Treasures in the Tree

Tommy braced his leg against a limb. His knee dug into his chest, but he was securely in place. He sat in his usual spot, staring down at the hole in the tree across from him. He could almost make out the shiny metal of the gift he'd left inside, but he didn't think anyone else would notice.

Reassured, Tommy continued work on the picture of the owl he was carving into his spot in the trees. He'd begun crafting it more than two weeks ago when he first started hiding treasures for his secret friend.

It all started with a rubber-banded set of firecrackers that he wasn't supposed to have. His mom would have killed him if she'd found them. So he hid them in the hole in the tree back in the woods behind their neighborhood. When he went back to collect his treasure, he found a valentine card tucked into the hole instead. At first he was mad. Someone had stolen his firecrackers just when he and his friend Greg had planned to set them off. But later, as he turned the valentine over in his hand, he discovered words written lightly in pencil. Who are you? they read.

A few days later, Tommy decided to leave something else in the tree. This time, he slipped in a quarter that had a hole through the middle of it. His friend Scott said that the hole was made by a pellet gun, but Tommy wasn't so sure about that. He left it there anyway, and then decided to climb the tree he sat in now and watch. He'd sat there for hours each day, waiting to see who was taking his gifts and leaving others in exchange. So far, he hadn't seen anyone but a couple of teenagers who walked right beneath him without ever noticing that Tommy sat perched above them.

The quarter disappeared and in its place Tommy found a purple geode. It was the coolest thing he'd ever found. He wouldn't have left that for someone else. He was more curious than ever about who was leaving things for him. He imagined it was a girl and that he would marry this girl someday. He didn't want to meet her, but he did want to know who was leaving things in his secret tree.

Today he'd left a treasure map. It had directions to Tommy's secret lock box, hidden down the path a little farther. Attached to the map was a key. Tommy could barely see the key from where he sat, but it was still there. He'd only been waiting twenty minutes or so today, carving the final feathers on his picture of an owl. He hoped the girl wouldn't arrive too soon. He wasn't finished yet. For inside the locked box was another map. This one led to the very tree where he sat. He told the finder of the map to climb the tree. And there she would find the owl he'd carved for her, along with his own question: Whooo are you?