I awoke this morning to find I’d been turned into a tree. Oh, I still look like a human, still have legs and arms and move like a person, still eat and drink and walk like a person, but I’m a tree.

I can feel the wind rustling my branches, and the sun warming my leaves. I have a sort of tickle in my side where something is making a hollow in my trunk.

I didn’t go to work today. Instead, I drove out to the National Forest, ditched my car, and walked as far as I could.

Now I’m standing here, surrounded by my brothers, with nobody around for miles. It’s getting dark. A light rain is falling.

My human body is shivering, damp, and frightened. But that’s just an illusion. I dig my toes into the soil and lift my arms, and the real me, the tree, revels in the pitter-patter on my leaves and the tops of my roots. I try not to think of winter.