It began with a nest of sparrows in the oak overhanging the driveway.
Phil, annoyed at scraping bird poo off his Porsche each morning, sawed off that hospitable branch and laughed at the frantic chirping as he fed the whole thing into the woodchipper.
After that, the oak turned downright hateful. Halloween-like, it scraped fingers on his bedroom wall at night and, with one well-placed branch, punched a hole through the bay window.
The neighbors spotted him scaling the trunk the next morning with a chainsaw. Minutes later, it all came down – oak, Phil, and chainsaw – right on the Porsche.
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This story was written for Rochelle Wisoff-Fields’s weekly Friday Fictioneers flash fiction event. The challenge is to write a 100-word story using a photo prompt. As always, I welcome comments and constructive feedback and love browsing the other entries as well!
Oh, so that’s how it happened – I thought the car was meant to hold up and support the leaning tree 🙂
Ah, retribution! I’m sure the songbirds chirped their approval 🙂
that’s the revenge of the tree; what of the birds?
Perhaps a page from Hitchcock?
If a man’s got to go, he should go with his Porsche. Particularly if he’s the kind to go down chopping bits off trees. Enjoyed this.
That’ll learn you Phil.
Well done Rachael, far too many trees are just plainly misunderstood.
The scraping branches on the bedroom wall is a great (and terrifying) image. Poltergeist always frightened me — not the ghost stuff so much as the storm and the trees outside the boy’s window.
Trees really don’t like being cut up…
Love the idea of the tree taking revenge!
Dear Rachael,
I could see this as a Twilight Zone episode. Good one.
Shalom,
Rochelle
Very satisfactory ending.
Satisfying, perhaps. 🙂