Story #6

The sun was finally setting behind the trees and I wouldn’t have noticed it had it not been for the oddly shaped flowers on this one. The petals were angular and oddly still, not even the wind could raise a stir in them. I approached the tree with his hand outstretched. Reaching up he plucked one of the blossoms from the tree and cradled it in his hand for closer examination. There gazing back at him was Andrew Jackson, five of them to be exact. All of them staring up at me with that bored, unsmiling face. I unwrapped the intertwining bills to reveal five perfect twenty dollar bills. My heart started pounding, what did this mean? I looked up anxiously my eyes straining in the fading light to see what I was hoping to see. Yes. There were many of these blossoms on the tree just waiting for me. I started climbing.

I was in the tree till sunrise the next morning and I left with more paper than I could carry. My feet thumped to the ground and I strode across the meadow to my house. The people who sold me this house must not have known about this tree. If they had, no. There was no way someone could want to give up a tree like this, not when money is so hard to come by.

For the next couple days I picked the tree of all its blossoms until it had nothing but little buds left. I figured that it’d be best to let them bloom before picking the next batch, that way the flowers would be bigger and better. I quit my job, well I guess I never really started it. I used to buy old houses, fix them up and sell them, but there was no way I was letting go of this gold mine that I stumbled upon. All these doors were opened to me. I could do whatever I wanted. I would never have to work again! I could travel the world, go skydiving, own nice cars, have a television or six in each room… Where do I even start!? Who says money can’t buy happiness.

As the years went on, I’ve accumulated a lot of things. My house could have given Mr. Gates a run for his money. I had the newest technology in every room and it was like my house was one big computer. When I woke up in the morning the coffee maker would be triggered downstairs in the kitchen, the shower turns on and warm up to the perfect temperature and my televisions turn on to my favorite channels and shows. I can even watch the television while I peed, there was no stopping me. The only thing missing are people. I don’t like them, and I don’t trust them. Not even my family. They’re all out to get me and my money, so I stop them before they can even get close. I keep everyone and everything out. I don’t need people anyway. My life is better off without them.

Then one day, the money ran out. I thought maybe it was a seasonal thing…but the tree has yet to bloom again. Maybe it was my own greed; I should have left some on the tree. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. I’ve tried watering it, even ventured so far as to let a gardener take a look at it…maybe he did something to it…I bet he did. There’s no way a tree like this can just dry up and die, can it?