The Kapok Tree

By Mah Noor

DISCLAIMER: This blog was written without consciously connecting to The Kapok Tree by Lynn Cherry. Ironically after writing this blog and looking at the story by Lynn Cherry, there were many similarities, relating to the tree and the environment it was surrounded by. Note: the similarities were not purposely done, it was merely a coincidence. 

Little Aren embraced the thick cushion of humid air that was dominating the Amazon Rainforest. The macaws were soaring above; their lingering graceful tails, which were longer than their bodies, flew swiftly along the canopy of the greatest Kapok tree Aren had ever seen. Her eyes captured every seed and the smallest of insect species. The smell of the damp, refreshing, earthy soil carried an invigorating aroma, divinely brewed with the exotic plants around her; this is what Aren called her planet’s true breath. Six-year old Aren was relieved that today was the day she wouldn’t have to inhale air that was being cursed with pollution coming from copper smelters and power plants that were at her home town in Washington, Pennsylvania.

While Aren was enjoying the stimulating freshness of the rainforest, a creature with an intricately painted wing, blemishing brown was looking fixedly at the trap it was caught in, oddly its eyespots were located near its forewing, nothing like Aren had ever seen. The owl butterfly was trying to escape the nefarious branch trap that had captured one of its owl wings; it was struggling to fight its way out of the trap, until the slithering of a Tree-Python snake cautiously made its way through the understory to the other side of the Kapok tree, trying to blend in with the grass. The snake had bounteous shades of green than the grass, which made its precaution not so satisfying. The butterfly grew alert, and pricked at the place where the branch hooked its wing, it quickly unfolded its wings making its way out of the trap, its metallic brown wings, which were fringed with a silver lining, gently flaunted its beauty. The free spirited butterfly flew into the freedom of the rainforest; it reunited with its true home, the forest floor of the Kapok tree. Aren thought to herself what a pleasure it must for these creatures to be given a beautiful home like the Kapok.

Verging on the tree was gently hanging a Heliconia flower, its intricately curved petals were praising the sunlight’s glory, though the sunlight awarded a radiant towards the blushing red color of the petals and glittered their yellow tips with a golden glimmering. The zigzag formation of the flower didn’t hold back to its beauty, it more over ceased the curiosity of how such a narrow stem could endure the weight of the flowers that weighed more than itself.

The breath-taking sensation that Aren was experiencing was abruptly disrupted by the sound of her father’s voice, “Aren it’s time to go now, papa has a lot of business to handle at the tree yard,” Aren’s father called.

“Papa, come see this beautiful Kapok tree,” Aren exquisitely remarked.

Papa came by Aren and stared at the Kapok tree for a second, “Alright, let’s go now my child,” he let out a deep breath, grasped Aren’s hand and led her out of the Kapok’s trees’ apparition. To Aren it all seemed like a fantasy come true, she never wanted to leave it.  A wonderful Kapok tree was home to hundreds of species living in the rainforest. To many the Kapok tree was just a tree and to some it was a heavenly beauty.

Aren couldn’t stop thinking about the Kapok tree’s divine beauty until a crowd of Safari jeeps rush past her. Wet soil dashed from the forest floor past the tires of the vehicles, smudging carelessly onto her cotton white shirt. As the jeeps came to a halt and the obnoxious sounds of their harsh tires were heard no more, an alarming roar of a predator rang though Aren’s ears. Macaws’ flew out of the canopy branches. Wings flapped strenuously to escape from any danger.

She turned to determine what made such a dreadful noise; all that was filmed in front of her eyes now was an image of a murderous chainsaw digging into the soul of the Kapok tree. The victim was unable to express its pain. The saw continued to attack its victim until the sound of a boom was heard by the once serene rainforest. She heard nothing now, except for the mourning of the rainforest, for the most imposing Kapok tree she had ever seen.