The Silver Pine

Reyena sat silently upon a smooth, slate-grey stone, and stared up with her beautiful blue eyes at the silver pine. Her tilted head was framed by swirls of wavy grey hair that cascaded in dull locks around her shoulders, and down her back. She was lightly clothed in a pretty blue summer dress that very nearly matched the hue of her eyes, pale, clear, and serene, and the slowly setting sun was illuminating the lively gold and quartz necklace that hung around her dainty neck and disappeared under her waterfall of slatey spray.1

Before her stood the silver pine in all it's glory. With it's pale, silvery branches that stretched up, perhaps forever, towards the sky, and it's axe-scarred, but nonetheless beautiful trunk that glowed silver like a brilliant trophy no matter what light fell upon it, whether it was moonlight, sunlight, firelight or torchlight, or even something in between.2

The silver pine was very old. It had stood in this sandy floored copse, alone and bereft of the company of other trees, for as long as anyone could possibly remember. Maybe it had stood there for 500 years, maybe it had stood there for 1000, nobody was really certain. A long time ago people from everywhere had flocked to see it; tourists had come to photgraph it, scientists to study it and marvel over it, and gardners to try and grow new silver pine's of their own from the seeds they collected from the ground beneath it.
A town, named Pinewood after the tree that was it's soul and economy, had sprung up around the silver pine with the silver conifer as it's central point, and with the town came legends of how and why the silver pine was there. 3

Reyena remebered her favourite one, a story in which the silver pine was a not a tree at all, but a beautiful virgin maiden, who was betrothed by her greedy and rich father to the sun. But the fair, blonde-haired maiden did not love the fiery tempered sun, who was the hoggart of the sky, instead she loved the moon, and she met secretly with him once a month, in a bare sandy floored clearing when he was shining fully, and she could hear his silvery ray-like voice quite well. 4

For many months she met in secret with the moon, her lover, but one day her father, curious to see where it was she disappeared to once a month, followed her and saw her singing with her lovely, melodious voice to the shining moon above, and he was very angry. He was so angry that he pulled out his hunting knife and stabbed her in the heart, and then fled the clearing, leaving her for dead.5

The poor, nameless maiden whom the moon loved so deeply lay half dead and dying of mortal wounds. Her ruby red blood was spilling out across the ground, and her heart was slowing. The bright shining moon was very upset and grief-stricken, and unable to face the death of his sweetheart, he turned her into a silver pine where she lay, so that she could neither live nor die fully. He gave her a strong trunk and roots to anchor her, and left her there, so that she could continue reaching towards the stars and the moon, although she would never reach them. 6

Reyena closed her eyes, and shook her head so that her mane of brilliant white hair went cascading down her back like the spray from a waterfall. She didn't know why she liked this single story so much, perhaps it was because of the detail and care her own grandmother, the first one to show her the silver pine and tell her it's story, had bestowed it upon her.Of course there were many other stories surrounding the pine, some of them realistic, others strange and odd, even queer, but this was the best by far, in Reyena's opinion. 7

As she sat thinking this an erruption of bird-song sounded, and Reyena lifted her head and opened her eyes from the day dream that had so peacefully closed them. She gaze at the world growing and living around her, and smiled at the beauty.
"It would make a beautiful painting or photo", she thought, "or even a story". At this a warm smile spread across her face once more, and she ran over the glorious, succulent words that she would use to describe this place. Words like serene, mystical, neverending... words that weren't wholly ordainary, but that held a sort of, magic for her.8

Set as a background behind the silvery pine she could see the sun gradually lowering itself down behind the blue-green painted mountains that bordered the bustling horizon of Pinewood's. She could see the darkening silhouettes of the shadowy trees around her and she imagined the magical fairies and other-world beings that would live in them in her story, only coming out just at the moment dusk touched the Earth with it's golden fingered touch. She felt, rather than saw the shadows beginning to fill in the grassy hollows around the clearing, and she most definitely felt the cooling evening air that swirled like mist between the darkness, unseen, unheard. 9

In the gathering, lightless night only the silver pine was still visible, like a ghost tree in the enveloping darkness.10

Reyena sighed, and with an agileness that did not represent her sixty-one years of age, she arose from her quiet resting place and began the slow, arduos walk back to her retirement cottage, on the outskirts of Pinewood.
*11

The cool rising dawn found Reyena Moore sitting on the same smooth grey rock she had sat on yesterday when it surfaced for the first time the next day. 12

She was gazing absently at the lower trunk of the silver pine, or more accurately at the heaped bed of sharp, blade-edged clear quartz crystals that surrounded the silver pine on all sides. At the same time she was fiddling unknowingly with the tiny, glimmering stone set in the golden wire and elegant chain of her very own quartz neacklace. 13

She was lost deeply in thought, and this time her preoccupied mind did not notice the startling beauty around it. Her thoughts were tied to other, more pressing things, like the fact that her son was coming to visit her later on today, because it was his lovely, energetic daughter Araline's birthday, and she wanted to spend it with 'grannyma'. She was going to stay the night with her grandmother, and Joshua was going to pick her up again from Reyena's place in the early afternoon.14

Reyena'a thoughts wandered from what she was going to cook Araline for tea tonight in place of her usual micro-wave style dishes and sachet juice drinks, to whether or not her granddaughter would like the quirky little present she'd got her; a miniature, handmade cuckoo clock that she'd purchased for $23.65 from Nick-Nacks Etc. in Pinewood. It was a cute little clock, and she was sure Araline would like it, with it's tiny, goose feathered cuckoo bird who popped out of his tiny wire nest every other hour and it's real ebony wood exterior. It even had a 'sound off' switch so that Joshua could turn it off when he wanted. The present was sitting on her china cabinet back home, and was, she suddenly realised, still unwrapped.15

"Damn!" she thought to herself, and sighed. She would just have to go back and wrap it. It would spoil the fun if it was unwrapped, being a brithday gift and all. And with this resolve firm in her heart she gave the quartz bed she'd been admiring without knowing it, one final glance over, and nearly had a heart attack.16

A pair of glowing green eyes were staring at her from amongst the tall spires of quartz. They were in turn joined to a small, perfectly round, and furry head topped by a pair of small pointy ears that shone pink as the bright sunlight passed through them.
For a moment Reyena couldn't believe her own eyes, and she found herself blinking in amazement, but she definitely wasn't dreaming, for even as she watched, a tiny, pure white kitten tumbled out from it's home among the crystals and looked up at her with it's startlingly green eyes. It stared up at her unconcernedly for a long minute, then it opened it's tiny, pink mouth open very wide, and let out one very long, loud and plaintive meow.17

Reyena blinked again then bent down instinctively to pick up the little snowy kitten, and inspect it. Perhaps the tiny scrap of fur bore a collar around it's little neck that was hidden by the fur, afterall it certainly couldn't be living out here on it's own, she thought to herself. But the kitten didn't have any collar on it, and the she touched it Reyena forgot all about looking for identification. She was instantly amazed by how soft and luxurious it's fur was, almost like a mixture of velvet and wool combined and as slippery as silk in texture. In appearance however it was just a plain, snowy white, touched of course with mud in places, and with mats and burs entwined amongst the long hairs. These odd features, coupled with it's queer, peircing emerald eyes, made the kitten a very unusual looking animal.18

Surprised by it's overall look, Reyena reached down to pat the kitten once more, but the miniature scrap of fur did not like this one bit, and with an evil hiss and a loud, angry meow it promptly scratched her with a pair of curving, scythe-like claws that had up til now been hidden amongst the fluffy fur that grew all over it's feet. It followed up this direct assault with another well-meant hiss and a disgruntled expression that Reyena couldn't help laughing at, much to the kitten's obvious and utter disgust. It was then that Reyena decided she loved the kitten, and it was also then that the kitten decided it hated her, so of course, the first thing Reyena tried to do was pick it up again, and once again she had no success; a few more scratches were added to her arms, hands and face, followed by a pair of tiny puncture wounds that could only have been created by a pair of little teeth possesed by the devil himself. Reyena wasn't one to give up though - in fact she was downright stubborn, and she tried again, and again, and again, all to no avail.19

At last when her arms, legs, face and hands all bore the battle-scars that the young cat had proven it was more than capable of inflicting, Reyena gave up, and left the kitten where it lay. She had quite lost track of the time and it was very near the time when Araline was supposed to arrive, so without a second thought about the little snowy devil-of-a-kitten she hurried home on her creaking joints to wrap up the forgotten present.20

She got home in record time to find her son's green Voltswagon just pulling up in the driveway, and she had barely enough time to hurry inside and make a quick and very much rushed attempt at wrapping the mini cuckoo clock before there was a thud on the door and Araline was racing down the red carpeted hall crying out 'grannyma, grannyma' at the top of her lungs.
Reyena did not pause. She bent down, even though her old, arthritic knees creaked and complained like old bed springs, and swept up her granddaughter in a love-filled embrace. 21

Joshua was the only son, the only child she'd ever had. He'd been born just after her husband had died, twenty two odd years ago, and somehow he'd helped to erase the pain she was sure would've been unbearable otherwise. Araline was his only daughter, and therefore Reyena's only granddaughter. She was the newest, and sole heir, of Reyena's family. She was Reyena's dreams.
*22

Morning dawned bright upon Reyena's little red brick cottage. Inside Reyena was cooking herself and Araline a breakfast of fried eggs and bacon, whilst comtemplating the day ahead. She planned to take her granddaughter out to see the silver pine and, if it was still there, the snowy kitten straight after breakfast.23

"Perhaps Araline will have more success in taming the young thing," Reyena thought to herself, and laughed. The kitten certainly seemed to have a mind of it's own, and a contrary one at that - with a vicious attitude to match! She laughed again, and Araline glanced over at her curiously.24

After they had eaten, Araline glanced over at her, and spoke.
"What are we going to do now?" she asked, with her head tilted to one side.
"Well, I thought we could go and see the silver pine that grows not far from here," Reyena replied, then embarked upon a lengthy description of the pine, and at last of the little kitten as well. 25

Araline, who was entranced by her grandmother's excellent descriptions, leapt up at once when she heard of the kitten and begged Reyena to go. She was absolutely thrilled at the idea of a snow white kitten under the giant tree, the whole scene sounded magical to her, like an enchanted setting in a wondrous story.26

*27

When they reached the tree, it was Araline who was first to spot the little snowy hued kitten in his haunt beneath the pine.28

"Look, look, there he is!," she exclaimed, long before Reyena had even begun to look, and sure enough there he was, sitting in a tiny crevice in the quartz, with one leg over his head, licking his underparts. Araline giggled whilst Reyena frowned.29

The little kitten heard them, and looked up, unconcerned. It's disconcerting green eyes looked at them with a strange, contemptuos expression, and it's snow dappled tail began to flick in an almost arrogant way. For a young kitten it sure had a lot of attitude.30

"We should name it..." Araline's brow creased in concentration as she thought hard for a name to match the kitten. "Allira!" she proclaimed at last. "It means 'quartz' she explained, "because he lives in the quartz bed, and because his coat looks kind of like milky quartz!"31

Reyena stared at the little kitten for a while, and at last she nodded.
"Allira," she said, testing the syllables on her tongue. "It's a perfect name for the Little Devil" and so from that moment on the kitten was known as 'Allira- the Little Devil' for that was what the kitten most certainly was.32

Araline insisted on bringing the troublesome kitten home, and surprisingly enough the kitten acted like a perfect little angel for her. It let her pick it up and cuddle it, but the moment Reyena went near it the strange little creature would begin to hiss and squirm like the devil was after it, so eventually she stopped trying, purely out of exasperation.33

That afternoon Reyena went into town for the first time in three years to buy food for her new tenant, the white kitten. 34

*35

Araline loved her kitten, and all of his antics, which was just as well, because it turned out he had quite a few. 36

The little white kitten loved to climb, which he often demonstrated by becoming stuck up various trees for various amounts of time. It seemed to be his life ambition to get stuck up every tree in the neighbourhood, and it was a goal that he carried out with an great amount of dedication. If you couldn't find Allira at dinner time, when you were standing in the hallway with an open can in your hand, 9 times out of 10 it would be because he was stuck up a disgruntled neighbours tree, hissing at their dog or fellow cat.37

That was another thing about Allira, he hated all other forms of life aside from Araline, who for some reason he'd taken a liking too. He hated dogs, cats and people with equal contmept, and the only two reasons he liked trees were because he didn't actually know they were alive, and because he could get stuck up them, which irritated the humans and accomplished his number one goal in life.38

The only other things, aside from irritating people, and getting stuck up trees, that Allira liked, were fighting with other, weaker cats (he never fought the stronger ones in case they won) and terrorising chained up dogs. 39

There was an incident once where Allira was walking along the top of a fence, when he saw a massive chained rottweiler in the yard below. Upon hopping off the fence he proceeded to 'terrorise the dog' by sitting right in front of it, just a few feet out of reach, and licking a paw, whilst ignoring the dog. This had the desired effect - the dog was very 'terrorised' but unfortunately for Allira, the rottweiler was not chained up properly, and it broke free and mauled him, leaving Allira to drag his sorry self home where he was promptly dragged to the vet, literally.40

Allira hated vets with a vengance. He hated them so much he didn't even like terrorising them. His direct approach with any veterenarian who tried to lay a finger on him was to viciously attack them, where it hurt...41

*42

Many years passed, and Reyena grew old, and Allira, the little white kitten, grew old too. He was no longer a tiny, white pelted furball. Now he was an old, lithe tom with grey, instead of white fur. His attitude still hadn't changed one little bit though; Reyena still called him a Devil, but she had to call him an 'Old Devil' now, because the term 'Little Devil' really did not suit him.43

Allira still loved the silver pine where he'd been found and the quartz bed that was there, but he still hated Reyena, and because he still wouldn't let her touch him, she couldn't take him there when she went, and he was almost certainly too old to walk all the way by himself, but this didn't matter to Allira, who was a patient cat, whose patience paid off.44

Once a month, on the 30th Araline would come to visit, and when she did she would carry Allira to the silver pine, and let him wander around for an hour or so. Allira would eagerly await these visits, almost as much as he awaited his food every morning. This was a monthly ritual, and even when she grew up and moved away from Pinewood, to a city far away, she would still come to see her Grandma and to take her now very big and very old 'little white kitten'45

*46

One cold, windy afternoon in winter, when it was rainy and snowy, Reyena was awoken from her mid afternoon nap by the shrill and consistent ringing of the telephone. 47

Allira was outside, which wasn't abnormal for him (although why anything would want to journey outside in this weather Reyena didn't know) and she was waiting for Araline to arrive, as it was the tewnty-ninth, and she had said she would be there before night-fall. It was dusk now, but it was a very long drive from the city where she lived, and the traffic was awful, so Reyena wasn't concerned in the least. 48

She was however, quite annoyed at being awoken by the irratating buzz of the telephone, and she tried to ignore it, but when it didn't falter or go away she was forced to hop out of bed and hobble her way along to answer it. The voice on the other end was familiar; Reyena at once recognised the speaker as Jack, Araline's boyfriend, a nice, polite young man who had at once fallen for the young kitten's angel 'disguise' and had been bitten for his efforts, a treatment Allira reserved for only his worst and most bitter enemies.49

"Mrs.Moore is that you? I'm, I'm calling about Araline. She...she fell asleep at the wheel, and she crashed into the enbankment and spun into the path of oncoming traffic." The voice sounded garbled and upset and Reyena's heart began to sink.
"They, they rushed her to hospital...but it was too late"
The voice fell dead, and silence ensued. A heavy, opressing kind of silence.50

"I'm..I'm so sorry," the voice continued at last, but Reyena didn't say anything. Her whole body felt numb. She let the receiver slide from her clammy hand and crossed the room to peer out through the window at the blinding snow, completely ignoring the dangling phones audible plea's of "Mrs.Moore. Mrs.Moore are you there? We'll need you to come in and identify the..." The rest of the owrds were drowned out by Reyena's intense sobbing. Araline... Araline...51

Somewhere, out there, in the driving cold and whiteness, her only granddaughter had just died.52

*53

Daylight dawned cold and weak upon the freezing wonderland outside. The world was covered in a thick blanket of snow that covered everything like a clean white linen sheet, leaving very few recognisable landmarks, and it was into this unbroken whiteness that Reyena journeyed in search of Allira.54

The old, grey cat had not come in last night, which was odd, especially since it was the night when his mistress was supposed to arrive.55

As she wandered about in the snowy yard that had been his battlefield, calling his name, Reyena began to pray, almost desperately, that he'd survived last night's blizzard, but it was becoming increasingly unlikely. She couldn't find him anywhere.56

At last she lost hope, and headed towards the silver pine, her place of peace, and it was on the way that she found Allira's body, only three metres from the bed of quartz he'd come from.57

The old grey cat had tried to attempt the journey to his favourite place one last time, this time alone. It was quite obvious that he'd beeen overcome by exhaustion and the cold, and collapsed there, so close to his chosen resting spot, yet so far away. 58

Reyena's heart went out to the brave little cat, and she began to weep again, silent, unconsolable tears this time. She wondered if he'd known his mistress had died, and if that was why he'd set out on what he must've known would be his last journey. Had he known he was going to die, and chosen, like many cats, to end his life away from those who loved him? She shook her head, she'd never understood him very well, with his odd little ways. 59

Reyena bent down, with a lot of difficulty as her arthritis had become increasingly worse over the years, and finally managed to scoop up the stiff, lifeless body of her best friend and most feared enemy. She gazed down upon the 'Little Old Devil' with affection and sadness, and carried him over to the bed of quartz, the last true goal in life that he hadn't quite been able to reach, and laid him down.60

It had been a long time since she last picked him up, and that had been when he was a kitten, but Reyena was not surprised to find that Allira's fur was still as soft and velvety as ever. The Little White Kitten hadn't ever really changed that much.61

Reyena buried him the next day, where she'd placed him, in between the spires of glittering quartz, and it was there she erected a little white cross, beneath the tiny little white trunk of a new silver pine seedling, that had begun to grow in the shadow of the old one.62

*63