Anecdote - Tree forts

My brother and I grew up in Kila with horses, dogs, ten acres and a pond in our front yard. We also grew up with a woods behind us that acted as our back yard. We would explore the woods and call it our own because we were in it. Like many boys we liked building forts. At first we used dead and downed trees and stacked them like a beaver dam. As the years progressed so did our forts. Soon we were building small houses of lumber we chopped down with hatchets, a small ax. One evening we got a little out of control. We spent hours feverishly chopping small, young pines; the rhythmic thumping and cries of timber could probably be heard through the thick forest to any near by houses; we built a fort complete with doors, windows and a roof. That night we slept in the structure and imagined the distance coyote yelps were wolves just outside the fort, and that the only thing saving us from certain doom was are artfully sound walls. In the morning we walked home feeling proud of ourselves for surviving the night in the wilderness. When we stepped around the garage we saw our father filling the doorway and shaking his head, and we hoped we would be able to survive civilization. "I just had to explain to Mr. Gates what happened to his trees. " He said, staring at me more than at my brother. "He was not happy."