Chapter 16 - The Last Morning Of Shade
Dana walked me through the options in plain language. The crack extended farther than the first inspection suggested, and the remaining heavy crown couldn't be made acceptably safe beside the house and trail without removing much of the tree. Her recommendation was to remove the hazardous structure, then determine whether a sound lower section could be retained or whether complete removal was necessary.
“I'm sorry,” she said.
I looked up through the leaves. “Could we just wait until fall?”
“I wouldn't advise it.”
Ellie had been silent. Now she took my hand. “Then we do what she says.”
I wanted to tell my daughter the tree was the last thing in our yard Danny had touched. But that wasn't true. He'd installed the loose porch rail, repaired the kitchen windowsill, and left pencil marks on the inside of a cupboard nobody else opened. I'd made the tree carry more of him than any living thing should have to.
We signed the work authorization. This time the scope named every cut and the protected areas, and Dana would supervise. I insisted the crew save the marked branch sections for a carpenter. I also asked whether a living cutting could be propagated. Dana said it was possible but not guaranteed, and took several healthy shoots to try.
The crew came on Thursday. Owen was there, quiet and deliberate. He walked me through the plan twice before a saw started. Ellie stayed beside me, wearing Danny's old baseball cap.
The work took most of the day. The tree came apart carefully, branch by branch. Near the end they found that the lower structure had damage requiring complete removal. I went inside when the trunk was lowered. I couldn't bear to watch the last part.
When the truck drove away, the yard was bright and ugly. Ellie brought me a glass of water and set it on the porch rail. On the ground lay the section marked ELLIE 8, ELLIE 9, ELLIE 10, carefully wrapped in an old blanket.
“I thought losing it would feel like losing him again,” I said.
Ellie stared at the open sky. “It kind of does.”
May you like
We sat without trying to improve that sentence.
Later I signed the settlement after getting independent advice and confirming what it did and didn't cover. I sent Pilar one last request: I wanted the board's final vote on the revised policy placed on an open-session agenda, where everybody who paid dues could watch.
