July 18, 2006:
"Don't hurt that tree!"
Puzzled. "I didn't hurt the tree."
Angry. "You did! I saw you!"
He didn't understand. He didn't answer.
He would never have hurt the tree. It was a living thing, a friend, a shelter, a challenge, a brother, a home.
She was old. She misunderstood, in some old person's way that was a mystery to him.
He would never be like that, if he got old.