The Madness of Trees by Shoshana Edwards

Author:Shoshana Edwards [Edwards, Shoshana]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-12-01T02:26:03+00:00

CHAPTER 22

The first week in June was graduation week. The elementary and high schools combined their ceremonies. The entire town turned out, filling the bleachers in the gymnasium.

The twenty high school graduates were especially antsy. Rumor had it Saul Grossman was going to make a special announcement which might involve scholarships. Most of the graduates planned to go on to college or trade school, making the rumored announcement thrilling to contemplate.

“I don’t know how I’m going to afford culinary school,” said Rhona Porter. “There’s a good one in Hannibal, which is expensive. I also don’t know anyone I can live with up there, which means rent.”

“Get a job as a sous chef,” said Tiffany Ryder. “You know you’re good enough, and Maggie will give you good references.”

“Yeah, well, my dad has been saving money for years,” said Tyler, the son of Deputy Harry Randle. “But he and mom are going to…” he stopped. “Um, they have plans for my living arrangements, plus I got a state scholarship and a Winfrey Award. I guess I’m one of the lucky ones.”

“You’re always lucky,” said Brad Melnik, Tyler’s best friend. “I’ll bet you’ve saved up money too, working for the newspaper and Harve Sanders. What will you major in?”

“Black history and pre-law.”

“I preferred shop class,” said Brad. “Aside from not being named after anyone famous, I doubt there are any Ukrainian mechanical engineers whose footsteps I can find.”

Tyler snickered at that. He’s my best friend, but I wonder if that will last. We are so different. He felt a wave of sadness flow over him, but it didn’t feel like sadness for the end of a friendship. It felt like a premonition of something greater, and he shuddered a bit. Oh, stop. It’s graduation jitters. He joined the others sitting on the main floor after waving to his parents.

The ceremony was simple, moving, and meaningful for graduates and parents alike. Each student received a certificate of completion. The kindergarteners, all ten of them, put on a short play they wrote, about blossoms opening and growing into fruit. They sang short songs, happily acknowledging the cheers and applause of everyone. The fifth graders, who would move on to middle school, also put on a play, a reproduction of the Salem witch trials, ending with a moving plea of a girl sentenced to hang.

“Am I not known to all of you? Do you not see me every Sunday at church, praying the same prayers, singing the hymns? Would not God, in His infinite wisdom, strike me down before Him in His sacred place, if I were what you say I am? Have you no faith in God and His plan for us, that you would pretend to dispense His judgment?”

The entire crowd was reduced to tears and silence as Sable Kolchak pled her case once she was led to the gallows. The trial was performed exactly as described in the history books, and the place for hanging was so accurately prepared that some people later declared they could actually smell the wood.

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