"Robert F. Young - Did You Ever See a Tree Walking" - читать интересную книгу автора (Young Robert F)

fiction by ROBERT F. YOUNG




Did you ever
see
a tree walking?
Wesley went back to work with enthusiasm. He didn't
care if the job took two daysтАФeven three. What a crazy
way to meet a girl!
There she lay, so beautiful that he could not turn his eyes away; and he stooped down and
gave her a kiss. But as soon as he kissed her, Briar-rose opened her eyes and awoke, and looked
at him quite sweetly.
тАФGrimm's Household Tales; Little Briar-rose


IT never entered Wesley Norton's head the morning he climbed into the branches of the big silver
maple in front of Dominic DelPopolo's delicatessen that he was going to see Sleeping Beauty. That's the
way it usually is when fairy tales come into our lives.
It was Wesley's job to top the tree in such a manner that it could be felled without tak-ing the electric
wires that ran through its foliage down with it and without damaging the brand-new sign that graced the
counten-ance of the store and that said, in big neon--veined letters: DOMINIC DELPOPOLO'S
DELICATESSEN. This, as can readily be imagined, was a task of considerable magni-tude, and
Wesley, whose applied tree-removal experience dated from June 1 when he'd graduated from tree
school to July 22, which this very morning had warmly ushered in, was uncomfortably aware of the fact.
However, there was no way he could get out of it since Herb, the foreman, was too fat too climb any
more and Wilkes, the key man, was home celebrating his brotherтАЩs wedding. As for Harris, the remaining
member of the crew, he had even less tree-removal experience than Wesley did. Besides, what has all
this got to do with Sleeping Beauty anyway?
Plenty, because if the circumstances had been different, it might have been someone less amenable to
fairy tales than Wesley Norton who climbed the rope to the first limb of the silver maple that morning and
looked through the third-floor window of the delicatessen building and saw this dark-haired damsel
sleeping on a snow-white bed.
Unlike the Prince, Wesley did not have to kiss his little Briar-rose to awaken her. The very intensity
of his gaze did the trick. And, unlike the Bewitched Maiden, she did not "look at him quite sweetly" when
she opened her eyes. As a matter of fact she stared at him as though he were an escaped orang-outang,
and jumped out of bed and pulled down the shade. Well, you could hardly blame her, could you?
Wesley stood up on the limb and steadied himself against the trunk. What a crazy way to meet a girl!
He'd have to find some way to apologize to her. Maybe she worked in the delicatessen; if so, when noon
came he could go in and buy a pint of milk to go with his lunch, and if the opportunity afforded, tell her he
was sorry.
He put her out of his mind for the moment and looked at the limb. It was a big one, but happily the
electric wires were above it, so there wouldn't be any need to rope it and pull it back against the trunk.
Below him, Herb was standing on the sidewalk, talking to Mr. DelPopolo, and Harris was standing on
the curb, chewing gum and watching the cars go by. For all the weight Herb had put on, he was still on
the lanky side, ands in juxtaposition with Mr DelPopolo, who was short and stocky, he actually looked
thin.
The morning breeze wafted the tailend of their conversation up to WesleyтАЩs ears. тАЬDonтАЩt worry about
the sign, Mr. DelPopolo,тАЭ Herb was saying. тАЬNothingтАЩs going to happen to it.тАЭ