The Mocking Tree

Keith was a demanding young man in control of all things in his life, especially his wife. Young was the couple when they first met. They grew up in the same small town in Connecticut as neighbors and family friends. All of Kelly’s people knew all of Keith’s people and vice versa. Generations of their families had come up together. Even as a young boy Keith liked to have things his way and he would do anything to win no matter how big or small the issue. It was always his way or the highway. That didn’t sit well with his father so Keith decided against going into the family business.

The Johnsons owned a pluming company and Keith was in line to become a fourth generation plumber like his brothers. He would work for the company for a decade or so before running an office of his own. Everyone in the family came up in the company the same way. That plan didn’t work for Keith. He had no intention of waiting years to be the man and he certainly didn’t want to work under his brothers and cousins. Although he was the youngest, Keith saw himself as greater than them all. He was truly a legend in his own juvenile mind. Keith decided that he would strike out on his own. He had some cousins down south in Florida so he packed up his young bride and baby son then moved to Orlando Florida in the summer of 1991.

He enrolled in a tech school and learned to install security systems. Kelly found work in insurance; Keith worked for an alarm company while learning the ins and outs of the business. Keith started doing outside side jobs of his own to earn extra money. He didn’t lack in ambition or smarts, just humility. Eventually he teamed up with another kid from Connecticut named Alex. He and Alex made a great team but they occasionally bumped heads. Alex was almost as controlling as Keith and he ruled his house with an iron fist. Standing only five foot three inches, Alex had a horrible case of Napoleonic complex.

Keith and Alex’s partnership grew so eventually they struck out on their own. Soon both young men were ready to purchase homes. Kelly was overjoyed. She had so many big plans on how she wanted to furnish and decorate their new home. She couldn’t wait to become a home owner. Kelly shared her ideas with Keith and was quickly shot down. Keith wouldn’t even take the time to consider her hair brained ideas as he called them. Kelly, ever subservient just bowed her head and trotted off to the next task he had assigned to her. The couple closed on their new house; Keith walked across the threshold shoulders back chest stuck out. Behind him trailed his wife and toddler son.

Kelly got somewhat home sick being so far away from most of her family for so long. She thought that she would add a little touch to their new house to make it feel a little more like home. Keith made all of the other decisions; she thought surely he would allow her to have this one little thing.

“You know Keith I was thinking; since we haven’t put sod down yet maybe I could plant a flower garden on the small plot on the other side of the driveway.”

He gave a skeptical look as she continued on.

“I miss my mama’s garden. I’m a little homesick and I wanted to have something here to make me feel a little more at home. You know I’ve got a green thumb and I’ll plant the most beautiful flowers…. Just like mama.”

She looked off into the distance reminiscing on her youth and times spent in her mother’s beautiful garden. She was snapped from her fantasy by Keith’s harsh short tone.

“I don’t think so.”

“What, why, why can’t I plant a garden Keith.”

He didn’t have an answer as to why. It was just that it wasn’t his idea to have a garden so there would be no garden. He thought of a quick lie.

“I planned on planting a tree in that lot. Our boy needs a tree to climb, not a garden of flowers to sniff.”

She gave him a look of disappointment. He didn’t care. Keith continued on.

“I know your mama had a garden at her house but this is our house not your mama’s. We are in a new home with new traditions and I’ll have the tree planted on Tuesday.”

He acted as if he had planned to have a tree planted all along. Kelly knew this to be a lie so she probed a little.

“So what kind of tree do you plan on planting Keith?”

Keith just blurted out the first tree that came to his mind.

“An oak tree.”

Kelly smirked behind his back.

“An oak tree?”

“Yes that’s what I said.”

With that Keith turned and walked away. Kelly was angry and a little hurt by how cold Keith always was towards her. Then the irony of the situation struck her. Keith now had to plant an oak tree on that small plot of land. A tree indigenous to the area would have been a much better choice, maybe some type of palm. An oak would grow far too large and make a lot of mess. Kelly had seen many oak trees in her home state of Connecticut and none of them could fit onto that little plot of land.

A man of his word, Keith came home with a small oak tree in the back of his truck. He figured he’d save a few bucks by planting it himself. He didn’t want a sapling, he wanted a tree. Keith wanted to see the tree grow tall and high, proud knowing that he planted it. He spent the afternoon tirelessly digging; by night fall he had the hole dug and the ground watered. Into the large hole in the earth he placed the tree then covered it back up. Keith stood back with his arms crossed, proud at what he had done. He summoned his wife and son out to take a look at his handy work.

“See Kelly, now doesn’t that tree look better than some stupid garden?”

Kelly just shook her head at her insensitive husband.

“Yes Keith, whatever you say.”

She took little Tommy by the hand and led him back into the house. Keith still stood outside, arms crossed, mentally praising himself. Two weeks later Keith installed a sprinkler system and put down sod. Again he marveled at what he had done. Keith appreciated Keith very much and he often told Kelly so. He was always sure to remind her how lucky she was to have a man like him.

Years went by and the tree grew, as did their family. Two girls were birthed a year apart, Ashley and Aubrey. The girls loved their big brother; he loved his sisters in return. Five years their elder he watched over them as instructed by their loving mother. Kelly and the children started attending church on Sundays while Keith watched football. The more involved in church Kelly became, the less control Keith had over her. Tommy was now a big boy, in his last year of primary school. The girls we enrolled in preschool and kindergarten respectively. The tree now stood thirteen feet high and it showered Keith’s once lovely lawn with dead leaves. Every fall he would be livid, raking and cursing. Rarely ever mischievous or spiteful, Kelly would stand in the window and giggle watching Keith stomp around.

“Well, he had to have his precious tree. I bet he wishes he would’ve let me grow that garden now. Hey King Keith, you missed a spot buddy. He he he.”

This season the tree would cause him more aggravation than ever before. As the oak stretched further towards the sky it roots stretched further across Keith’s lawn and deeper into the earth. The more the tree grew, the less the grass did. The tree shaded the lawn depriving it of sunlight, leaving it brown and listless. When it rained the tree blocked the direct rain then its mighty roots soaked the excess up. The grass dried up, strangled out by Keith’s beloved tree. Keith ran the sprinklers more often but the grass never returned to green. However, the tree did grow taller, thicker and wider.

Keith was forced to buy more sod to put down on the side of the house where the tree stood. He figured if he put down better sod it may have a better chance of survival. St. Augustine was what he chose and when he was through again he was proud… of himself. The yard looked good, well one side of the yard anyway. Keith was sure to water it heavy to ensure it took. Initially he thought everything would be fine, weeks went by and his St. Augustine was looking great. Keith asked Alex over so that he could show his friend and partner what a green thumb he had.

“You see that Alex. That’s the good stuff. Come, feel how plush it is.”

Alex walked over and kneel down to feel the new grass.

“Yea, you’re right Keith. It does feel good. So, are you going to do the other side of the lawn?”

“Naw, not for now. I’m going to see how this holds up first. Now I want to see that tree kill this grass off.”

Alex stood back and looked up at the tree scratching his chin.

“If I were you, I would keep and eye on it. You may need to cut this tree back some so that the grass could get more sunlight.”

Keith took offense to his friend’s observation. He felt like Alex was trying to under mind what he had done. He looked down on his partner and scolded him.

“Well thanks for your little input buddy but I think I’ve got this under control.”

Alex didn’t get offended he knew Keith and his temperament too well.

“Okay Keith I was just trying…”

Keith cut him off before he could finish his sentence.

“Yea, yea, thanks for trying but like I said; I’ve got this under control. Now what’s going on with that Lopez job?”

Without speaking anymore about it Alex just shifted gears and starting talking about work. He knew that he couldn’t sway or reason with Keith so he figured he’d just drop it. Whatever Keith wanted to do, he was going to do no matter what anyone said and Alex fully understood that.

A week later Keith was outside raking once again and he paused to look up at that tree of his. It was early autumn and a light breeze blew branches from side to side. In the middle of the branches a mouth was formed. It was smiling and laughing. Spaces in the leaves formed a nose and two eyes who were also smiling. Back and forth, back and forth the tree swayed taunting Keith into cursing it. The more he cursed, the more leaves fell. He was caught in a green and brown storm of shedding foliage. Keith called the falling leaves a different kind of storm composed of feces as he yelled out curses to the tree once more.

He knew that he needed to cut the tree back but he didn’t want to do it right away because Alex suggested that he did. For now he would just rake and curse as Kelly, joined by the kids, watched and giggled from different windows inside. It became a form of fun family entertainment over the years as Kelly explained to the children the origin of the tree. All of the children tired of their father’s need to always be right and have things his way at any and everyone's expense. They all enjoyed watching him suffer just a little but.

Three weeks later Keith noticed a change in his St. Augustine. It was browning, most spots didn’t take. He watered with the garden hose so that he could get direct water on to the trouble areas rather than using the sprinkler system. Keith used weed and feed to offer the delicate blades all of the nourishment they needed to prosper. He priced tree cutters and found them all to be more expensive than he was willing to pay to have the tree pruned. Keith figured he would do it himself. It was really a two man job but he didn’t have a second man. Tommy was still too young and he refused to give Alex the satisfaction of him admitting that he was wrong or in need of help of any kind.

So there Keith found himself one early Sunday morning alone climbing a ladder propped against the tree. Kelly and the children were at church so Keith figured he’d get some work done while he had a little peace and quiet. Once on top of the ladder he positioned himself to start cutting with his rented chainsaw. Keith was having trouble getting the chainsaw started. He primed it then pulled hard. He pulled harder, over and over again. It never started; it putted then let out a little burp of black smoke. Keith again let his temper get her best of him.

“C’mon start you piece of sh…”

Just then he lost his footing and fell twelve feet to the ground shattering his elbow and dislocating his shoulder. He yelled out in pain then cursed some more. He knew that he needed medical attention but he couldn’t allow his wife or children to see him like that. His pride wouldn’t allow it. He got himself up dragging his arm behind him. In excruciating pain Keith pulled out of the driveway and headed towards the hospital. In his rear view mirror he could see that tree smiling and swaying once again, mocking him.

“That damn tree!”

Just then he bumped his elbow on the center console in his truck. It felt like someone hit him with a sledgehammer. He bellowed and hollered for the next three miles. Finally he reached the hospital but had to wait three hours to be seen by a physician. During that time he sat protecting his elbow and shoulder while cursing under his breath.

Kelly returned home with the kids to see Keith’s truck gone with a ladder propped up against the tree. On the lawn beneath the tree were a few broken branches and leaves. Kelly figured that may be the spot where Keith broke a limb or two of his own. She didn’t worry much. He couldn’t be too injured if he were driving. Also she knew that Keith would be irate if she were to show up at the hospital looking for him. He would think she was trying to bask in his shame. So Kelly just fed the kids and waited for her husband to return home. Keith pulled up in the driveway shortly before dusk. His left arm was in cast and sling and he had already picked up his prescription for pain pills. The whole left side of his body was throbbing. He opened the door with false bravado and cockiness.

“Oh my goodness Keith, what happened to you?”

“Nothing, I’m fine. What did you cook for dinner?”

“Chicken, Keith what happened to you. Are you alright?”

“I told you I’m fine. Make me a plate; I’m going to go wash up.”

Keith just walked down the hall to his bedroom to get cleaned up. He never divulged to his wife exactly what happened that afternoon. He didn’t have to; she could easily tell that he had fallen out of a tree. While he slept uncomfortably that night she stood over him and smiled then giggled to herself. Keith would avoid seeing Alex face to face for several weeks until he got his cast off.

Eventually Keith broke down and called in a company to prune the tree. Again he didn’t share with Alex what he had done. Months down the road Keith’s arm healed and half of his lawn grew well. With less leaves and shade the grass was able to soak up the life giving sun rays and water it needed, but then there was the St. Augustine. The roots of the tree continued to cause havoc on that side of the lawn. Eventually they choked the life out of each of those beautiful blades. Again Keith was beside himself with anger.

The St. Augustine could be used as a metaphor for his marriage. His nasty attitude and controlling nature was choking the life out of his marriage as well. Kelly was growing older and more tired of living under Keith’s rule. His pride was pulling them apart. Having to always be right was going to leave him right… by himself. Inequity led him to this point but he still had to have it his way… always.

A year later they were separated and Keith was forced to get an apartment in town while they sorted things out. Kelly and the children were happy to have the house to them selves but still Keith’s imprint was everywhere. Every furnishing and decoration was of his design. They all grew tired of it as Kelly filed for divorce. A long battle ensued because of Keith’s unwillingness to compromise. He dragged things out until Kelly conceded the house to him. Her clever lawyer got her awarded enough alimony and child support to help her in the purchase of a larger, newer home for her children. Keith too was blinded by his hollow victory to realize that in actuality he had lost. His lawyer tried to give him words of wisdom but he turned a deaf ear and demanded the man secure him the home he paid his hard earned money for.

“I’ll be damned if she ends up with my house! Her ass has been living there long enough. I want her out. She wants to leave me? Well then she’s gonna leave my house too!”

When Keith returned to the home he was awarded; the first sight he saw was that tree of his. It had grown back in full and was now stretching its limbs over to the garage. The tree offered Keith a welcoming smile as he pulled into the driveway. He was happy to be home and he had big plans for how he was going to change the home to his liking. Keith had the garage converted into an office for himself. He trashed every effect and touch of Kelly in the house. If there was anything that wasn’t put there by him, it had to go. Keith now had him a nice three bedroom bachelor pad and office. Inside his home and office he had the most high end, high tech security and entertainment system. He could see every inch of his property and even speak to trespassers on his property through his intercom system. The most crisp video and audio poured from his new entertainment system. Keith sat back on his couch and smiled as the wall speakers boomed from above his head on the wall behind him.

Several months went by and the tree continued to grow. Leaves and acorns filled the gutters causing them to back up during storms. Years of dead leaves dammed all the aluminum siding drains. The water poured over the sides wetting Keith up every time he tried to enter or exit his home when it was raining. He knew he had to get them cleared out but he refused to pay anyone to do something for him that he could do for himself.

On the roof he found himself reaching into the drains and pulling out debris. He used the garden hose to wash the foliage down. Keith rarely did anything cheerfully; this was no different. He cussed and fussed as he tried to keep his footing on the slick slanted roof. The hose got caught around his foot and he snatched it loose causing himself to slip on the wet roof. Keith caught his balance and thought back to the time he fell off of the ladder.

“Not this time damn it. Not this dam…”

Just then he tripped and fell forward off the roof. This time Keith landed on his feet. Unfortunately for him he still broke his ankle. Keith lay down on the hard ground cursing, clutching his bad leg. As he looked up, there was the tree smiling down on him. He couldn’t believe that the tree had whipped him again.

To the hospital he drove him self with one leg. Again he endured a long wait in the emergency room. Once again Keith returned home with his tail between his legs; only this time there was no one there to greet him. He eased in on his crutches and took a seat on the couch. As he propped his leg up on some pillows he could hear some scratching outside the window. Keith looked up; it was a branch blowing back and forth in the night wind. The tree was taunting him yet again. Keith was too tired and in far too much pain to fight. He weakly called out to the tree.

“Shut up A hole.”

With that being said Keith nodded off to sleep.

The winter months came and the grass was dormant. Keith hadn’t given much thought to the tree and the damage it was doing. The grass would look the way it was looking no matter how healthy it was. Cold weather sometimes brings unwanted guests’ into the homes of Florida residents. Critters in the south aren’t used to being in cold weather. They search out warm nests as the temperatures approach freezing.

Tree rats are quite common in some counties in Florida. These rodents were often the size of squirrels but vicious and diseased. They have the fat round body of a sewer rat but the athletic ability of a squirrel. Up and down wires they would climb and from branch to branch they would leap, their long thin tails swaying in the wind. These rats reproduced rapidly and were aggressive in nature.

One day Keith was in his new office arguing with Alex on the phone about some invoices and inventory. Alex was pretty much agreeing with Keith but he wasn’t saying it just the way Keith wanted to hear it. So Keith argued on. Suddenly he heard little footsteps above him, many little footsteps. Keith stopped talking into the phone.

He whispered

“What the hell is that?”

“What, what do you mean what the hell is that?”

“Nothing, nothing, I’ll talk to you later.”

Keith hung up on Alex so that he could investigate. He followed the footsteps back to a closet behind the laundry room. It was never used even when his wife lived there. Keith turned on the light and cracked the door open. He was over taken by a pungent smell. He smelled of urine, excrement and death. He looked in the corners of the tiny room; there was nothing. He looked up to the ceiling to see a huge brownish yellow wet spot there. There he could hear a concentration of scurrying around. Keith resorted to cursing as usual. He marched off and grabbed a shovel to bang on the ceiling. He used the handle banging the ceiling four times while cursing the rodents.

The handle punctured the wet, weakened, ceiling weighed down with rats and soon they came pouring through as the section collapsed. Rat urine, excrement and death poured all over him. He was disgusted. Instantly he vomited as rats scattered everywhere at his feet. On the floor he could see dead rats and other rats still fed on them before scurrying off. His eyes burned and he found it hard to breath in the toxic air. Keith ran out of the garage and up the hallway to the bathroom. He had to get the nastiness off of him. Rats followed him down the hall and into other parts of the house.

His prized home was now infested with the worse of pests. After his shower he tip toed into his bedroom and quickly put on some clothes. Up and down the hall from room to room he could see rats trotting; it would seem that they were making themselves right at home. Once dressed he ran out of the house and jumped in his truck. Down the road and away from the house he drove with only the clothes he had on his back. The rest, for now belonged to the rats. He checked into a hotel and called around to exterminators, pricing them. He hired the cheapest one and told them it was and emergency. They were there the very next day.

After a day Keith was informed that they would need more time and it would cost two hundred dollars more. He was angry but had no choice. He needed to take his home back. He was now paying more than he would with any of the other exterminators. Keith also called for a tree cutter. There would be no more pruning for this tree that mocked him so. He was going to have it chopped down and disposed of. Repairs had to be made to the house from the damage caused by the rats. So Keith could only afford to have the tree cut down but not the stump removed. The exterminator gave Keith a guarantee in writing that wasn’t quite a guarantee that he would never have an issue with the rodents again. Their contract guaranteed that the pest problem was solved at the time of the technician’s departure. Keith signed without reading it carefully so he was bound by the guarantee of no guarantee.

A month later Keith sat in his office enjoying his new home again. He thought about the stump just outside the garage and how it would never cause him trouble again. He kicked it the day before and laughed to himself.

“Who’s smiling now stupid ole tree. Ha, ha.”

The rats were gone, the tree was dead and Keith had his house back. Or so he thought. The kids didn’t visit often because of their strained relationship with their

Father. Their bedrooms remained uninhabited… by children. In their closets’ nest were growing and ceilings were weakening. The rats’ teeth grew continuously. They needed to chew and chew and chew. Dry wall, wood, even wires and cords were fair game. Before Keith would hear the footsteps and chatter again he would deal with the wrath of the rats’ teeth.

Keith was awakened by a sharp pain in his neck.

“Ouch damn it! What the hell was that?”

He jumped up and flipped the light switch on to see three rats in his bed. Two had blood around their mouths. On his legs and arms he found more bites. Furious he ran to the kitchen to grab a broom. He beat the bed with all his might killing exactly no rats. Now sweating and panting he stopped and listened. The walls and ceilings spoke to him. They told a tale of destruction.

Just then the lights started to flicker then went out. Keith used a lighter he found on his dresser to light his path to the kitchen so that he could get a flashlight. He grabbed the flashlight and turned it on. On the counter right in front of him stood a large rat on its hind legs hissing, teeth exposed. Keith got spooked and dropped his flashlight. On his hands and knees he scrambled to get it. Across his face ran several rodents. As he stood to his feet he could feel something run up his pajama leg. One, two, three bites he received from his new rat roommate. He shook his leg uncontrollably long after the animal had run off. He was repulsed.

Keith made it to the fuse box and flipped switches to no avail. No lights came on; the power to the entire house was out. He knew he had no choice but to leave for the night. In the dark the rats were more brazen and violent. Keith, still angry, had thoughts of taking out a few of them before he was forced from his home. With flashlight in hand he kicked through rats until he found the source.

In one hand he held a broomstick, the other a shovel. There he found them; two nest one in the girls’ room and one in Tommy’s room. Keith had learned from his experience in the garage two months earlier. He stood back and banged at the nasty wet ceiling with the broom handle. Just as before rats fell from the ceiling and Keith smashed as many as he could with the shovel. Rat guts and parts splattered everywhere. He laughed as he heard them squeal and cry out. When he could kill no more he went to the next closet and did the same thing.

Again, smash, splat, rats met their death. Keith was developing a blood lust for killing invaders of his home. He got excited stomping around until he slipped. On to the wet blood and gut soaked floor he fell. Across the room rolled his flash light. The light pointed toward the wall across the room. As he gathered his senses he could see the shadows of the rats. They converged on him. Keith suffered bites all over. He scrambled to his feet and staggered outside with Rats still attached to his face, arms and abdomen.

A neighbor heard his screams and slowly came to his rescue beating the vicious rodents off of him. The neighbor beat Keith with a rake over and over again even after the rats were off of him. Keith crossed his neighbor some four years earlier with the homeowner’s association over the color he was painting his house. It was close but not the exact color it should be so Keith made issue of it. The man was fined and had to pay to have his house repainted. Now he smiled seeing his “neighbor” in such distress.

The man was kind enough to call an ambulance for the prideful Keith. The rats chewed away at him pretty good. After several surgeries Keith would loose his left eye and have to abandon his house to the rats. That same neighbor made sure the house was condemned and torn down. Keith was left owing on a house that no longer existed. After the house was torn down the only thing that remained was the stump of the mocking tree left to mock Keith. He stood looking at the plot on which his family home once stood, saddened by all that happened to him. One eye leaked continuously due to injury and disease; the other eye shed natural tears of self pity. Still angry and cocky to the end Keith walked over and gave that stump another good kick.

Pain shot first through his toe then into his foot. He knew he had broken it. Keith fell to the ground holding his foot yelping in pain. As the pain settled he cried more tears now face to face with the stump. He could swear that stump was smiling back at him. The mocking tree… forever mocking him.