Thousand: Three Hundred Ninety-Eight

a tree. It was, as far as he was concerned, the tree that touched heaven. That the twigs tickling the angels’ toes were too delicate to stand up to the weight of a boy was further proof that their job was finer than flesh. That the tree graciously allowed the boy so close kept his hopes from falling to earth. On an overcast morning in July the boy did not climb as high as he could. One day he would and, reclining on a branch that swayed if he scratched his nose, the boy scouted possible routes with a pointing