Ever since she was an acorn she had been waiting to be able to see above the tower. She had stretched and stretched, and now as she was an old matron of 300 years, she was getting close, maybe just another 50 years, and she could claim title to the bell.
She was no longer the slender beauty of her youth, but she had gained the grace only an old oak could have.
Never forewarned she heard a chainsaw and her life of struggle was ended. After all, the little dying parish needed all the churchyard space they could get.
Copyright Claire Fuller
This week I got the idea immediately. I love constructive feedback, so any way to strengthen the story I appreciated. This one is 100 words exactly.
Friday Fictioneers is an international group of bloggers who write a story on the same picture every week. Rochelle Wisoff-Fields manages us excellently and we are having a lot of fun. Go check if you are interested or go directly to the stories by clicking on the blue guy below.
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August 21, 2013
Björn Rudbergs writings 
awww a little sad and sweet. a great story about sacrifice.
Progress or its opposite has a price…
I’m really enjoying this week’s stories, some great variety so far. I love this one, very creative.
I think a picture like this encourage variation
The irony of it… something living has to be killed to accommodate the dying.
Indeed… that was an idea that came late in the progress.
That is tragic. I wish it could have reached its destination. We all strive to do so but circumstances, we don’t have any control on, can end it all.
And for an oak it’s 300 years
I really enjoyed this little story and the second paragraph, or sentence I thought was masterful
Thank you so much…
Great little story. So tragic! Just one suggestion…in you first sentence, you put a “he” in there…I think you meant “she”.
Thank you, I missed that…. I changed the tree from he to she… I think it made it better…
Somehow, I suspect that you are correct…for whatever reason, a “he” tree wouldn’t have seemed so tragic.
Nice take on the prompt, darling. This photo is going to lend itself to some good stories, if yours in any indication.
I hope so to…
Oh the image of the tree being cut down when it was almost there! Tragic. I could just hear the firing up the chainsaw too. Great story!
Thank you.. yes 300 years of struggle in vain..
Booo! Leave the tree alone. Err, I killed a tree too.
I have done that too…
Damn, Bjorn, that was brutal.
… a good story should have a sting….
Fabulous – I wondered who would be the 1st to write from the p.o.v of the tree! Sad ending, but one that a dying parish needed to action. Another great flash Bjorn…. mine’s not the same this week! 😉
Ah… I look forward to you… and of course someone has to take the three..
Although, ironically I was going to post earlier and I would have been number 10. I needed some time to think about an idea.
Got me with that one! Heartbreaking for me too because I was rooting for the tree all that time. Very well-told.
Lovely. Maybe she’ll have a good afterlife, if her wood is put to good use. Maybe even become part of the church?
The tree was soooo close. Maybe it was just as well; she might have been very disappointed to see there was nothing special on the other side of the tower.
Dear Björn.
At least she had 300 good years before feeling the bite of the chainsaw. Rather sad.
Shalom,
Rochelle
Dear Bjorn,
Well, at least she wasn’t (courtesy of your literary license) struck by lightning. A nice tale from the POV of the oak. She might have heard chainsaws, but had never felt their bite. For a minute there, I thought I saw a Nissan Maxima in the parking lot.
Aloha,
Doug
Enjoyed the story and the twisted ending.
Only possible improvement I notice is you used the word “she” many times. Perhaps, a name in a couple of spots to spruce it up (no pun intended).
Scott
Mine: http://kindredspirit23.wordpress.com/2013/08/21/friday-fictioneers-ff-dispelling-the-evening-rated-r-8222013-horrorsuspense/
I agree with the overuse of she, but I prefer not to give her a name, maybe I would prefer to rewrite it to remove some of the instances…
Another good thought.
Aww, that’s ruthless, no respect for the elderly, great perspective Bjorn.
The poor tree! Very interesting anthropomorphism! I would never have thought to write it. Definitely a unique perspective and a great story.
Hi Bjorn,
Innovative of you to focus on the tree. Most of the stories center around the church. Amazing how fast a tree that has spent hundreds of years growing can be taken down. Good story! Ron
So close – only another 50 years. Life can be so cruel.
Great take on the prompt.
Shame on the tree-killer! My dad was a tree surgeon back in the day, but he was looking after trees, not cutting them short in their prime of life!
I can never see the removal of a healthy and mature tree as progress. If we want to have any nature left we need to look at the process differently,
Tragic end to a dream! Love the way its phrased
I didn’t see that coming – to struggle for so many years and then be hacked down so close to her goal.
Great story.
Poor old girl, all those years growing to be hacked down like that. It could never happen where I live, all the oaks are protected. Good story Bjorn. 🙂
Great choice of POV! I liked the sense of its struggle, perhaps so intense the chain saw was such a surprise. Great job.
Here’s mine: http://unexpectedpaths.com/friday-fictioneers/necessary-sacrifices/
Oh, Björn! I could feel the pain she was feeling! A Very touching and effective way of telling your story.
Oh, poor tree! 😦 I love how you pull the reader in, though, and get them so emotionally attached to an oak tree in only a hundred words, and then manage to make her felling so devastating. Good work!
This made me sad. To think that she never reached her goal, even after 300 years.
Absolutely wonderful story..birth and death, hope and sorrow, doubt and acceptance, and all rolled up in 100 words..bravo!
So close and yet so far. I wonder how many trees have had their dreams cut short by a chainsaw?
Clever take on the picture! Sad too, but I enjoyed it a lot.
Oh that’s wonderful. Love that you told the tree’s story and very clever line about the ‘dying parish’.
a tree that perish with the parish .. (maybe I should have used that as a title)
You wrote about the oak, too. 🙂 So sad to see them cut down. Our neighbors had a large one removed, it was hard to see it go. We had planted rhododendron beneath it, but they couldn’t take the environment left by the oak’s demise.
So sad that the tree got so close and then had to be chopped. Nice angle, Bjorn! I like the melancholy mood of this.
Melancholy is my trademark
Loved it. I wanted to do something with that tree, but nothing came to me. Great job.
Big, big…awe gee.
Nicely told from the tree, though.