The sun was shining bright and was hovering in the sky, pulsing. It was surrounded by fragments of wispy clouds that looked like cotton balls strung across the sky. It was, to simply put it, a marvelous day.

And on this simply marvelous day there was a girl. She was no more than sixteen but she had an air surrounding her that let on she had wisdom much beyond her years. Her auburn hair fell just past her elbows in slight waves and her blue eyes were calm and still. But you could tell they were swimming with emotion and ideas by the glassy way they appeared and how they darted around like fish.

This girl, well, she was walking, and she ran into this woman. The woman had frazzled gray hair and wide green eyes. There was nothing particularly striking about this woman, only the odd fact she was wearing a cloak like she was some sort of witch, and she was holding a red umbrella on this perfectly clear day. The girl frowned, mystified by the fact the woman had an umbrella.

The woman dropped the red umbrella, but stood there calmly, as if waiting for the girl to pick it up. The girl, confused, knelt down and handed the old woman the red umbrella, perhaps out of kindness if nothing else. The woman smiled and handed the girl a tiny little seed. One seed, nearly the size of a pistachio. She tucked it into the girls hand and opened her red umbrella once again, holding it over her head.

The girl thought this was quite strange and was tempted to toss the seed down the drain. But instead she ran away pondering what to do, with her life and the seed. The woman seemed as if she had much experience in the poverty department and the girl, who was extremely kind if I hadn’t mentioned that before, decided to make do with the seed. She thought that the woman wouldn’t waste a seed on her unless she knew it was really worth it. The girl would plant the seed.

And so she did. She planted the seed. She dug up a tiny little hole and buried the seed as if it were a grave. Then she placed a little white stone right next to it so she would remember where she planted the seed. The girl was so excited, but she told no one of this seed, for she was far more than capable of keeping secrets.

Time passed like cars on the street. Year after year after year and nothing happened. The seed had not sprouted, despite how much sun and water it was getting daily. The girl’s parents perished and she still had no companion to call her own. So she went out in hopes of finding happiness.

But instead of finding happiness, she found the old woman again. Or, rather, the old woman found her. It had been many decades but the old woman still looked the same, as if she was frozen in time. She still was clutching her red umbrella, sitting on the park bench as if nothing had ever happened.

The girl, however, was delighted to find the old woman, for she desperately wanted to know why her seed would not sprout. “Please tell me why my seed will not sprout!” She begged the woman, letting a small tear leak down her face.

The woman only smiled, which showed wrinkles around her eyes from being happy often, and slowly let down her red umbrella. “You simply have to believe in it.”

The girl pursed her lips, not sure what this meant, but she took the woman’s advice and believed in the seed. She believed in the seed with every step she took, she had faith in it. And sure enough, when she made it back home, she found a gorgeous oak tree, seemingly been there for many years.

The girl gasped with delight and ran to the oak tree, beaming. It had worked. This woman was magic! And now, everyday, the girl leans on my old trunk and tells me the story of how I was made. And everyday she talks to me, tells me things, feeding me memories.

And the girl and her tree lived happily ever after.

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The moral of this story is have faith in things. Believe in them and amazing things will happen.