8—Seeds From the FamilyTree

As the new page of The Very Long and True Story of Adora Birch settled into place, the ghostly old voice of the Great PoetTree drifted away on on a breeze. “Everrrry   stoooory   is    aaaa  treeeeeee   fulllll of     seeeeeeds.”

And with that, the Great PoetTree turned into a graceful old birch tree in spring. 

The FamilyTree

“Meet my FamilyTree,” said the tiny fairy seed with a flit and a float. “The FamilyTree is my oldest living ancestor,” the little

seed added with extraordinary pride.

The FamilyTree was very lovely but very still, like grownups who seemed to get taller and deaf and farther away when they got busy.

“Dora story,” Hannah complained impatiently.

"What is an ancestor?" Lucy asked, hoping that the answer would reveal how a door could grow out of a seed and how Adora Birch ended up in that door.

“An ancestor is a being who came before you in a very old time,” the little seed explained.

“How old is your ancestor?” Lucy asked the little seed in a whisper, for her mother had warned that it’s not polite to ask old people their age. 

But the FamilyTree overheard and swayed a bit as if annoyed at being disturbed and then with a brusque whoosh of its leaves, replied, “A tree is an   answer   that   grows   shallow   and   deep . . .  up   and   out  . . .  and   blows   about.”   

Lucy felt annoyed that the FamilyTree was speaking in riddles. She’d had enough of confusing trees for one day. Especially from trees who were supposed to guide them on this so-called very long and true journey.

But as Lucy was stewing, Hannah was dancing around, waving her arms like branches and singing, “Up  out  blows  about . . . deep out . . . grows ground to top.”

Sneezy Dust

“Haaa  aaaah,” rustled The FamilyTree with a sway that brought down a sneezy dust.”

“A seed is a deed awaiting a need,” proclaimed the FamilyTree. “An achhoo   is   the who of tree that is new,” said the FamilyTree.

“Oh, my FamilyTree, your words are full of miracles,” cried the fairy seed and then explained to Lucy and Hannah in a tone of high esteem, “Every year, my FamilyTree has made enough seeds to fill a bushel basket.” 

Considering how teeny tiny the winged fairy seed was, Lucy was astonished at the thought that a bushel basket of seeds would be up to her knees!

Hannah, growing bored, jumped up, shouted, “Bunnies!” and pointed at the two rabbits that had just popped out of a hole in the ground beneath the ancestor tree. The bunnies went hippity hopping across the grass, pausing between a hip and hop for a bite of bark off the birch tree’s trunk.

Funny and Runny Bunnies

As Hannah scampered off with the bunnies, Lucy began looking around the wide open meadow. “If the FamilyTree made all those seeds every year,” she asked, “where are all the trees?”

"Hooo hoooosh," rustled the FamilyTree then asked in a riddling rush of words, “What is a bark without a bite? What is a bird without a tree?”

A Redpoll

Woodpecker

And with that the air perked up and the whole meadow came alive—the sweet air quivering with a feeling that something was going to happen—something magical. Out of nowhere, birds suddenly appeared—chickadees  finches  redpolls flitting about the FamilyTree. The birds twittered and pecked away at the seeds in the cones hanging from the old birch's branches. A wild turkey wandered by and pecked up seeds fallen to the ground. As hummingbirds and insects buzzed in for some sap from the old tree’s bark, a

Wild Turkey

woodpecker pecked outside its home in a hole of the tree.

“My FamilyTree works hard all year giving food and shelter to the many,” explained the fairy seed.

Finches

Hannah returned and flopped down beside Lucy, exhausted from her hippety hop with the bunnies. “Hot,” she said rubbing her head. So they all moved under the shade of the old tree and had barely gotten comfortable when a deer peered out at them from a thicket of bushes, then emerged ever so cautiously.

“Deer are so noiseless and ready for their legs to turn into springs,” whispered the little seed, so as not to startle the deer. 

Minutes later, the doe was joined by two fawns that leapt so nimbly across the wide open space they almost appeared to be flying. 

The doe just stood with the watchful eye of a mother and without

making a sound seemed to call the spotted ones back.

Tiny Birch Tree

The three began nibbling away at tiny leaves growing up out of the earth in the shade of the old tree.

“Those are tiny birch trees the deer are eating,” explained the little seed as the deer glided away.

Two squirrels began chasing each other up and down and around the trunk of the FamilyTree. 

“Whooo,” called an owl from its home in a hole in one of the birch branches.

“Owls are so whooey, don't you think,” remarked the little seed gleefully. 

Whooey the Owl

“Whooo,” called the owl again.

Then from the bushes beyond the FamilyTree, there was laughter and a man’s voice saying, “Sounds like Whooey the Owl is complaining again.” 

And through the bushes on the far side of the tree, a smiling family appeared. 

They introduced themselves as the Green Family: There was Mr. Shamrock Green, his wife Emerald Green, their daughter Lettuce, their son Lime, and the kids’ Great Uncle Asparagus.

As it turned out, Great Uncle Asparagus and Great Aunt Nature Walker remembered each other from some Nature Walking

expeditions many years before. Great Aunt Nature Walker set her big green book aside and introduced Lucy and Hannah to Great Uncle Asparagus and his family. Great Uncle Asparagus and Great Aunt Nature Walker remarked on how much the old birch had grown since they themselves were young.

The Green Family

“Unusually old for a birch,” was how Great Uncle Asparagus answered Lucy’s question about the age of the old tree. “Over a hundred years, I’d wager,” he surmised, then added, “What a glorious and happy little world there is for so many of Earth's creatures under the branches of this old tree.”

Indeed it was a splendid little world all its own, marveled Lucy as Hannah and the spring grew drowsy and fell to rest on a distant rhyme 

A tree breathes out

You breathe in

You breathe out

A tree breathes in

And as the spring fell away into summer, a breeze brought down a flutter of seeds. 

“I wonder where each one’s going?” pondered Great Uncle Asparagus as the seeds flitted off in every direction. 

“On to the grandest adventures on Earth,” said Great Aunt Nature Walker.

“And one of the seeds is me,” sang the little fairy seed from amidst the flutter flitting across the wide meadow.

And as Great Aunt Nature Walker turned the page, the Green family waved goodbye. And the meadow along with the FamilyTree vanished into the Magical Story Room and those two very difficult questions:

How will that little seed ever turn into a door.

And will there ever be an answer as to how Adora Birch ended up in that door? 

7—Meeting the Great PoetTree

As Great Aunt Nature Walker turned the page, the autumn birch forest that had risen up out of her big green book fluttered away like leaves in a fall wind. The Magical Story Room no longer felt magical but was filled instead with the restless air of those two large and unanswered questions:

How in the world do you get a door out of a teeny-tiny fairy seed? 

And just how did Adora Birch end up in that door?

Lucy was distracted from her reflection on these solemn matters when Hannah burst into tears. "Dora seed gone," whimpered the two-year-old.

"It's only a story," Lucy was saying in an effort to console her sister when suddenly —the air in the Magical Story Room fluttered and then in a flash of sunlight opened up into a wide meadow full of sun, birdsong, and the sweet breezy fragrances of a warm fall day. The Nature Walkers were now sitting on the soft meadow grass.  

“Woooo-hoooo!" came the sound of a merry voice from up high. And who should swirl down on a ruffle of air but—

"Dora seed!" exclaimed Hannah.

"None other," replied the tiny winged fairy seed as it came to rest on the corner of Great Aunt Nature Walker's big green book. 

“And so, my young Nature Walkers,” the little seed inquired of Lucy and Hannah, “are you ready for the magical journey through my very long and true story?”

"Dora story!" exclaimed Hannah as she jumped up and began twirling and swirling, dipping and flitting with the breezy way of the little seed.

Tempted as Lucy was to join in the swirly twirl, she sat in the quiet and attentive manner of a five-year-old setting a good story-time example for her rambunctious sister. 

Hannah dropped down beside Lucy, fluffed out her pink dress like a flower, and folded her hands.

“Now, then,” began the little fairy seed, “All very long and true journeys are easier if you have someone to direct you. And so I have arranged for a very excellent guide.”

The Great PoetTree

As the little seed spoke, a very old tree rose up before them—a tree so old that its bark had gone all gray and craggy. A

huge yawning hole in its trunk was filled with darkness instead of wood. Hannah curled in close to Lucy.

A ruffle of air lifted the little seed up off the corner of Great Aunt Nature Walker's big green book, and a ghostly sound—was it a voice?— shivered across Lucy and Hannah. ”Aaaaddddooooraah Birrrrrch . . .  Aaaaddddoooora Birrrrrch . . . issss   thaaaaat   yooooou?" 

Now Lucy herself was alarmed until she realized that the windy old sound was nothing more than a tall breeze rustling the leaves of the old tree. 

Except there it was again: “Aaaaddddoooora Birrrrrch . . . issss   thaaaaat   yooooou?" 

And now there was no breeze. Oh but, of course, Lucy thought, it’s just Aunt Nature Walker's very excellent story voice stirring up the breezy feeling of an afternoon in a big country meadow. But then the windy old voice drifted across Lucy and Hannah like ghost fingers—and Great Aunt Nature Walker’s lips weren’t moving.  “Aaaaddddooooraah Birrrrrch . . issss   thaaaaat   yooooou?”

Lucy was about to grab Hannah and run when the little fairy seed winged itself up in the direction of the old tree. ”Oh yes, Oh yes, my Great PoetTree,” cried the little seed, “it is I—your own Adora Birch.”

“Aaahhhh,” sighed the old windy voice. And as the branches of the big tree swayed and creaked, the ghostly voice continued, long and slow and full of air:  “A   need   is   a  seed   awaiting   its   tree.”

“Indeed, it is so, Great PoetTree!” exclaimed the tiny winged seed, “And this is why I have brought my new Nature Walker friends here that you may guide us on the very long and true journey of how I ended up in a door.

The branches of the old tree creaked. As Hannah curled in closer to her sister, Lucy wondered if she should just grab her sister and run. But then she decided to hold tight, for she really did want an answer as to how Adora Birch ended up in that door. Besides, strange as the old tree was, it seemed too creaky to do any harm.

“Aaahhhh,” the old windy voice sighed and after a waft and a whiff and wheeze full of leaves, drifted on mysterious as fog:

“Slam   a   door and  you     close    a     tree

    

Open  a door  and  you   know   how   a   tree   loves.”

“Oh, yes, Great PoetTree,” exclaimed the little seed, “no truer words were ever spoken.”

No truer words? To Lucy, the windy words were so foggy in their meaning that she wondered if the old tree had spent too much time breathing in clouds. 

Hannah, however, had suddenly been struck quite silly by the Great PoetTree and was now waving her arms like tired old branches while singing in her most ridiculous ghostly voice. "Open Dora Tree, Close Dora Tree, Open Dora Tree, Close Dora Tree . . ." 

Lucy tried not to laugh, for making fun of anyone, even a poor old tree, was unkind. 

But when Hannah got so dizzy that she fell over, Lucy had to hold her face stiff as cement and listen hard in an effort to keep from going completely silly herself.

In an effort to return to matter at hand, Lucy asked the fairy seed, “When are we going to start on our journey of how you ended up in a door?” 

“Well,” said the tiny winged seed, “It’s always best to start at the beginning. And for a door like mine, you need a strong forest with very excellent trees. Trees started growing out of the Earth into into forests about 400 million years ago. This, then, is where we must begin.”

Lucy had recently learned to count and had gotten past 400 to 4,000. But 400 million. “How many zeros would that be?” 

The little seed flitted about and using wisps of imagination, drew the number 400 million in the air. 

A 4 with eight zeros added on! Nine numbers in all!

Lucy’s eyes bugged out of her head. 

Now wait a moment, she thought, recalling how long a year took between her five birthdays. 400 Million years did not seem possible. Lucy began to wonder. Could a tiny fairy seed, charming as it was, be trusted with complicated matters such as counting? Well, her father worked as a mathematician, and she would certainly be checking out this number with him. 

Meanwhile, Lucy thought of a way to test the little seed. “Do trees grow up to be 400 million years old?” she asked. 

“Oh my, no,” replied the fairy seed. “Trees have come and gone over the years. While they are living, they make seeds that drop to the ground or get blown away so they can find a place where they can grow up to become young trees. Young trees are like young people. They like to change. Forests today are not what they used to be.” 

“What did they used to look like?” Lucy asked.

“Adora story too long,” complained Hannah who was rarely interested in particulars.

“I quite agree,” concurred the little seed, which is why the Great PoetTree and I have arranged for all 400 Million years worth of trees to find their way into one.”

“Aaaahhh,” sighed the windy old tree, “a  tree    is    a seed    with   all    of     its   history  inside.”

400 Million-Year-Old Forest

The Great PoetTree got all pixelated and fluttery and then went hazy around its big yawning darkness. And in that darkness there appeared a strange looking forest—place that Lucy determined was one of those once-upon-a-time make-believe forests. “Bad witch?” Hannah asked, snuggling close to Lucy.

“Oh, no,” the little seed reassured her. “You will find no witches here. This was what forests looked like 400 million years ago. There were not yet any people—so no reason for the fairies to make up their tales.” 

The forest was very quiet without people bustling around with all their cars and phones, supermarkets and malls.

“No fun,” complained Hannah.

“Ineed!” agreed the fairy seed. “Which is why it is time to move on in our very long and true journey.” 

400 Million-Year-Old Forest
Swirling Up to Now

And with that, the 400 million-year-old forest went zooming up and around, inside and out, turning all watery and rocky,

then freezing as it burst into a flame of wind carrying the ancient trees away into a gloom that rooted and branched, budded and blew off in a blizzard of needles and cones, twigging and falling and springing, limbing and leafing and greening—until finally all that had ever been of trees on Earth settled down into one very large birch tree at the edge of the meadow where all of this strangeness began.

Lucy and Hannah sat mesmerized—as over it all hung those two nagging and impossible questions:

How you get a door out of a teeny tiny winged fairy seed

And how Adora Birch ended up in that door?

And barely breathing, the sisters sat tight as Great Aunt Nature Walker turned to the next page of The Very Long and True Story of Adora Birch.

6—Entering The Magical Story Room

“Well, now,” said Great Aunt Nature Walker to Lucy and Hannah, “let’s finish our popcorn and cider here at the kitchen counter. Then we will go into the Magical Story Room to read The Very Long and True Story of Adora Birch.

A Magical Story Room! Lucy and Hannah’s eyes grew wide with wonder.

“What’s a Magical Story Room?” Lucy asked.

Great Aunt Nature Walker smiled. “The Magical Story Room is a place where the stories rise up out on the pages of a book so that you can see them. And sometimes, a story will even let you walk around inside it. It’s like having dreaming. Except you are wide awake.” 

"Story!" exclaimed Hannah who had already finished her cider and popcorn and began climbing down from her chair. 

Lucy remained on her chair, thinking. Walking into a story did not sound magical. It sounded impossible. 

But so did the whole idea of a Wood Spirit named Adora Birch living in a tree that became a door. 

More curious than ever now to see what this Magical Story Room was all about, Lucy left her cider and popcorn half finished,

The Magical Story Room

climbed down from her chair, and along with Hannah followed Great Aunt Nature Walker down the hall to the first door on their right. "Welcome to the Magical Story Room," said Great Aunt Nature Walker.

 While Hannah hopped right in, Lucy proceeded cautiously. But once they were inside, both girls grew quiet with wonder. 

The Magical Story Room was small and empty of furniture except for some bookshelves and a small desk in one corner. The walls were the deep rosy color of the sky on one of those lovely summer evenings when you hate to go to bed because you're having so much fun—and even the clouds themselves seem to be holding onto the sun as if trying to keep the day from ending. The white blind on the window was drawn. And one lone lamp did not shine but rather blossomed into five globes of white light encircled by golden halos—like wishing stars that dropped down from the sky to grant you five of your truest wishes. 

As Great Aunt Nature slid a large green book from her book shelf, a faint sweetness floated into the room. All the sounds of the outer world vanished. And the air was so quiet that you could feel the stillness. It felt like something waiting to happen—something magical.

Then Great Aunt Nature Walker, Lucy, and Hannah sat down cross-legged in a little circle on the tan carpet right in the middle of The Magical Story Room. The carpet was soft as sand. And Lucy and Hannah felt themselves sinking into a place like sleep, except they were wide awake. Great Aunt Nature Walker opened the big green book, held it flat with the pages opened toward the ceiling, and began to read:

This is the very long and true story of Adora Birch. That story begins on a lovely crisp blue-sky day in a birch tree forest. It’s autumn, and the leaves on the silvery birch tree branches have turned golden brown. Where the leaves have begun to fall, you see only small brown cones hanging from the branches.  

All of a sudden, Lucy and Hannah felt the air around them ruffle the quiet—and their mouths fell open. For rising up from Great Aunt Nature Walker’s big green book was a silvery birch forest in autumn. The white ceiling disappeared into a crisp autumn sky.

They all stood up as the tan carpet turned to earth covered in golden brown leaves. 

Adora Birch and her Tree
as a teeny-tiny seed 

Small Brown Cones

Even though a fall breeze rustled through the birch forest, Lucy and Hannah weren’t cold, for somehow they knew that the rustling wasn’t really the wind but Great Aunt Nature Walker’s voice. And then the rustling drew their eyes up to a small brown cone among many cones on a low-hanging branch. From that cone, a teeny-tiny something drifted down through the air and landed in Great Aunt Nature Walker's open hand. 

Up close, Lucy and Hannah saw that the teeny-tiny something was brown with papery tan wings. 

“Hello, Lucy and Hannah," said the tiny creature as it landed in Great Aunt Nature Walker's hand.

"Fairy!" exclaimed Hannah. 

"Well, yes, I am" said the tiny winged creature, then added, "in a manner of speaking."

"Are you really talking?" Lucy asked, wishing to be very clear on what was happening.

Tiny Winged Creature

"Well, yes," said the tiny winged creature, "in a manner of speaking."

Lucy felt a little impatient. What did the creature mean—in a manner of speaking?
Either it was a talking fairy, or it was not.

"I can feel you are a little impatient," noted the tiny winged creature, and the air jittered around like a tiny laugh. "Believe it or not," said the creature, "it's me—Adora Birch—and my tree. For you are now at the very beginning of the very long and true story of how I became a door. Would you like to continue?"

"Dora!" exclaimed Hannah.
But Lucy just stood dumbfounded, caught in that strange place between believe it or not.

How in the world did
Adora Birch
end up in that door?

"You see," continued the tiny winged creature, "like all Trees and their Wood Spirits we start out in our life's adventure as seeds. Seeds are very important forest dwellers with many different and interesting jobs. My job was was to become a door." And with that, the tiny winged creature fluttered out of Great Aunt Nature Walker's hand an wafted about merrily in the air.

Now, Lucy had seen things like lettuce grow from seeds. That made sense. But growing a door out of a seed seemed impossible, if not downright ridiculous. On the other hand, there was that smiling face right there in Great Aunt Nature Walker's door. And it had to get there somehow . . . but how?

"Shall I continue?" the little seed asked again.
"Yes, please," Lucy replied.
"Dora . . . fairy seed!" exclaimed Hannah.
And Great Aunt Nature Walker turned the page.