MOONINSPAIN

There is a woman who lives in the trees.  

The path where I go jogging follows along, and just above the river near my home. Most people stay up on the dirt trail that will take you from my neighbourhood towards the mountain. But, some people walk down to the river’s edge to wet their feet, meditate on a rock or let their dogs bathe and run through the trees and bushes. 

I have seen the woman who lives in the trees on several occasions down by the riverside. This was before I knew she lived in the trees. Something about her caught my attention when I saw her crouched down busy with something. What? I do not know.  I did not want to gawk because that would have been impolite and an infringement on her privacy. Even though it is quite common to gawk where I live, unlike other places.  And after all, she was in perfect view of anyone passing by on the trail. But, I did not gawk. I don’t know what she does down by the river. 

The woman who lives in the trees has short grey hair and is of a small stature, not unlike my mother. The stature, not the grey. For my mother had beautiful black hair only tinged with a bit of perfect silver at the end of her life. 

Yesterday I saw the woman who lives in the trees, although I still did not know she lived in the trees. She was carrying something in her hands. I jogged past her and could make out something shaped like a box. When I turned to look back, she was gone. The woman, who I still did not know lived in the trees, had disappeared in an instant. 

Sometimes when I am jogging along the river I see things that are not there at all. A car, a dog, or a snake. Maybe it is from jogging in the heat or maybe I have hallucinations. More than likely it is just my over active imagination. Many evenings I have seen wild boar. Sometimes it is just a baby on its own but I have also seen whole families. I am not hallucinating when I see the wild boar. They also live in the trees and sometimes come down to the river. Maybe the woman who lives in the trees knows the wild boar family. 

Today I found out that she lives in the trees. She was cautious, as if she were sneaking into her home in the trees. I did not mean to catch her sliding through the gate that marks the entrance to her home. I just happened to be passing by at the exact moment that she was arriving home. 

Behind the green gate to her home there are only trees. A small patch of land near the river where she has made her home. 

Where will she go in the winter time? Will she still be the woman who lives in the trees?