The Hanging Tree

Chapter 3: The Tree

It feels as if I have only just closed my eyes and nodded off when my alarm clock seems to blare in my ears. Between the complete darkness and the grogginess from just waking up, it takes a few moments to shut off the alarm. But it's long enough to cause my mother, an unfortunately light sleeper, to stir in her sleep. I have to sit still and quiet rather longer than I would have liked, but I have to be sure that no one knows what I'm up to. As I pulled on some clothes, I began to feel much more alert.

When I'm finally at the door, the adrenaline coursing through me is nearly unbearable. I have to remind myself quite often to slow down and be more quiet, and once during my route I saw an enforcer do a double-take as if he had seen my careful movements, but, luckily, I had squeezed into an darkened doorway, out of his line of sight just in time. I cut through alley ways and shadows of building to avoid unwanted attention.

After what seems like an hour, I find myself on the edge of a thin stretch of wood. I make my way through the tangled undergrowth more quickly than I had allowed myself to travel through the streets, no longer fearing detection. Another 10 minutes of hiking brought me within sight of our oak tree. I tried to make my footfalls a little lighter, I always did like to give Harvester a little fright whenever the opportunity presented itself. Even though she was expecting only me, she never feels completely alone, even she is.

I walk up behind a large neighboring oak just before ours and collect my breath. After few moments, and some deep breathing, I jump from behind the tree and say, perhaps slightly louder than I should have, "What are you doing here?!"
She twitched so badly that she nearly fell from the high branch where she had been roosting, and she yelped as if she had been injured. I fell to the ground laughing. "Not funny, Gizmo!' I heard her hiss from her hiding spot in the tree as she clutched her heart, which I am sure is now beating a quite a bit harder than it had been just a few seconds ago.

I finally regained my footing and I began climbing the thick limbs. As I drew eye level with Harvester I put on my very best innocent look and settled myself on a fork adjacent to hers. "I am very sorry." I said, my voice cracking on the last word as I'm trying hard to suppress the laughter that is threatening to rise again.
"Yeah, yeah... I'm sure you are," she said with a very obvious roll of her eyes. With the last sigh of laughter my face changed to a more serious expression.
"Okay, so, you wanted to talk about what I heard in the changing rooms, right?" I began.
Her smile faded from her lips and she grew pale again. "Yes. Tell me everything," she said, shifting her position on the branch so that she is now directly facing me.
"Well, it all started with some guy..." I began. What did I hear Planter call him? Fisher?" I said, mostly to myself. "Anyways, it all started when Fisher began the usual grumble about being underpaid, and a few more guys joined in. But, out of nowhere, Planter says 'If we don't like it, why don't we do something about it?'" I had to pause because, between her sudden intake of breath and her pallor, I was afraid she was going to fall out of the tree. I put a hand on her shoulder to steady her, and nodded, indicating that I should continue. "After that Planter had said 'Why don't we take some action?' then one of the new guys, Baker, broke it up by saying that we all knew that if we tried anything they'd have us executed before it made a difference," I finished.

Harvester took a moment to stare thoughtfully at the stars peeking out from behind the thin clouds that were beginning to form. She finally looked into my eyes and asked, "Where do you stand?"
I didn't know how to answer for a second. That wasn't the question I had been expecting her to ask. "What do you mean?" I asked, puzzled.
"Would you stand with them if they decided to rebel?" She inquired. I searched her eyes, wondering if she was expecting a certain answer or if she genuinely wanted to know my opinion.
I decided that I would just give my honest opinion and if she didn't like she would surely say something. "I don't think I could support them. Things are bad enough as they are, challenging the government would just make it worse, I believe." I stated. Her eyes had narrowed when I said that I wouldn't stand with them. So, I suppose she had been looking for something more specific. "What would you do?" I questioned her, perhaps a little defensively.
"I would fight," she began, her voice rising defiantly, "I want to make things better! They have to realize that can't keep treating us like slaves! Things need to change!"

Oh great... I made her rant. This isn't unusual for her, she's very passionate about anything you get her started on. I am pulled back into reality when I notice that her voice has gotten softer and her face has grown red. I make an effort to concentrate on what she's saying.
"Of course, I'd want things to be different if we had kids..." Then she looked horror-struck at what she had said and tried to make amends. "I mean, maybe not together! I wasn't implying that we should have kids! I was just..."
I reached out to pat her hand and I said, "It's ok. I know what you meant." I felt my face growing hot as well. We had exchanged very few words of affection but we both knew liked each other... A lot.
"So, what do you think we should do?" She asked, attempting to break the uncomfortable silence that had settled around us.
"I guess we just have to wait and see where all this goes and take it in stride as it comes," I said, trying to sound comforting. We sat in the quiet for a few moments more before I said, "We really should be getting home." I looked at her moonlit face and gave a small smile, which she returned.
"I suppose so," She sighed. I offered my hand to help her down, and, when she had climbed to the lowest branch I jumped to the ground and held out my arms, letting her know that I wouldn't let her fall.
She shook her head a little and chuckled. "You know that I am perfectly capable of doing this on my own, right?" She said, just as she jumped and losing her footing, stumbled into my arms.
"Sure you can," I said with a large grin. She regained her footing and stood up straight. "Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow at the factory," I said with a sigh.
She frowned and said "Yeah... I guess so." Then her face went rather red again and it took a moment to realize that I hadn't removed my hands from around her waist from when I had caught her. I quickly pulled them away and cleared my throat.
"See you around..." I said, as she began walking ahead of me. She turned back and waved. It was nearly 2 in the morning when I finally arrived back home and crawled back into my bed, exhausted.