Felled :: June 1st, 2004 ::
Because of a computer problem I’ve been having lately, as well as the general lack of positive cash flow over the past nine months or so, yesterday I responded to a request for yardwork help that was posted on the student email list at school. The pay would be modest and the work would be physical, but it would be a change from the nose-in-a-book work that I’ve been limited to since September, and would help me feel like I was doing something to help my financial situation.
While driving the back road to the house at which I was to help out, I came across a tree that had fallen in the road. It had fallen on this day, despite the mild temperatures, the warm sun, the utter lack of wind. The tree was not massive, but it also was not small, and enough of it had fallen on the road to block traffic going in both directions. Cars were stopped on either side, and passengers got out to confer with each other on what should be done to solve this problem. Casually dressed yuppies stared at the tree while young girls talked on their cell phones, screaming over the static and bad signals. Someone in the crowd of six or seven suggested that we ask the resident of a nearby house if we could borrow their chainsaw.
A hulking, tatooed man pulled up in his pickup truck on my side of the tree. His wife and adolescent son rode with him. They got out of the truck as well, and she smiled at me. The man, who was bearded and tatooed, was heavy but kept certain muscle tone. His certainty suggested he had some job that involved cutting back trees, digging up taming the wild and making it productive. He walked to the felled tree, gave it a look that said clearly, “I own you,” walked back to his truck, and pulled out a two-sided axe, and walked back.
He looked to the rest of us and said “I usually have a chainsaw.” He then choopped branches from the tree, and with each one the main trunk fell further to the road. The rest of us stood and watched for the most part, but moved quickly to remove the branches as they fell to the road. Soon we could move the trunk of the tree to the side of the road, far enough so we could all pass by. We said our thank-yous, got in our cars, and politely waited our turns to drive past the felled tree and moved forward.
