Six months ago, I had had the weirdest dream, but as a writer, I occasionally get inspirations for stories from my dreams. Those stories sometimes end up as a short story that I post on an erotic writers site I belong to, and sometimes they end up long enough to be a book. The particular dream in this instance turned out to be a short story in a category that was recently added to the list of the site's list of genres. I usually wrote in my home office, but on a beautiful day, I would move outdoors.
One such beautiful day out, I decide to work on the small deck off my bedroom. I grab a bottle of juice, a breakfast bar, and my laptop and set myself up at the small table out there. As I look out over my property, I notice a tree that appears to be taller than the other trees in the ravine beyond my property line. I spend a lot of time out there but had never noticed it before, and it piques my curiosity. I go inside and grab my binoculars for a better look. It appears to be some type of fir tree, perhaps a cedar but it is hard to tell at this distance, even with the binoculars. It is too wet and dangerous from the recent rains to investigate right now, but I decide to go for a hike and check it out when it dries up.
I go back to my writing and finish up a couple of articles to submit to a few magazines. For the next three weeks, it rains every other day, and I get asked to submit some additional work from two of the magazines. I forget about the tree until about a week after the last rain. I was out on the balcony deck watching the sunset when I notice the tree, but it appears to be in a different location. It seems closer than it was and off to one side of where I remembered it to be. I decide I would go check it out the next morning.
First thing in the morning, I get my camera out and take several pictures from the deck, take a compass heading, then put on my hiking boots, and head out. I had been in the ravine before, and it was pretty easy to get turned around even though the undergrowth was not that thick. There were no real paths to follow as the ravine was rarely used by anyone. I took some stone steps that one of the previous owners had put in down into the canyon and headed in the direction of the tree. I had estimated the distance with a rifle scope, so I would have an idea when I reached the area where the tree should be.
Going was slow as the ground was uneven and rocky in places with numerous small streams that made the rocks quite slippery. After about twenty minutes, I was nearing the area where the tree should be. I realized it might be difficult to identify it even if I found it. While the floor of the ravine did not have much undergrowth, the canopy was pretty solid. I did not spot anything right way, so I continued in the same heading, figuring my estimation of the distance I had walked could be off a bit. After walking a couple of hundred feet further, I still had not located the tree. I spotted a pine tree that was half dead and relatively thinned out that looked safe enough to climb.
I thought if I could get a bit of height over some of the lower trees, I might spot it, and I did. But it was at least ten degrees off the heading I had taken from my balcony and back towards where I originally estimated the tree should have been. After climbing back down, I headed for the location. Once there, I found the tree quickly enough. It was quite a bit taller than any other trees in the area and rather strange looking. It was some species of fir tree, but one I had not seen before. I took several shots of the tree and noted the location with the GPS on my phone.
I returned home, went back to the balcony, where I looked for the tree and checked the compass heading. Sure enough, it was about twelve degrees further to the south than the original compass heading I had taken. Since that was impossible, I chalked it up to human error. To be sure, I rechecked the heading with another compass and noted it all down. A thick fog rolled in the next day, so it was two days before I could see the tree again. I checked first thing in the morning, and everything was still lined up.
The next day, I had to go out of town for a week and put the tree out of my mind. After all, it was just a tree. When I returned, I was pretty busy. A book I was writing had been returned from my editor for some suggested changes and additions. Several articles I was working on were due, and there was also a poetry contest I was interested in entering. I was putting in long days to get everything done by the deadline dates and usually pretty exhausted by bedtime.
Every once in a while, if it was a pleasant night, I would sleep out on my deck on a double lounge chair. Tonight was perfect weather, so I grabbed a light blanket and a pillow and stretched out. There was no moon, so it was quite dark, and after looking at the stars for a while, I fell asleep. I don't know how long it was before a strong smell of pine woke me up, but when I look around, I see nothing and fall back to sleep.