A brook flows silently through the valley below my cottage. An unofficial path runs alongside of it for about a mile. In summer, it is magical with orchids, deer and, on August evenings, bats perform aerobatics as they feed on flies. I felt some unease when I saw this tree on the opposite bank. It seemed to reach out to me. Sometimes it felt as if it was reaching out FOR me. I always quickened my pace when I passed by. It is strange that, in all the years I have walked that path, I hadn't noticed it before. It remained the whole summer. Then one day it vanished. There was no flood to wash it away and it, in any case, have been trapped by the trunk of a fallen tree further down the brook. I sometimes wonder if it had moved on elsewhere to try and lure an unwary human?
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