https://Voice.club - For years, the roots slept beneath the earth. Layers of concrete, tar and brick converted the place where the old tree had stood from a rural village to an urban metropolis.
Now spring called so loudly, the slumbering roots awakened to send out tentative shoots. Distant memories of warmth and the scent of rain rekindled life in them. The soil was compacted hard, but spring was imperious in its demand to celebrate the equinox. With a great surge of ancient power, the roots pushed towards the surface.
The first obstacle they encountered were pipelines buried beneath the city streets. Root tendrils wrapped around the joints sucking life-giving water, causing the pipes to crack. Internal pressure sent a plume of water bursting through in a great fountain. Pedestrians and motorists gasped at its force. Municipal teams began to dig trenches.
The roots sniffed the fragrance of the spring air and basked in the sun’s warmth. As fast as teams repaired the pipes, the shoots grew more rampant. The Ancient Ones, in cahoots with the spring, filled the roots with vigour. Nothing could contain them. Massive and gnarled, the oldest ones pushed through the pavements, dislodging concrete slabs and lifting building foundations to cause massive structural cracks. With warmth and surplus water, the ancient roots sprouted a forest of new growth.
In desperation, the municipality called on a retired botanist who remembered when the tree was venerated by village elders before the city displaced them. The old man, now grown in wisdom with the passing years, came to inspect the urban disruption. He smiled complacently at the chaos caused by the once dormant roots.
“No point fighting this battle,” he said. “Accept nature has won this round. Let the tree have its way. Write off your losses. Rebuild your structures elsewhere. Let this space revert to parkland as it always should have been. It will provide a sanctuary where the children can laugh and play.”
Then he turned back home with a spring in his step as he winked at the Ancient One that only he could see.