Its amazing what treasures are hidden in plain sight. Entire civilizations existing in secret, right above our heads within the shadows of leaves. As summer turns to fall the green leaves change to bright red, yellow, or orange; before these keepers of secrets fade to brown and float slowly to the ground where they await their burial under the first snowfall. They will decay and become one with the soil, to be born again as something new come spring.
When the sky clears, and there is no more left to fall from the branches above, the secret they kept hidden from the world emerges in the bright light reflecting off ice crystals coating the ground.
We all know they are up there, we relax nightly to their lullabies, listening to their conversations flow through the cool night breeze. However, it isn’t until the winter forces open the blinds, once shielding their homes, that we finally can see the truth. Without the canopy of leaves filling the gaps between branches, like rich forest green velvet drapes concealing the privacy of its residents, it is easy to see their nests perched high in the treetops. The sight is like uncovering their own developed neighborhoods separated by tree.
The Maple neighborhood stands strong, with homes scattered in the branches like streets and driveways, one of the oldest neighborhoods around, filled with generations of families working to make a living. Birch resides next to the Maple neighborhood, a younger development where the “wealthy” build their mansions among the paper white bark. The chicks in Birch forbidden from befriending those from the lesser Maple or Crabtree neighborhoods; trees like that are no place for the “elite”. An Eagle would deign to live so close to the ground, the Kings of the Sky deserve to live high on a pedestal, above the world where they may gaze down over their countryside with watchful eyes. Instead these chicks are encouraged to stick to the “upper-class” trees, like other Birch or Willow neighborhoods. Perhaps they may be lucky enough to get invited to the top of Cottonwood, a sure chance to meet a King.