The Magic Oak

Story #1

A giant oak tree stood in the middle of the School parking lot! Rumor has it the center was hollow, and inside lived the souls of teachers from the past.
They called it the Feel-Good Tree, because anyone who stood under it lost the stress of their day. Its magical qualities had been shared for almost a hundred years. Children played around the tree while waiting for their buses. Teachers stood by in the shade and shared the day’s gossip.
The School board decided to build a new building that would be located right where the oak tree stood. Sadly. Taking Down the Tree occurred in the summer when almost everyone was gone. As the roar of the chain saws marked the end of the magical tree, no one heard the mournful cries of the souls of the teachers who resided there for generations.

Today at d’Verse Victoria asked us to write Flash Fiction prose of not more than 144 words. She gave us a line from one of Jane Kenyon poems. Jane Kenyon was born in 1947 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She was once the Poet Lauriat of New Hampshire. The line we had to include in our story was: Taking Down the Tree.
I took a photo of our giant oak tree from my former teaching days and created my story.

I realized after the fact that I got the wrong line in my story. It was supposed to be:  If it’s darkness we’re having, let it be extravagant.

I edited the ending to my story and inserted the correct line. Below is the revised version.

Story #2   The Magic Oak 

A giant oak tree stood in the middle of the School parking lot! Rumor has it the center was hollow, and inside lived the souls of teachers from the past.
They called it the Feel-Good Tree, because anyone who stood under it lost the stress of their day. Its magical qualities had been shared for almost a hundred years. Children played around the tree while waiting for their buses. Teachers stood by in the shade and shared the day’s gossip.
The School board decided to build a new building that would be located right where the oak tree stood. As the roar of the chain saws marked the end of the magical tree, no one heard the mournful cries of the souls of the teachers who resided there for generations. As they disappeared, they said, “If it’s darkness we’re having, let it be extravagant.”

Photos: Dwight L. Roth

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Demolition

In September of 1999 Hurricane Floyd came through

With a deluge of water flooding the land

The Tar River expanded filling every classroom

The school I had taught in swam in six feet of water

What came next was wet books, mold and YUCK!

As you can see the results of Hurricane Floyd devastated Eastern North Carolina. I retired from teaching the year before after being at this school for the past twenty years. Being only a mile away from the river, we were on the high side of the flood plane. After receiving twelve inches of rain in two days, there was nowhere for the water to go. The old school was torn down and a new two-story building was built on the site. With block, concrete, and steel, it should be able to survive another flood if needed.

This past September Hurricane Florence came and sat on Wilmington, NC for three days dumping rain all over the surrounding region. Seems like Hurricanes, flooding, yucky mold, and mildew are part of choosing to live on the East Coast of North and South Carolina.

Today for d’Verse, De Jackson asked us to write a Quadrille of 44 words using the word yuck!  Join us at:  https://dversepoets.com