The Hollow Tree<\/strong><\/p>\n\u201cMom, I can\u2019t find my hiking boots,\u201d Liam hollered, trying to throw things into his tag-along. \u201cDo you have my bathing suit?\u201d<\/p>\n
His big sister Sarah, also known as Princes, had packed her suitcase the night before except for the wildflower book she was now reading. It was the one Grandma had given her last spring.<\/p>\n
\u201cMom,\u201d she asked, \u201cdo you think we\u2019ll have time to go see Golden Valley and Trillium Heaven before the Fourth of July party begins?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLiam your boots are on the boot board. Your swim suit is in your bottom drawer.\u201d Mom said calmly. \u201cYes, Sarah, I suspect Grandma will go hiking with you again. She goes whenever there is someone to go with her. In her last e-mail, she said that Peyton does really well staying on sidewalks, but the scents on the trails distract her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Once again, Liam fell asleep in the car. He woke up to the smell of old polished wood and sand in his bed. The smell of sausage cooking caused him to spring out of bed, dress in a flash, slide down the banister, and land with a thud.<\/p>\n
\u201cGood morning, Lazy Bones,\u201d Grandma said even before he entered the kitchen. I thought I heard you coming.\u201d<\/p>\n
Peyton trotted over to him, her back-end wiggling and wagging a hearty greeting.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve cooked all the sausage and the waffles, Mr. Bed-head,\u201d Sarah announced.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I\u2019ll have cereal,\u201d he mumbled, but dug into four squares of waffles with homemade strawberry jam and sausage. \u201cMay I take Peyton to the pond, Grandma?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, she needs to stay with me,\u201d Grandma said, \u201cbut, if you wear this whistle on the lanyard, you can go by yourself. If you need help, blow it. After I finish the Deviled Eggs, Sarah and I are going to carve a watermelon into a basket for our fresh fruit bowl. Then, we can go on a hike.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOkay,\u201d Liam said, bussed his dishes, and was gone with the whistle on a lanyard around his neck.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat basket of fruit looks good enough to eat,\u201d Sarah joked when they were finished.<\/p>\n
\u201cGood. That about wraps it up now, we just need to wait for the rest of the family to\u2026\u201d Grandma stopped and listened.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I heard Liam\u2019s whistle,\u201d grandma said, reaching for her straw hat.<\/p>\n
Grandma had a firm grip on Peyton\u2019s harness as she and Sarah hurried toward the pond, swishing passed the bright orange Day-lilies crowding in on the dirt lane. The bees buzzed from flower to flower as the mosquitoes whined near their ears and dined where-ever they could. The tall grasses and Purple Loosestrife could have hidden a fallen log or, just as easily, a fallen boy, but they heard the whistle coming from over nearer the field where the Marsh Marigolds used to be.<\/p>\n
\u201cGrandma, they were so beautiful last spring\u201d Sarah said. \u201cNow, there\u2019s nothing left of them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you see a big yellow daisy type of flower with a huge dark center?\u201d Grandma asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes,\u201d Sarah said, \u201cwhat are they?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are called Black-eyed Susan\u2019s. Legend has it that she wandered everywhere until she found her true love Sweet William. They are usually found growing together\u201d Grandma stopped short.<\/p>\n
Another sharp whistle urged them on to the drumlin woods. Going from the bright sunlight of the meadow into the dark woods, Sarah couldn\u2019t see anything even with her eyes wide opened, but Grandma said, \u201cIt\u2019s coming from up in one of the trees. Do you see one with a trunk base that looks like an elephant\u2019s foot?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes,\u201d Sarah said after her eyes adjusted to the darkness. \u201cIt\u2019s over to our right.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGood. Now do you see an opening at its base?\u201d Grandma asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes. Why?\u201d Sarah asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is the hollow Beech tree I\u2019d told Liam about. My guess is that he\u2019s stuck up inside it,\u201d Grandma chuckled, as the shrill blast of the whistle confirmed her suspicion.<\/p>\n
Grandma talked Liam down by explaining how to work his shoulders to inch back down the hollow trunk to safety.<\/p>\n
\u201cI almost got all the way up to where the light was coming in,\u201d Liam said. \u201cIt was really cool, until I tried to get back down. An ant dropped onto my face and stuff started to break off and I got scared.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hey! You Got Eyeballs In There? By Kate Chamberlin As Grace grows up, some of her stories are happy, some trying, some enlightening, and a few themes are sad, but, they\u2019re all the warp and woof of what goes into the tapestry of life we call Family. The daily living skills and techniques demonstrated […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/katechamberlin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/katechamberlin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/katechamberlin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/katechamberlin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/katechamberlin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1159"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/katechamberlin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1159\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1160,"href":"https:\/\/katechamberlin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1159\/revisions\/1160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/katechamberlin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/katechamberlin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/katechamberlin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}