple.

There had been much discussion around town about the tree's properties. Will knew because he had heard them recounted between his father and Mrs. Macready. Some people didn't believe in it. Others saw it as a sign from God. Some called it a trick to bring in out-of-towners to spend money. Big city reporters mocked the small town rubes.

Will saw scorch marks as he approached the tree--someone clearly had tried to damage the maple. The whole western side of the tree was blackened. The largest, lowest branch had been broken off, perhaps from the weight of too many climbers. In fact, many of the branches had been broken in the past weeks, either accidentally or by souvenir hunters.

The maple looked weak and sad to Will. He made a wide, slow circle around it. He had to avoid a tent that someone had erected nearby; snores emanated from within. No sign remained of the rose bushes that had recently ringed the tree trunk.

"Who could have done this?" asked a woman Will had never seen before. Despite the chill, she wore a tee shirt with a maple tree air brushed onto it. Those she spoke to, including Officer Geburtis, looked baffled.

"Some bikers were through here yesterday," said a thin mustachioed man in a dark suit.

"I heard tell of some religious wingnuts who thought this was the work of the devil," added an older man in a parka.

Will inched toward the ladder someone had leaned against the maple.

"Oh no you don't," said Officer Geburtis, blocking the way.

"But I'm ready," said Will, holding up the binoculars that hung from his neck. "I finally know what I want to see."

"I don't care," said the officer. "It's not safe. No one else goes up."

Will looked at the folks still in the tree. He'd seen the pair of teenage girls with blissful expressions around town. The woman nursing a baby under a wool poncho was a stranger.

"They'll be coming down soon," said the officer. "Then that's it."

"What do you mean that's it?" asked the woman in the tee shirt.

"Just what I said. It's not safe."

"You can't do that." She scowled.

"Why don't you let the boy go on up?" said the man in the parka.

"I finally know what I want to see," said Will. "It's very important." He looked over his shoulder toward his house, but of course couldn't see it from ground level.

"Yeah, let the boy go," said the woman.

Others were beginning to gather. Officer Geburtis grabbed hold of the ladder.

"I'm the law here, and I decide what's what."

"It's not your tree," said Will.

"It belongs to all of us," said the woman in the tee shirt.

"It's on public property. I'm the only representative of the city here."

People began to slowly close in on Officer Geburtis.

"Let the boy in the tree," said the man in the dark suit. Others nodded or muttered in agreement.

"I'm warning you. It's not safe." The officer cleared his throat, then pushed the ladder away from the tree. The woman in the tee shirt squawked as it just missed falling on her.

"You did that on purpose!"

"Everybody just stay back," said Officer Geburtis, hand on his gun, back against the tree.

"Don't do anything stupid," the man in the dark suit warned.

Officer Geburtis fumbled with his holster, the crowd closing in on him. Will hung back, sorry that he had gotten involved in this. Was learning the truth worth all this trouble?

A white Suburban roared toward the crowd and dug groves in the turf as it ground to a halt. It was the town's all purpose rescue vehicle/snow plow/paddy wagon.

"What's going on here?" said Sheriff Harding as he vaulted from the vehicle. The Clovis fire truck followed and volunteer firemen poured out. The crowd disbursed, but didn't go far. Officer Geburtis hurried to the sheriff's side.

"Let's get the rest of these folks out of the tree," the sheriff told his men. "George, move these people back from there."

Will watched from a distance, hoping that things would settle down later and he'd get his chance to climb the tree.

With a taller ladder, the men could easily get the others out of the tree. The woman with the baby came down willingly. The girls tried to ignore the firemen at first, until one of their fathers appeared and ordered them down.

"What are you going to do?" called the woman in the tee shirt when the sheriff opened the back of the truck. He came back with a chainsaw.

"No, you can't," she said.

It roared as he started it up, belching blue smoke. Will took a couple of steps toward the tree, but stopped.

"Keep everyone back," the sheriff yelled over the clamor.

The woman in the tee shirt cried as the chain bit into the maple bark, spitting bits of bark in all directions. Others turned away.

In about ten minutes the maple was down and all the large branches severed.

Some spectators sang a hymn. Others left, taking their tents with them, but leaving their trash behind.

"That's all folks," said the sheriff to those few who remained, including Will. "Everybody go home."

The firemen packed up their ladder and went away. Sheriff Harding and Officer Geburtis climbed into their truck and left. Only Will and the sobbing woman in the maple tee shirt remained.

Spring came, Will turned nine years old, and the widow Macready had practically moved in with Will's father. Will sat in the upper branches of an oak about two blocks from home. It was the wrong tree, in the wrong direction. He couldn't even see the bathroom window of his house, which was just as well. He would never get to see what had happened there anyway. Life marched onward, he figured, sometimes leaving its mysteries unresolved.

Construction equipment had been moved into the old park. Soon the ground would be broken on the new Clovis Centre Mall, part of a ballyhooed scheme to revitalize the town. Will's father said that the town council passed a resolution to name it the Maple Hill Mall, but the foreign corporation that bought the property disregarded the suggestion.

Will didn't really care one way or the other. From his perch, he could see the bedroom windows of Patty's one-time friend, Sylvia Dunn, and of Rachel O'Dell, who worked in the bank. He also could see his own bedroom window, and the maple cuttings that he had rooted in peanut butter jars in the window box.

The End

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