I walked closer and closer to the living brown tree.  There is was standing like an elegant statue before me, stretching its arms out as if it was trying to give me a hug.  I thought, ‘what’s inside?’

I was shaking and saying to myself what am I to do?  If I run, it will stretch even further and it will grab me.  But then I saw a bug and thought that if that can touch it, I can too.  I came closer to the tree, reached out and touched it!  It was rough and felt very different from anything I had ever touched.  Oh its smell was very strong and just extraordinary.  It was like I was in a different world.  I thought my pet grasshoppers would just love it here and so would my birds. They would peck at the extraordinary tree searching for insects to eat.

Then I saw the leaves on the tree starting to become spikier.  The leaves then started to fall.  I stepped back.  It was autumn.  The tree yawned and went to sleep.

I loved this tree.  No matter what happened to it, I thought it would be my guardian.