每个人都试图说服她放弃。甚至是我。但是我。但她说她不会下来。永远不会，然后她试图说服我们。"布莱斯，请和我一起上来。如果我们都在上面，他们就不会把它砍下来！"

  

    有那么一秒钟，我考虑了一下。但后来巴士来了，我说服自己不要这样做。这不是我的树，尽管她表现得像是我的，但也不是朱莉的。

    我们上了车，把她留在了身后，但学校的事也差不多白费了。我似乎无法停止对朱莉的思考。她还在树上吗？他们会逮捕她吗？

    当天下午公交车送我们下车时，朱莉已经不见了，半棵树也不见了。顶端的树枝，我的风筝被卡住的地方，她最喜欢的栖息地--它们都不见了。

    我们看着他们工作了一会儿，链锯开足了马力，在咬断木头的时候冒着烟。这棵树看起来歪歪斜斜，一丝不挂，几分钟后，我不得不离开那里。这就像看着别人肢解尸体一样，这么多年来，我第一次觉得想哭。哭了。为了一棵我讨厌的蠢树。  

 

    我回到家，试图把它甩掉，但我一直在想，我应该和她一起上树吗？那会有什么好处吗？

    我想过给朱莉打电话，告诉她我很抱歉他们把它砍了，但我没有。那就太......我不知道，太奇怪了。

    第二天早上，她没有出现在巴士站，那天下午也没有坐巴士回家。

    然后那天晚上，就在晚餐前，我的祖父把我叫到前厅。他没有在我走过时叫我--那会让人觉得很友好。他所做的是和我母亲说话，我母亲也和我说话。"我不知道这是怎么回事，宝贝。"她说。"也许他只是准备多了解你一点。"

   

    太好了。这个人有一年半的时间来熟悉，而他现在选择来了解我。但我不能完全把他轰走。

    我的祖父是个大个子，有一个肉乎乎的鼻子，有一头油乎乎的盐和胡椒的头发。他穿着家居拖鞋和运动外套，我从来没有在他身上看到过胡须。胡子会长出来，但他一天要刮掉三次。这对他来说是一项真正的娱乐活动。

    除了他那肉乎乎的鼻子，他还有一双肉乎乎的大手。我想无论如何你都会注意到他的手，但让你意识到他们有多强壮的是他的结婚戒指。那东西永远也摘不下来，尽管我母亲说那是应该的，但我认为他应该把它切下来。再增加几磅，那戒指就会截断他的手指。

    我进去看他的时候，他的那双大手交织在一起，搁在他腿上的报纸上。我说，"爷爷？你要见我？"

    "请坐吧，儿子。

    儿子？有一半时间他似乎不知道我是谁，现在突然间我成了 "儿子"？我坐在他对面的椅子上，等待着

    Everyone tried to talk her down. Even me. But me. But she said she wasn't coming down. not ever, and then she tried to talk us up. "Bryce, please1 Come up here with me. They won't cut it down if we're all up here!"

  

    For a second I considered it. But then the bus arrived and I talked myself out of it. It wasn't my tree and even though she acted like it was, it wasn't Juli's, either.

    We boarded the bus and left her behind, but school was pretty much a waste. I couldn't seem to stop thinking about Juli. Was she still up in the tree? Were they going to arrest her?

    When the bus dropped us off that afternoon, Juli was gone and so was half the tree. The top branches, the place my kite had been stuck, her favourite perch - they were all gone.

    We watched them work for a little while, the chain saws gunning at full throttle, smoking as they chewed through wood. The tree looked lopsided and naked, and after a few minutes I had to get out of there. It was like watching someone dismember a body, and for the first time in ages, I felt like crying. Crying. Over a stupid tree that I hated.  

 

    I went home and tried to shake it off, but I kept wondering, Should I have gone up the tree with her? Would it have done any good?

    I thought about calling Juli to tell her I was sorry they'd cut it down, but I didn't. It would've been too, I don't know, weird.

    She didn't show at the bus stop the next morning and didn't ride the bus home that afternoon, either.

    Then that night, right before dinner, my grandfather summoned me into the front room. He didn't call to me as I was walking by - that would have bordered on friendliness. What he did was talk to my mother, who talked to me. "I don't know what it's about, honey." she said. "Maybe he's just ready to get to know you a little better."

   

    Great. The man's had a year and a half to get acquainted, and he chooses now to get to know me. But I couldn't exactly blow him off.

    My grandfather's a big man with a meaty nose and greased-back salt-and-pepper hair. He lives in house slippers and a sports coat, and I've never seen a whisker on him. They grow, but he shaves them off like three times a day. It's a real recreational activity for him.

    Besides his meaty nose, he's also got big meaty hands. I suppose you'd notice his hands regardless, but what makes you realise just how beefy they are is his wedding ring. That thing's never going to come off, and even though my mother says that's how it should be, I think he ought to get it cut off. Another few pounds and that ring's going to amputate his finger.

    When I went in to see him, those big hands of his were woven together, resting on the newspaper in his lap. I said, "Granddad? You wanted to see me?"

    "Have a seat, son.

    Son? Half the time he didn't seem to know who I was, and now suddenly I was "son"? I sat in the chair opposite him and waited