Brown sugar…

Earth to self: Do NOT leave home without a camera,

pen,

notebook,

and a white bikini,

in your purse…

Last night I walked out of the Hycroft Centre after a 90 minute massage…

The ventilation system in the tiny little room was blowing like the North wind…

Off and on the whole time I was laying on the table,

being worked over,

and under,

and through…

I left that space,

and some magic hands,

headed down South Granville past 15th,

on my way back to my Swedish station wagon parked on Fir Street…

Granville felt deserted…

Rush hour was over…

It was dark,

and rainy…

Suddenly a unmarked police car came careening up towards me…

A police officer stepped out of the vehicle…

I looked around for the scene of a crime,

but all I saw was a tree laying in the carpool lane…

I said,

in my sweetest sugary little voice,

Officer…

Are you going to give that tree a ticket for obstruction of justice???

He didn’t really know what to say,

but decided to go along with it…

He asked,

all gruff and tough,

Should I???

I said,

I’m going to leave the decision in your hands…

I don’t like to mess with the laws around here…

I walked up to the base of the tree,

expecting to see some exposed roots…

But the tree looked like it had been sliced off the sidewalk…

I looked up to see a white delivery truck missing a side-view mirror,

which was the place of impact with tree…

And I saw the a driver…

The driver and I stood looking,

at the tree,

together…

I asked him,

How’s your driving???

Driver said,

I’ve seen better days…

I think the tree was dead…

Look,

no roots…

I said,

You’re right…

It looks like it fell over…

Just like that…

I asked,

Do you feel bad???

He said,

Yes, I do…

I said,

It’s okay…

It was obviously time for the tree to let go…

You probably saved someone’s life…

Imagine if that tree had fallen over in traffic,

or on a parked car…

In fact when you pull back,

and really look at the whole situation,

your timing is better than perfect…

Driver smiled on one side of his face…

I said,

It’s okay to cry…

You’ll feel better after…

Driver smiled on the other side of his face…

Police officer took down license plate,

and necessary statistics,

trying to get all of the facts straight in his notebook…

Radioing in to headquarters…

Adam-12 we have a 3-11-W in the southbound lane…

I walked on,

and wondered about another one down…

A little less carbon dioxide being filtered out of this SUV world…

I hoped that Tree would end up as climbing apparatus in a school playground,

or as fuel for a sweat lodge…