The Man Beyond The Trees

Part ☝🏿

I was just a child when I first saw the man beyond the trees. I was seven, I know because that's the year I was allowed a pet for the first time. As we had just moved to a bigger and more secure house in the countryside of Malmesbury, Cape Town.

Anyway, my pet was a nice big German Shepherd we adopted from a shelter. His name was Tarzan. Tarzan didn't like the man beyond the trees. However, Tarzan didn't live long.

I would always see him when I walked back home from school, five short blocks. There was a thick little woodsy area that went back half a mile. No one played in the grassy area near the trees. Nobody forbid us from playing there, but nobody went there regardless.

He was short and thin, so very thin. His face was droopy, like a badly melted candle. He always looked tired and he never blinked. Whenever I saw him, I used to smile and wave because that was the polite thing to do. He never smiled back nor waved.

A couple of years passed. The man was always there. I told my friends about him but they always pretended I didn't say anything. If I changed the subject and spoke of something else then they would react normally. It bothered me that they would laugh over a silly joke or gasp in awe over a bit of gossip, but acted like they are clueless whenever I start talking about the man beyond the trees.

One day I was riding my bike home. I glanced at the trees like I always did, and I saw the man, as I always did. But this time was different. This time I rode my bike through the grassy area and stopped a few yards before the man.

I was shaking a little because it was the first time I tried to speak to him, but I tried to look indifferent and brave. I opened my mouth but no words came out.