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     Cami was very angry. Her dad was   going 

to cut down her very favorite tree.The willow 

tree to be exact. She loved that the long 

branches instead of wood on the top and 

leaves that just flow down like a waterfall at 

the bottom.She also loved that she could 

swing on the branches like Tarzan. Cami didn’t 

like the thought that her dad was going to cut 

it down today. She was complaining all the 

time.

    “Please!” she whimpered. “Dont cut it 

down.” she added.

    “ I’m sorry Cami, but we have to cut it 

down. Besides it has been losing all it’s 

branches.” Her dad answered.

     “Just give me another day.Please it his my 

favorite….” Cami started but her dad cut her off.

     “I dont care! This tree is getting cut down. Its 

rotting and bugs are eating right through it.” Her 

dad walked out of the room and into the garage. 

Cami could hear her dad getting the chainsaw 

ready. She wiped away a tear that was sliding 

down her face.

    “I will not cry. I will not cry!” Cami insisted. 

She ran outside crying and climbed the willow 

tree. Surely her dad wouldn’t cut the tree down 

with her in it. She sat up in the tree for a couple 

minutes. Her dad was coming. Cami stiffened. 

She didn’t want her dad to know she was in the 

tree. Suddenly Cami’s mom ran outside.

    “Cami isn’t in the house, do you know where 

she is.” Her mother sounded scared.

    “She probably went off and pouted, like she 

always does when she doesn’t want something to 

happen. The last thing I know is that she’ll be 

hiding in the tree.” Was her dad’s reply. Cami had 

started to snort but when her father turned 

around she stopped herself. Apparently her mom 

had noticed her in the tree. Cami’s mom smiled.

    "You know, I’m starting to agree with Cami. The 

tree is perfectly fine. Why cut it down?” Her mom 

questioned. Her father looked around.

    “If we sell this wood we’ll get some money, and 

if we get some money, we use it to pay off our 

house expense.” He answered. Cami’s face, which 

was smiling, had turned into an o. A house 

expense? She thought. That’s impossible. Her 

parents hada ton of money. Apparently not as much 

as she thought though. 

    Her parents walked up to the house. 

It was nearly six forty-five and it was 

past supper time. When her father was 

gone and couldn’t see her, Cami 

slipped out of the tree. She snuck 

around the neighbor’s house and 

pretended that she had been on a walk 

around the block. When she got to her 

house and stepped inside her father 

asked her a question.

    “Where were you? Give me the answer 

now.”

    “I...I was walking around the block. I do it a 

lot.” Cami replied startled by the look on her 

father’s face. His eyebrows were furrows and 

he has a big frown on his face.

    “You’re lying.” he said. Cami shook her 

head.

    “I’m not either. I was walking around 

the block. I promise!” Cami insisted. Her 

dad looked at her.

    “Whatever.” he sighed. Her father took 

the chain saw with the extra sharp blade, 

and headed down to the tree.

    “Dave, telephone.” Cami’s mom called. He sighed 

and headed toward the house. Cami snuck down and 

fiddled with her dad’s chainsaw so that it would take 

longer to cut down. When she heard the door close 

she climbed up the tree before her dad came down. 

He took a hold of the chain saw, looked up into the 

tree, gotta glance of Cami, and then looked down at 

the chain saw. He tried to start it. The noise came and 

then faded and the blade wouldn’t move. Wait he 

thought, did I just see Cami’s red and pink shoes up 

there? He questioned himself. Whatever, he had to fix 

the chain saw. 

         Yes! Cami thought, now I can play 

around for a while longer. She climbed 

down and swung on the branches like 

Tarzan for a while then she put her legs 

out in front of

 her and bounced off the tree. Boy was 

that fun she thought as she kept doing 

it. A sudden voice startled her.

    “Boy do you look silly.” A young boy 

appeared.

“Well, you know what?” Cami paused. “I bet 

if you were having as much fun as I am, you 

would too!”

    “Well, could I try?” The boy asked. Cami 

shrugged but soon gave in. Wait! Cami 

thought. If I can get a ton of kids playing in it 

and like doing it, dad wouldn’t cut it down. 

“This is fun. Do I look silly?” He asked. Cami

 laughed and nodded. “Hey, and by the way, 

I’m Jonathin. What’s your name?” Jonathin 

wondered. 

      “Me? I’m Cami. Do you live around here?” 

Jonathin nodded.

    “I just moved here.” He pointed to a tan 

colored house across the yard. “That’s my 

house Do you like swinging in the trees?” 

Jonathin looked at Cami who nodded. “ I do 

too, only we had a tree at our old house and 

whenever you would swing in it, pollen would 

fall on you, so I’m glad and not glad that we 

moved. I like to swing in the trees here better, 

but I had a ton of friends in my old 

neighborhood.” He grabbed a hold of another 

branch and swung through the trees. Cami did 

the same. As they kept doing that, they didn’t 

realize they were being watched. By three 

people. (a) Cami’s dad, (b) Jonathin’s mom, 

and (c) Jonathin’s brother. A voice ruined their 

fun.

    “Jonathin! Time for supper! Get up here now 

otherwise no dessert and no more time to play 

outside.” Mrs. Garcia hollered.

 Jonathin said good-bye and ran to his house.

    “Bye!” Cami called as he stepped into the 

house. He waved and closed the door. 

    There was a sudden slam of a door behind 

Cami which startled her. She spun around to 

find her dad coming down the hill with the 

orange and black chain saw. Cami sighed, she 

pretended that she hadn't seen her dad 

coming. She took a branch and then swung as 

hard as she could. Back and forth, Cami found 

herself having a blast. She then realized the 

sound of the chain saw. It grew louder as her 

dad moved closer. She lost the fun that she 

had had in her. Her dad turned off the chain 

saw. He examined the tree trying to find the 

best way to cut it down. Cami continued 

swinging. It was best to spend time with the 

tree before it was gone. Cami thought. She 

suddenly got startled.

     “Cami!” Her dad shouted, he took a hold of 

the branch that Cami was on to make it stop. 

“Would you knock it off? I’m trying to think.” 

He said as he looked the tree up and down. He 

slightly smiled. He started the chain saw, 

when,

    “Dave!” His wife called trying to hold 

back the tears. “Your mom had a 

stroke and the doctors think that that 

was one of her signs.”

    “What do you mean?” Dave asked.

   “Honey, she was sentenced a death sentence. 

A week. She only has a week.” She burst out 

crying until her cries turned into sobs when she 

was comforted by her husband. It got real quiet. 

There was an unfamiliar cry. Could it really be, 

Cami’s dad? Cami couldn’t help herself with all of 

the emotion. She wiped away a tear and went 

into the house. She began to bawl. Slam! Cami 

held in her last sob and watched her dad and 

mom appear in her bedroom doorway.

      “Cami,” a tense voice said, “Would 

you like to come with us to see my 

mom?” It was her father. Cami stood 

up and the only normal action that 

came to mind was to start crying and 

fall into her mother’s --not her father’s-- 

arms.

     “Honey I think we should go.” Cami’s mom 

said and led her sobbing daughter and upset 

husband --her broken family-- to the car. “All 

right.” She said wiping her nose. “Let’s go.” 

She put the car in gear and drove off. She 

rounded a few corners and the family found 

themselves atthe entrance to the hospital. 

They reluctantly got out of the car, not wanting 

to believe the very near future.

    “Excuse me ma'am?” Cami’s father 

interrupted the receptionist doing paper 

work.

    “Terribly sorry sir. Who are you 

looking to see?” Sali the receptionist 

inquired.

    “Mara Michaels.” Cami’s mom stepped in 

after her husband broke down. Sali smiled.

    “Friends or family?” she asked.

    “Family. Mara’s Dave’s mom.” Mrs. Michaels 

or Cami’s mom replied. 

      “Alright, Room 271. Down the hall 

and to the right.” Sali helped. Mrs. 

Michaels started down the hall with her 

family trailing behind. They all rounded 

the corner and found 271 on the door. 

Mr. Michaels, also known as, Dave or 

Cami’s dad stepped up and knocked on 

the door. Pete, Cami’s grandpa 

answered.

    “Hey,” he ushered. “She’s not doing too well. The 

doctors are going to be surprised if she makes it past 

the week. They’re afraid she won’t make it through the 

night. She may have tragic brain damage because the 

stroke was caused by something in the brain. A tumor is 

what half the doctors suspect but they aren’t sure.” 

Grandpa Pete paused. Beep! The heart monitor went off 

and Pete darted to Gram’s side. Beeeeep! Beep! Beep! 

Doctors rushed in. Cami turned away from the scene as 

the doctors surrounded Gram. Her mother grabbed her 

and hugged her tight. The doctors all back away. Gram 

had more monitors on than ever. Her pulse stopped, her 

breathing rate went down, Gram died. Mr. Michaels 

burst out crying, which started the whole room on fire 

with tears. The whole family was startled when,

     “She’s gone. We can’t do anything 

now. Heck, I don’t think she would 

have wanted us too.” the voice said. 

Everyone turned to the door.

     “Derrick!” Mr. Michaels, Cami’s dad 

exclaimed when he saw his brother.

    “Baby dave!” Derrick replied. They hugged 

each other and then burst into tears. 

    “Uh, Dave?” Mrs. Michaels stated. “It’s after 

nine, we should probably go.” Dave nodded. 

     It was a good thing that they left 

when they did. As soon as they got 

home   the tornado sirens went off. 

They headed to the basement and 

flipped the TV on. There was a ton of 

thunder. The family was still in shock of 

what had just happened that the room 

was freaky quiet. There was a sudden, 

CRACK, and then BOOM, the ground 

shook.

     “Honey, you want to go see what that was?” Mrs. 

Michaels asked. dave stood up and headed upstairs. 

He came back down.

    "Hun, come here.” Dave said. “Follow me. Look 

out down that area. You see that on the ground. 

Well, that’s the willow tree. Don’t tell Cami. She lost 

two of the most important things in the world 

tonight. There's no need to make her suffer.” Mrs. 

Michaels nodded. They headed back downstairs.

    “Mommy, what was that?” Cami 

questioned. Mr. Michaels looked at his 

wife.

    “Honey, so, can I show you in the 

morning? Just curl up over here and go 

to sleep. It’s too late.” Mrs. Michaels 

explained. Cami nodded and put her 

head on her mother’s lap. Her mom 

played with her hair. She slept.

The next morning the whole family woke up, 

still in the basement. They had breakfast.

      “Cami do you want to know what that 

was last night?” Mr. Michaels asked his 

daughter. Cami nodded and followed her 

father to the 

storage room. He picked her up into his 

arms. “Look on the ground, down there.” He 

pointed. Cami looked. She began to swell 

with tears.

     “Dad I lost two very important things 

last night. But knowing, from hearing 

you talking with mom about cutting the 

tree down for money, you can now.” 

Cami retorted and slid out of her father’s 

grip. She ran to her bedroom to cry. 

Cami stayed in there until lunch time. 

Cami read her absolute favorite book 

around four or five times. She then 

heard a small knock on her door.

    “Cami?” It was her mom. “We’re having 

chicken fettuccine, your favorite. Come on 

out.” 

    “Yeah, well. dad’s gonna cut the tree down 

and I’m never gonna see it again. So why 

bother.” Cami said through the door.

    “Honey, he has too. Did you see it? It split 

right through the center. Please, come out.” 

Her mother soothed.

      “Okay.” Cami replied and came out 

of her room. She sat down at the table, 

her food was in front of her. Her family 

prayed and then ate. Cami had gotten 

done first. her parents dismissed her and 

she went outside. She went and stood 

by the willow tree, examining it. She sat 

down.

     “Hey, Cami.” It was Jonathin. “I heard what 

happened. You lost the willow tree. I’m sorry.” 

Jonathin stated.

    “Well, it’s not the only thing that I lost.” 

Cami retorted. “I lost my grandma too. On the 

same night. It’s terrible!” Cami began sobbing. 

Jonathin sat down close to her.

        “Again, I’m terribly sorry. If there’s 

anything me or my mom could do, just 

let us know. Please, we’re neighbors 

now.” Jonathin reminded.

    “Yeah, and you’ve probably been the 

best ones yet. Thank you! All I need 

now is a friend to listen. Jonathin, you’re 

my friend, will you take the role?” Cami 

told him.

        “Sure,” answered Jonathin. Cami began 

her long, and inspiring story.

    “And then, here I am today.” Cami 

ended. Jonathin nodded. 

    “Well, it was a long story, but I 

learned what you’re going through with 

losing things that were a big and 

important things in your life. I know, and 

understand.” Jonathin explained.

    Jonathin and Cami hung out and talked for a 

while. It soon began getting dark.

    “I probably should go in.” Cami explained. 

“My parents are probably wondering where I 

am.”

    Jonathin replied, “Yeah, me too. Bye!”

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