Dreams of Helping Trees
“Welcome campers to Camp! This year we are hoping you will have as much fun as ever if not more!”
All the campers cheer. Donna feels a little excited. “I am so glad I trusted that guy to bring me here.” Her mind flashes back to the sudden death of her parents which brings a tear to her eyes. Then she thinks about running away to the streets and fending for herself. Then a man came and offered her a trip to camp and the other runaways said they had been there and it was fun.
And now, here she was at camp. She tunes back into what the leader is saying, “Campers, up the hill are your cabins. Posted on the door is a list of names. If yours is on it go inside and find yourself a bunk. Shortly your counselor will show up and you will head back down to here to eat and play.”
After a few cabins, Donna finds the one with her name on it. She walks in on a conversation.
“I hope I get picked.”
“Yeah, me too.”
The door closed behind Donna and the two other girls stop talking and look at her. “Hi, I’m Donna. I’m in this cabin.”
“I’m Rachel,” says the first speaker.
“I’m Debby,” says the other.
“What were you guys talking about?”
They wave her over and start talking in whispers, “Every year some of the campers disappear, and some come back that haven’t been seen for awhile. The counselors are hush hush about it, but once Carmen who disappeared from my cabin came walking out of the woods a year later. I hadn’t seen her at opening or anything. I only got a few words with her, but she said that she got picked. Then at the end of the week when we load into the buses, I checked everyone, but she wasn’t on any of them.”
“Yeah, last year the same thing happened to me. I’m not sure what’s going on, but I hope it happens to me.”
Donna gets caught up in their excitement and picks a bunk near theirs.
Moments later, Shawna, their counselor, walks in and shortly after that, the rest of the girls fill the cabin. Shawna does a roll call and all the girls are there.
They leave the cabin and for the rest of the day, they all have fun. After dinner, Donna’s stomach doesn’t feel good. She manages to find her way to the nurse. “How may I help you?”
“My stomach doesn’t feel so good.”
“What’s your name?” Donna tells her and the nurse gets a little more excited. It’s hardly noticeable. The nurse disappears into the back room.
Without meaning to, Donna sees her name on a paper with a star next to her name. The paper is faced away from Donna so she had a harder time reading the other names. But one thing she did notice was that her name was the only one with a star.
The nurse returns and makes Donna feel better. They small talk during the healing and finally as Donna stands she asks the question on her mind, “Why does my name have a star by it?”
“Uh, well, it tells us that … that… that it’s your first time here at camp.”
Donna doubts whether that is true, but she can’t remember if she said it was her first time or not. She decided that it wasn’t important, so she let it drop.
She headed back to camp to bed. Things were uneventful until the next day. She was walking along with Rachel and Debby all in their swimsuits and towels to the beach.
“Leah,” Rachel whispers, “is that Leah?”
“Yeah, it looks like her,” agrees Debby.
“Who’s Leah?”
“Someone from last year, and she’s coming out of the woods.” They rush up to her. “Leah?”
“Yeah? Debby, Rachel, I haven’t seen you in a year.”
“Yeah, us too. How have you been?”
“Wonderful, you?”
“It’s been a little rough this year with Dad, but I’m glad I’m here.”
“Yeah, Grandma just doesn’t understand me, but this place takes all that away for awhile.”
“I so understand. I’ve been waiting a year to get in this lake. Let’s go.”
“Yeah!” agrees the others. As they walk, Leah notices Donna for the first time.
“Excuse my manners. My name is Leah.” She extends her hand.
“I’m Donna. This is my first year here.”
“Nice to meet you. You found two great friends.” They reach the water and splash in. They swim and play including a four way splash war.
Exhausted, they plop on to their towels to sunbathe. The rest of the time is restful and uneventful.
On the last day after all the girls have left the cabin, Shawna pulls her aside, “Donna, there’s something I want to show you.”
“What?”
“This camp, well, it’s for resting and relaxing and for helping kids get away from the situations they are in.”
They travel deeper into the forest. Donna is unsure if she could get back if she wanted to. Shawna leads on as if she has gone this non path many times before.
“Well there’s this other thing we do for some kids. The ones who have no family at all, like you.” She pauses and then continues, “There’s a project we have them work on, if they want to during the year, so they don’t have to go home at the end of camp.”
“What is it?” Donna asks a little curious.
“I’m taking you there, but it looks a little scary for first-timers like you. I’ve been a part of this for years. It’s perfectly safe.” Donna looks around and some of the trees don’t look quite right, but she can’t figure what. Shawna slows.
“We are almost there. Please don’t run when we get there. Let me explain what’s going on, and if you don’t want to help, then I’ll lead you back to the bus.”
They step into a clearing of sorts. Donna suddenly sees what’s wrong with the trees. They are human shaped. She gasps.
Shawna tightens her grasp on Donna’s hand. But where the face and head should be is a hole. “Please come a little further in so you can see it in progress.”
They walk further into the clearing passing trees that are looking almost alive to some that have faces. “Hi, Shawna!” they greet her.
“Hey, everyone,” she greets everyone.
Most say, “Good.” One says, “I’m on the move. I’ll be out soon. It’ll be nice to move again.”
“Donna, I’m gonna need your help. Please don’t leave. Ty is coming out, and I’m going to need to help holding her.” Donna nods as she looks at Ty. She almost looks like a living tree except she isn’t moving. Donna looks again and sees some of Ty’s hair and neck, which she can’t see on others.
“While we wait let me explain exactly what’s going on. Loggers came through here and severely deforested the trees here. We wanted to replant trees here but with all the stumps it would be hard to uproot all the stumps and plant new trees. A scientist up here came up with a plan to solve both of our problems. He made a liquid that we pour on people…”
“Called a super fertilizer solution.” Calls a nearby tree.
“Yes, that makes the tree grow fast around the person. They become the tree’s skeleton while it grows. When it can support itself, it sends the person out like Ty here.”
Donna looks up to see Ty visible to her shoulders. “How long does it take?”
“It depends on the person and the tree. Sometimes it takes as short as 8 months. Other times it has taken 2 years. But usually it’s just under a year.”
“Like with Leah?”
“Exactly. Let’s go visit her while we wait for Ty.” They leave the full and growing clearing to a barren clearing. There they find Leah I her bathing suit covered in a green liquid. Brown has covered her feet. She looks up.
“Hi, Donna!”
“Hi, Leah! So that’s why you came out of the woods.”
“Yeah.”
“Why are you doing it again?”
“Are you kidding? This is great! You can relax and talk and enjoy God’s great creation while being a part of it and you still get to play as much as you want when you are done.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah, and if you do it enough, it helps you lose weight. I may not fit this bathing suit when I get out.”
“Shawna,” calls a loud, nervous voice.
“Ty needs us,” Shawna explains.
“Don’t be nervous,” Leah whispers. Shawna and Donna rush to Ty. She is mostly out. But it’s hard to tell because from her shoulders down is covered with a single piece of wood. The two lift the wooden shell with Ty in it out and set it on the ground. Shawna claws at Ty’s neck and shoulders breaking off pieces of wood. Donna joins in and soon Ty is in her bathing suit. She stretches and heads into the woods.
“She’s going to the lake.” Shawna explains. “Most people do to stretch afterwards.” She turns to look at Donna as a bus horn breaks the silence. “That’s my signal. I need a decision now. If the answer is no, I’ll take you to the bus. If yes, we can take as much time as you want.”
“It’s perfectly safe?”
“I’ve done it over 20 times myself.”
“OK,” Donna concedes. Then she brightens, “If I go now, then I’ll be done the same time as Leah, right?”
“Probably.”
“Can I be near Leah?”
“That’s the next clearing we’ll be filling.”
“Let’s go!”
After a few moments, Donna is on the nearest stump facing Leah in her own bathing suit. Shawna pours the liquid on Donna. She feels it slowly crawl down her body covering her whole body except her face, but when it touches the stump she feels a little connection.
“Feels good, right?” Donna nods. “Hold on to that feeling, because the next couple of days will be a little painful until you can rest your arms on your bark. Oh! Don’t touch your sides.” Donna looks down at her green tinted body and then at Leah’s. The brown has started up her legs while her own is growing between her toes. “Sorry, I should have said that.” Time passes slowly.
At night, she is fed dinner. The next morning after breakfast, Leah is covered to her chest and has raised her arms to her sides. Donna’s waist is covered. At lunch, Leah starts crying and two counselors come and hold her arms up. She sighs. “Donna, your turn to lift your arms.” Donna looks down surprised. Sure enough it’s covering her chest.
“I didn’t notice.” She lifts her arms. After a little while her arms get heavy. I’ve got to hold up my arms. A little longer and her arms start to burn. “How…do…you…handle…the…pain?”
“I imagine I’m somewhere else.” Some help comes and holds her arms up. Relieved she looks and sees Shawna and another counselor.
At dinner, Leah’s helpers leave and through the dim light, Donna sees Leah is covered from neck to toe. “We have to be careful for the rest of the week, or we will break some off.”
Shortly thereafter sunlight wakens her. She looks around carefully and sees that her helpers disappeared during the night. She doesn’t mind though, her arms are being help up by the bark.