Short Story - 06 - The Bristlecone Pine

It's been a while, I am standing here alone. Everyone has already left. I am also waiting for my end. How much time will it take for me to leave this place? Who knows? I have grown way too old. I saw my grandchildren die already, but here I'm still smoking alone.

Maybe I will die soon too, afterall I'm having reminiscence of my past. The weather is very good today...sigh...

I can still remember, although it is very vague, I was a little baby back then. This area was very barren and I was living here with my parents and relatives. We were happy as a little family. They loved me very much. They shaded me from the intense sunlight. I was very little and tiny. And they were so tall and big. I dreamed, that one day I will also become like them.

A bit by bit times passed. I grew a little old and a bit taller. My tiny fragile body also became a bit sturdier. As I already said, this area was verry barren. Only our little family lived here. But after few years few humans came. They were a very chearful species.

At first they came here too rest under our shadows. But later they became a bit accustomed to it. Few days later, more people gathered. They cover themselves with beast-skins. It was fascinating to observe them at first.

They were an interesting group of animals. They interact between themselves and do many funny things. At night they start fire with the dried sticks and barks my parents shed. They use the fire to burn the meat before they eat them. It was fascinating to see these evolved monkeys. I wished, if I could interact with my family like them.

But slowly the number of shedded bark and sticks reached to zero. I thought they will leave these place, like they do to hunt other animals. But little did I know, that they were more dengerous than beasts.

I was still too little back then, maybe that's why they didn't do aanything to me. One day, they started to hit my parents' high branches with sharp stone edges. It was too painful to watch, I tried to shout so many times, Don't do it. They will get hurt. Why are you hitting them?

But without a mouth, my words didn't go to their ears. I saw, how those cruel animals, shed all big branches of my parents and relatives. I was too sad. I didn't able stop them. But it was a relief they stopped after gathering enough branches for the winter.

Like that few years passed. The number of them increased. This barren area was no longer barren. They started to make many small houses. Their children play in front us. When ever thought about it, I never able to understand, why those grown up humans taught their little innocent childrens to chop us.

Little by little they also grew up, and they also started hurting us. At that time I also grew a lot. My height was almost as high as my parents. This was once a barren land. Now filled with so many people.

After few years, another group of human came. But they were hostile towards the older ones. And one day a fight break out between them. The village broke into two. They started a war between them. And in that war they needed a large number of spears, arrows and bows. To make those, they need wood. And in this barren land, we were the only trees. Luckily, wood from me or my parents were not suitable for weapons. But, my other relatives were not so lucky.

In that war, our numbers decreased by half. Many humans died. The whole area was dreanched in blood. And then, a draught took it's place. More humans started to die. In the end, all of them left this place. I was happy to see them leave. But I was a bit sad too. Without them, this land became barren again.

After few years, the draught came to an end. But they didn't came back. A bit by bit, another few hundred years passed. I became quite an adult. My parents and injured relatives also recovered. And few more members born in our family. And then I saw them again.

After few years those humans came back. But they were unrecognizable. They no longer were beast skins. They sit for a bit under our shadows and left. Few weeks later, a large number of humans migrated here. We never saw that many civilized monkeys before.

We got scared. Only a bit of our population left here. But they didn't chop any woods. Instead they plant a large number of new trees. We were too shocked. We thought, they were atoning for their previous sins.

But that wasn't the case. They learned to cultivate scientifically. They will plant more trees and cut them later. We became a mine of woods. A source of resources. We ony wanted a little bit of peace...sigh...

A bit by bit, few hundreds years passed. There were so many trees all of a sudden. The weather changed a lot to. The temperature cooled down a lot. We also found new friends. But at the same time, the number of humans also grew a lot. There were no more place to accomodate them.

They again started chopping woods. But this time, instead of chopping branches, the started to cut the tree whole. We got scared. In few years, almost all of the trees were cut, even my parents. Only I was left alone from our species. It was so lonely suddenly.

I was so sad. My leaves started to dry out. At that time. a little girl came. She started to water me everyday. I didn't want to live alone. But she watered me everyday. So my health didn't decrease. And one day, she planted another pine tree right beside mine.

Decades later, that girl died too. The tree she planted grew a lot. I liked the new friend. Somehow, humans stopped cutting anymore trees. The temperature increased a lot because cutting trees. For next few decades, humans didn't cut a single tree. At that time, me and my wife beside me also made many little little pine trees. We were a ittle family.

A bit by bit few hundreds years passed again. My wife grew old. Even my childrens had children by then. The human population decreased in this area. We heard they migrated to another place again. Like that Another few hunderds years passed.

My wife died. I was very sad. But I had so many grandchildren to take care of. Sometimes I reminiscenced of my past with my parents and relatives, and my wife, children. Another hundred years passed and my childrens also died. My wife's family didn't has long lifespans like us.

Another hundred years passed. My grandchildren died. Their children were already very tall. But they won't live long. In these hundreds years, this barren land changed to a little pine forest. I was the oldest tree here. But everyday, the number of trees were decreasing.

No, humans didn't cut anymore. But trees were decreasing because of lack of nutrion. I also felt like, I won't leave long either. Since then 120 years had passed. All of trees here died. But I didn't feel sad. I was too old to feel sad. It's been two or, three thousands years since born. I heard, even my mother or father wasn't this old when they died. May be, they would have lived as much as me, if the humans didn't cut them down.

So many years have passed, I didn't see any humans anymore. In this barren land, I'm standing alone. My children and grandchildren were already dead. And I'm reminiscing about my past. Who knows, how many years I will live more? I am a Bristlecone Pine, waiting for my death for thousands of years...