The Boy Who Lived Above the Trees
Rod G. Bogart
Next summer I want to go back to Glenmere Woods. Last summer I was
there and it was fun. I met the boy who lived above the trees. He
let me play over the forest with him. But only when my parents
weren't around.
My name is Brian. My grandfather died last year. We went to his
house by Glenmere Woods for the whole summer while my dad did stuff
with grandpa's will. Grandpa didn't own the woods. But his house is
on a big meadow with a pond and he owned all that. The woods are next
to the meadow to the south. If you go all the way through the woods,
which I only did one time because I almost didn't get back in time for
dinner, there are hills and rocks and you can't go any farther.
When we got to grandpa's house, I got to stay in the book room on the
third floor. Grandpa had a library on the first floor, but he also
had a bedroom with a window seat and lots of old books. I never got
to stay in that room when he was alive because grandpa said I wasn't
old enough to see things in that room. So I used to sneak in there
when I was little, but I couldn't find anything that looked like
grownup stuff. It wasn't until I stayed there all night that I knew
what he meant. When I was lying in bed in the book room, I could look
out the window and look past the chimney to see the tops of the trees
in the woods. From other places in the room, the chimney is in the
way, but from the bed I could see the woods. And one night I saw
someone running across the tops of the trees. I thought it was the
wind or something, but the moon was bright and pretty soon I saw him
again. He was pretty far away, but I could tell he was about my age
and he had a bow and arrow. I tried to stay awake to watch for him,
but I fell asleep.
The next day I told my parents about the boy above the trees. My mom
said it was a dream. My dad didn't say anything. I thought it was
because he knew there really was a boy there. He didn't say I
couldn't go look for myself, so that I afternoon I went to look for
the boy who lived above the trees.