The Hill

The Hill

By Thomas Curtis

It was a cool morning. The sun was bright, and the sky was a deep blue. The small hill overlooked a long valley. The slow-moving river winding it’s way down toward the sea. The long green grass grew wild with few other plants. The remnants of a fence, scattered in the fields, could be seen. Off in the distance, a few deer stood and watched nothing.

“Would you look at that?” The voice was so deep the ground shook. A butterfly took to the air from the disturbance.

“Look at what?” a voice answered with annoyance.

“That town is gone, a small puzzlement in the voice. “I must have fallen asleep.”

Looking down the hillside, you could see the skeleton frames of buildings that once stood along the hillside. A few still had parts of their roofs visible. The hint of roads could still be seen, the largest now just a dirt path. Large trees grew at random. The stone chimneys dotted the field like a man-made forest. The telephone poles leaned at odd angles like a row of tumbled dominoes. In the center, a group of large brick buildings, window glass long gone. Birds could be seen flying in and out, a group of their new tenants perched on the roof, watching the sky for danger.

“A sleep, you’ve been a sleep for as long as I’ve been here.” The young voice exclaimed.

“Have I. Would you look at that?”

“Look at what?”

“That river used to be a mighty thing, now it is but a stream. When I was young, its noise would keep me awake. I watched men build boats to sail across. Then they would build bridges to drive across. That river was here long before I was. I wonder what happened. Grew old, I guess.”

“No. Well, yes, it is old, but that’s not why its stature is so slight. They built a dam upstream.”

“Built, who?”

“Man, of course. Who else?”

“Would you look at that,” he rumbled. A rabbit jumped and ran down the hill, not knowing why it was running. Other rabbits started down after it. The group of deer looked over with indifference.” It’s a fine day. I can feel myself drinking deep, would you lo…”

“At what. What is it you want me to look at now?” The young companion said irritably

Grumbling a chuckle, he said, “I was going to say, it looks like I dropped something. You seem a bit irritable today, my young friend.”

“That’s been lying there for years.”

“It seems to have attracted quite a bit of attention. “A group of field mice were running in and out of hollows in the decaying log. A small snake hid under one of the fallen branches

“When I was young, I used to try and wake you. I never understood how you could sleep so long. There was so much going on. Did you know the sun rises every morning, and when it snows, the deer come out and play? I’d go months without sleeping; there was so much to see.”

“How long have you been here?”

“Oh, I’d say twenty or twenty two years now, it's just been the last seven or eight years that I’ve felt myself getting strong. Really settling in. I’ll sleep now and then, but I drink all day. I have got a fine set of roots, why just a few years ago I wrapped them around a large rock, and now it's just pebbles under the dirt.”

“Would you look at that?” The old tree bellowed, sending the deer running towards the thick forest. A large crow in the top branches took off flying towards the abandoned town.”

“Will you stop saying that?” The young tree snapped at him.

The older tree chuckled, it shook the ground, and acorns fell from both trees. A group of wild dogs emerged from the woods to see what was disturbing their Quiet world.

“Stop. You’ll attract those damn squirrels. They climb up and down, chewing on every part of you. They steal acorns right off your branches, then have the nerve to come back and take the ones off the ground. It’s most distracting.

My, my. Twenty years and still you have not learned patience. The old tree sucked moisture from deep underground. “My, that tastes good. Is it just the two of us? I thought I would have made more?”

“No, you did. Fifteen years ago, there was a fire, and it took the others. I was lonely for a long time. If it wasn’t for your green leaves, you’d think you were dead, might as well have been, all the company you’ve been.”

“My young friend, I stood here eighty years and never once did I get bored. I was home to many small animals and all kinds of birds. I used to have young lovers have picnics under the shade of my large branches. This was a beautiful hill. Why, just the other side was a horse farm. They would come by and scratch their backs on my rough bark. Did you miss all of that?” he said with sadness.

“No, I did enjoy it when the town was still here. Things changed after they built the dam, people moved away. No, I was never bored, not really lonely. I have been getting tired. And I do sleep more than I used to.”

The old tree reached for the sky. “Yes, the kids in the town used to climb high up in my branches. And the young girls would throw acorns at them. Not hard and only at the ones they liked.”

A large raked deer walked up and started to rub its antlers up and down the trunk of the young oak tree, scraping off the new down from the base of the antlers.

“arrrrrr Oh that feels good, you know I’m a little tired, I think I’ll take a nap.” With that, the young tree fell right to sleep.

“Would you look at that?” the old tree whispered. Off in the distance, a column of trucks made its way towards the old town, and a group of men were busy working on the old buildings. Others were clearing the ground for new structures to be built. And some of them must have brought their kids. Two young girls and a boy were running through the field heading right for the two trees. The old tree yawned and just before falling to sleep whispered to him, “In time they all come back.”