Grizzly Giant
The hike to the Grizzly Giant took
longer than expected after Lucas found a new love for hugging trees. Afraid he would never get the chance again,
he wanted to hug them all, while whispering to each one how much he loved them.
“What a heart!” Tali said, watching
Lucas do his thing.
Lucas ran up to a small cabin to read a
sign in the window. It was the only
building in the entire forest.
“Who is Galen Clark?” he asked.
“He used to live in this cabin and was
called the protector of these trees,” John replied with his big smile.
Tali gave him a funny look.
“Hey, that’s my job,” she teased.
Lucas walked over to the cabin and
peeked inside a different window.
“Mr. Clark was lucky to live in such an
amazing place,” he said.
Tali spoke before John could even think
of something to say.
“Galen Clark said that these trees
looked as if they were giving us a warm welcome,” she explained.
"He even wondered what these trees
would tell us if they could speak.”
Lucy was off in her own world, still
thinking of the little blue jay.
Whenever she would stop walking she
would look around to see if the little bird was somewhere nearby.
Finally, they made it to the king of all
trees.
“Here we are!” John announced as they
arrived at the base. “The Grizzly Giant!”
Lucas ran over and stood next to John,
looking all the way to the top of the monster size tree.
“Holy moly!” he bellowed. “The branches
look like bear arms reaching out to hug me.”
“Then you better get over there and give
him a hug.” John insisted.
Tali went to keep an eye on Lucy.
John just sat to watch what would happen
between the Grizzly tree and Lucas.
Right before Lucas climbed over the
wooden fence, he stopped one more time to look at its giant arm-like branches.
“Is this really the tree the Old Hara
tree wanted me to see?” he asked.
“That’s right!” John replied, pointing
to a part of the tree. “He’s king of all trees, and I bet the best place to
give him a hug is right next to that large burn right there.”
“I see it! It looks like a giant scar, I bet
someone tried to burn it down and then changed their mind,” Lucas guessed.
“I’m glad they did, the world would
never be the same without him,” John replied.
Lucas studied the smaller scars carved
out by visitors and even found a very sticky spider web under a large root
sticking out of the ground.
Just as Lucas hugged the Grizzly Giant a
rush of energy overcame him, pulling his thoughts deep into a place he had not
been since the day with Old Hara.
Lucas felt the light inside the Grizzly
Giant connecting to his own, creating words and even reading his thoughts.
“You are the greatest tree I have ever
seen,” Lucas told him as the connection grew stronger.
The Grizzly Giant had a light and energy
that was even bigger than its body. Lucas saw the energy from the tree reaching
all the way across the world.
“How is that possible?” Lucas thought.
The light became even more clear,
allowing him to see how the energy and light of all trees and plant life were
connected to people, in one way or another. In a way, it seemed that one could
not live without the other.
The light of the Grizzly Giant finally
gave Lucas the ability to share his own light and memories with the tree.
The tree was happy to meet such a
wonderful human and felt happiness as it saw Lucas’s happy memories. It also felt his pain and sadness during
memories of pain or sadness.
It was like days had gone by as Lucas
spent time with the tree. He completely forgot about his family who was waiting
for him as he traveled through time watching the history of this magnificent
tree.
Actually, Lucas was only with the
Grizzly Giant for about an hour as John and Tali waited patiently for him to
return.
Lucas learned more about trees than any
person ever could in a lifetime. He even learned the Grizzly Giant’s Native
American name, ‘No-taku-who-who-nau.’
Finally, Lucas remembered his family was
waiting, almost breaking the connection before the tree stopped him. He saw one
last memory that was different from all the others he had seen.
He saw a Giant Man standing right in
front of the Grizzly Giant. He was
almost as tall as the tree was.
“How is this possible?” thought Lucas.
“Who could ever grow this tall?”
He also saw a blue ox who was almost
taller than the giant man. The blue ox
also had a large axe strapped to its back.
Lucas immediately knew it was Paul
Bunyan, the giant. His father John Henry talked about him so many times before,
only he never imagined he was really that tall.
“Did he try to chop you down?” Lucas
asked the tree.
A peaceful energy surrounded Lucas,
telling his mind that Paul Bunyan was no longer cutting trees down, and he was
out protecting them.
“Where is he now?” Lucas asked.
A sad energy surrounded Lucas, asking
him to find out. The tree did not know.
The meeting finally ended as the Grizzly
Giant gave Lucas a rare type of energy.
An energy Lucas understood would unleash the full power of the
Fern.
In time, he would understand what the
power could do, and it filled every inch of his body. Lucas could feel, see, smell, hear and even
taste the energy that was given him. Much more than he ever felt before.
The energy of the tree was curious to
know what Lucas was feeling.
Lucas thought for a moment before
answering.
“It feels like rain, looks like fire,
sounds like thunder, feels like raspberries, and it tastes like watermelon,”
Lucas explained.
The energy from the tree was full of
laughter, as it faded away leaving Lucas to return to his family.
An extremely sad feeling came over Lucas
as the tree disappeared It was as if he was losing his best friend.
Lucas opened his eyes to the sights and
smells of the forest around him. He was
completely worn out as he used all the energy he had left, just to move one of
his legs forward.
John Henry was right there to catch him
as he fell towards the ground.