Wednesday, April 25, 2018

No Witnesses

They tore the trees out today. Years ago, when they first planted the birches, and a school renovation enlarged my windows, I made a deal with my students that I would never close the blinds. If they could stay focused, we could all enjoy the natural light. Since then, I've kept my word and so has every group of kids, through snow and rain and thunder and wind, and this year, even through the construction of a whole school outside.

The digging, the noise, the crane, the bulldozers, the concrete mixers-- we have regarded it all with mild interest, even as the leaves turned golden and then fell, giving us a better view of those proceedings. And now spring has arrived. And this morning, just as the first green was velveting the graceful white branches, men in hard hats and bobcats with chains and saws assailed the trees and rather savagely took them down and moved them out of the way, presumably for some next phase.

For that? I closed the blinds.

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