Kite Tales

I began life in the dark sun-warmed soil where Squirrel buried me with his winter food supply. As the snows melted I began to stir and send down my roots. I stretched my needles and branches to catch the sun. I look up and see my parents towering above me and wish to grow tall like them and look out at the mountains, streams and meadows. Years pass and I am nearly grown as tall as Mom and Dad. Today there are visitors in the forest. They came with trucks and saws. Someone is cutting into my trunk and I'm getting dizzy. I'm crashing down through my brothers and sisters and lying flat on the ground. My dreams of gazing across the vistas of mountains are dashed forever. If I'm lucky I could be made into lumber to become a home for a human family. I would like the laughter of children and keeping them warm and sheltered from the rain and snow. No, they are passing the sawmill and dumping me at the pulp and paper mill. They chop me in pieces and run me through the grinder. After I am mixed with other ingredients I get pressed and dried. I could still become something exciting like a coloring book or children's stories, even a family portrait but no; I'm being made into a big roll of newsprint. I'm going to be a newspaper and then be thrown away with the trash. All my hopes are dashed. After I'm folded and thrown on the doorstep, I'm opened and read. I like the soft hands that gently turn my pages. What's next? I'm not thrown in the trash but cut and folded and fastened to crossed sticks. Some of my pieces are twisted and tied on a long string which trails from the rest of me. Outside I go and off to the park where the warm sun and cool breeze lift my spirits. Oh my, the wind lifts me above the grass. High into the air I soar above the trees up with the birds. I can see forever. The mountain vistas, the meadows and streams all within my view. I'm taller than the tallest trees and I have a human family that shares my fun. This is better than my greatest dream.