Ten Words No. 13:
Treehuggers at 10
A Short Story by Diebold Essen
(See 10
Words Intro for an explanation of the concept.)
The random words:
wristwatches, frolics, crazy,
counterbalance, unfulfilled, ingenuity,
committing, particular, reluctantly, marshaled
wristwatches, crazy, counterbalance, unfulfilled, committing, particular, reluctantly, marshaled
wristwatches, wristwatches,
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[Studio shot.] Anchor: Pamela Carter, as you all know, has used her ingenuity to cover some weird stories with Pam’s Cam. But nothing like the one she’s got today. Pam, where are you? [Medium shot. Exterior. Pamela Carter in foreground. Over her shoulder we see a grassy plot and in the distance a large oak tree with people gathered around it, their backs to us. Cutline appears lower right: FROLIC IN THE PARK.] Pamela Carter: Jacob, I’m here in Old Lake Park where a story has been unfolding since this morning like nothing this town has ever seen. [Carter glances down at her notes.] At 8:37 this morning, a park police car reported an unusual gathering around this tree. [Carter nods over her shoulder.] The officer reported 12 people dressed only in loincloths standing in a circle around the tree. [Camera zooms in on tree. We see the people as described, including some women who are also wearing halters.] After waiting for backup, the officer investigated and spoke with one of the people. This person said [Carter reads from her notes], "We are here peacefully. If you ask us to leave, we will leave. We are here so that one of us can meditate under this tree." As you can see, Jacob, the police have sealed off the area. [Cut to second camera, panning. We see police barricades and yellow police tape stretched around the grassy area.] Quite a crowd has gathered, waiting to see the outcome. [Camera pans crowd.] This allegedly "peaceful" gathering has now caused the police to marshal about a dozen radio patrol units plus a SWAT team. [First camera on police cars.] About an hour ago, a trained police mediator approached the group and again conversed with the person who is apparently their spokesman. In a brief news conference afterward, Officer J.W. Walsh had this to say. [Cut to tape.] J.W. Walsh: These people are here peacefully, legally assembled on public property. They are committing no wrongful acts. We have no desire to disrupt their gathering but because of their unusual attire, we are here to see that they are not disturbed or interfered with. We anticipate no problems. [Medium shot camera on Carter.] Pamela Carter: That’s where things stand now, Jacob. We’re watching and waiting. Oh, and I should add, also listening. Our sound man a couple of hours ago reported that he was hearing a voice occasionally in his headphones when he had his dish microphone aimed at the tree. He reported that every thirty seconds or so, he heard a single brief voice, as if someone were reading very slowly, one syllable at a time. Like this… [Video stays on Carter. Carter listens and looks thoughtful as we hear sound-over from audio tape.] "…none …ei …ther …nor…" Pamela Carter: It’s actually much slower, we edited out most of the pauses. As I say, it’s about every half-minute that we hear something. Jacob? [Studio shot.] Anchor: Absolutely amazing, Pam. Maybe it’s the heat, huh? The payoff from global warming. [laughs.] They’re certainly getting a good tan in those skimpy… [Pamela Carter’s voice interrupts.] Pamela Carter: Wait, something’s happening. [Medium shot in park, with Pamela Carter looking toward tree. We see one of the figures walking toward her.] Pamela Carter: Stay with me, Jacob. [The figure comes close. We see a young man, with loin cloth. In his hand is a piece of paper. He reaches Pamela Carter, smiles, gives her the paper, and walks back toward the tree. We watch as Pamela Carter reads.] Pamela Carter: It’s some kind of press release, Jacob. Let me skim it… [Second pass. Finally Pamela Carter looks up at the camera.] Yes, it’s a group who call themselves "Aborealists United." If I got the gist of their release right, they came here today because they believe this particular tree is… just a moment, bear with me, let me find the quote… is… They say, "The tree we have chosen is extremely lonely and unfulfilled. We selected it for our first attempt at public communication. The communication has concluded. We will release a transcript at 8:30 tonight on our web site." [Pamela Carter glances at her wristwatch.] Pamela Carter: That’s about three hours from now. Maybe we will know more then, Jacob. As you can see, the group is dispersing already. We will be checking the web site right away. Stay tuned for further details later in the news. Back to you, Jacob. [Studio shot.] Anchor: We’ll take you back to the park as soon as the Pam Cam has anything further on this breaking story. [Cutline lower right: "Treehuggers at 10!"] Anchor: And be sure to tune in to Nightcast at 10 when we’ll have a special in-depth report on the so-called treehuggers and the problems they’ve caused the timber industry for years now… . . . [Page posted at www.arborealistsunited.com. The site was up for only 24 hours and then vanished. Attempts to trace its origins have proved futile: By means of a meditative procedure, consisting of slowing the rate of thinking, one of our members today briefly established contact with plant consciousness. Aware of the crazy media feeding-frenzy that will follow, we make this announcement reluctantly. We do so because we are also convinced that many others will walk through the door we have opened today and that a flood of cross-species communication can serve as a counterbalance to the destructive, exploitative behavior humans exhibit when they go for thousands of years believing they are the crown of creation. The plant in question, a live oak, does not of course speak. Our member achieved a consonance of awareness and believes he was able to translate the tree’s perception into English. Because time is different for different organisms, it seems that the rate of transfer of information was about 30 : 1. That is, 30 tree seconds are roughly equivalent to one human second. For that reason, the translation was slow. We maintained contact for some eight hours. Following is the message as we got it. Perhaps others will become more fluent. For now, this is it: A tree. END
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