Once he was directly underneath me, he held onto the tree and
pushed the vine hoop up to where I could reach it. Or maybe where
he thought I could reach it.
“Take the hoop!”
“Uh, uh.” I shook my head no.
“It’s not going to hurt you!”
“I’m not taking my hands off this tree,” I protested. I had a bond
with that tree. It was the only thing standing between me and an
enormous sand sandwich.
“Listen, Jake. There is nothing to be afraid of. You won’t fall
unless you let yourself fall. Remember: you are completely in control
of your situation. No one can sabotage it except you. Have faith in
yourself—you wouldn’t do anything to harm yourself, would you?”
“I came to Samrin, didn’t I? You said yourself that was pretty
destructive.” I was stalling for time.
“Yeah, but you didn’t know that that’s what you were doing—
you just thought you would be having a good time. Now it’s time for
you to get healthy, and you’re not going to do it up on top of a coconut
tree or by swan diving into the sea. Come on Jake—take charge of
your life! Feel that will to live! And hurry the fuck up, I’m getting
thirsty. ”
I closed my eyes and gripped the tree tighter. Somehow I
managed to pry my left hand away from the bark and finally grab the
vine that would allow me a safe descent to the planet earth.
“Yee-haw!” I screamed as the coconuts grew smaller and the
muffins grew larger. Tree answered with a cheerful “Vengamos!” and
soon we were standing on our four feet in the sand, sipping coconut
milk and laughing at my ridiculous fear.
A big white-haired monkey appeared and screeched at us. I
screamed and ran behind a boulder. Tree stood his ground.
From behind the boulder I watched as the monkey started to
tear into Tree’s bag of muffins.
Bravely, Tree confronted the ferocious monkey, who was still
screeching. I screamed at him to leave the monkey alone but he
wouldn’t listen. Then, after staring at the creature for some time, he
began to act very strange. He bent over and started to act as if he
himself were some kind of ape. After making monkey sounds, to
which the real monkey cocked his head and screeched back
enthusiastically, Tree began singing softly. At first I didn’t recognize
the selection, but soon it became apparent. It was the Beatles song,
BIG AMERICAN BREAKFAST
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