The Medicine Bag - Tree Perspective by Jacob Douglas

I have been alive for a long time, 124 and a half years to be exact, I remember a lot, I have had several families come and go, this one has been here for a while now, I can feel and sense things through the ground, I felt the noises, I felt the footsteps, I sensed that there were 4 people, a few animals, and some small plants inside the house, I call them my owners, but their names are Mom, Dad, Martin, and Cheryl. I did not know much, but they were my owners for now I am a tree, and this is the story, of The Medicine Bag

It was a nice breezy day, my leaves drifting through the wind, it was late in the afternoon and my roots were sucking up water when I felt an exhausted presence nearby. What seemed to be a heavy vehicle stopping. I felt its footsteps on my lawn, I had sensed that the person was old, and was going to pass away soon. I’ve gotten used to loss of owners though, but still, I had a feeling of dread as I could not tell the owners what was going to happen. As the person walked to my house's door, I had felt them knock on it, my owners opened it. I felt the reminiscence that one of the parents had, the other seemed welcoming. The youngest boy had a sense of disgust, and embarrassment, it seemed he did not like him. I payed more attention to the unknown persons energy, from what I could gather, he was a man, an old, old man, they called him Grandpa. As he walked I could feel Grandpa’s footsteps get weaker, the vibrations through the ground got dampened, I felt a thud, I wasn’t sure if the man had died, or if he had fainted, I could feel his energy drop exponentially, I sensed that the man had been there for a reason, but what it was, that was unknown. I had felt guilt in the family, they were speaking and from it I could make out that they were guilty because Grandpa had to walk for so long. The boy, Martin, had felt a lack of pride for Grandpa, as if he didn't like him. I felt him whispering, he said that he thought the way Grandpa dressed was weird, his Mother got angry at him. I felt Grandpa’s energy restore, he had woken up. He was speaking about how he had come from far, far away, where I would never be able to go, he had walked a ton, and gone through a bunch of bus rides, he was exhausted. I sensed exitement as he started telling stories of his life back on the reservation.