Excuse me. Excuse me. I'm sorry, but you can't park there. That's bus stop.
Hey, what are you doing up there? You can't be up there, we're gonna take this thing down.
The tree?
Yeah. Now come on down.
But who told you, you could cut it down?
The owner.
Why?
Because he's gonna build a house, and this tree's in the way. So come on, girl, we got work to do.
You can't cut it down. You just can't.
Listen, girl. I'm this close to calling the police. You are trespassing and obstructing progress on
a contracted job. Now either you come down, or we're gonna cut you down.
Go ahead. Cut me down. I'm not coming down. I'm never coming down. Bryce, you guys, come up here
with me. They won't cut it down if we're all up here. Bryce, please don't let them do this. Come
on, you guys. Bryce, please. You't have to go up this high. Just a little ways. Bryce, please.
Please.
What happened after that was a blur. It seemed like the whole town was there. But still I wouldn't
move. Then my father showed up. He talked a fireman into letting him come up to where I was.
Sweeite, it's time to come down.
Daddy, please don't let them do this.
Sweetie.
Daddy, look. You can see everything. You can see the whole world from here.
No view is worth my daughter's safety. Now, come on.
I can't.
Julianna, it's time to come down now.
Please, Daddy.
It's time.
...
And that was it. I must have cried for two weeks straight. Oh, sure, I went to school and did the
best I could but nothing seemed to matter.
Juli?
Huh?
Do you know the answer?
Uh, the Peloponnesian War?
I'm sure that's the answer to something but I was looking for the area of a rhomboid.
Somehow, rhomboids and isosceles right triangles didn't seem so important.
I rode my bike so I wouldn't have to pass by the stump that used to be the earth's most magnificent
sycamore tree. But no matter what I did, I couldn't stop thinking about it.
Are you okay? It was just a tree.
No, it wasn't just a tree.
...
I never want you to forget how you felt when you were up there.
Thanks, Dad.
It was the first thing I saw every morning and the last thing I saw before I went to sleep. And once
I could look at it without crying, I saw more than the tree and what being up there meant to me. I
saw the day that my view of things around me started changing. And I wondered, did I still feel the
same things about Bryce?
...
I've never been a huge fan of eggs. I mean, I could always just take them or leave them. That is,
until one day in Skyler Brown's garage when my feelings about eggs were solidified.
Hey, guys. Edna's found her breakfast.
I mean, if a slimy reptile found them appetizing, there was certainly no place for them in my diet.
Oh, man, that's so cool.
She doesn't even have to chew. I mean, think of all the time you'd save.
I could've gone my whole life not knowing that snakes eat eggs raw if it hadn't been for Lynetta.
She had a major-league thing for Skyler Brown. I think it's gross.
He and Juli's brothers, Matt and Mark, had formed a band. And Lynetta would watch them practice.
That is so neat. How about that, huh, Bryce?
Yeah. Neat.
So, Bryce, how do you think he's gonna digest that?
Stomach acid?
You'd like to think that.
Wait, everybody quiet. Here he goes. Eggs over easy.
Gross. Gross, gross, gross.
Wait, wait, you haven't seen the best part.
Gross.
I tried to be casual about it, but it didn't take. I started having bad dreams. I'd be trapped
inside a huge egg and this monster would open his haws and start to devour me. I'd wake up just
in time. Then the real nightmare began.
Hi, Bryce, I brought these over for you and your family. My chickens are laying eggs.