Don’t get close to the tree

I grew up with my younger brother in a farmhouse in a rural part of Pennsylvania.My mother was brought up in a strict Quaker household. She wasn’t as strict as her parents, but you knew not to question her.There were things that me and my brother had to do each day like do our homework before going out to play or feed the hogs before dinner. If my brother or I forgot to feed the hogs my Mother would get just a little bit mad, but there was one rule that was hammered into our brains since birth “Don’t go anywhere near the tree in the front yard”.My mother had put up a small fence only about two feet high that went around the whole tree.We were never told why and we always just knew not to ask about the tree or why we couldn’t go close to the tree or touch it.The only person who was allowed to go close to the tree was my Grandfather, who would stand in front of the tree with his antique German Bible every Sunday and recite Bible versus for at least two hours at a time.I didn’t know how old the tree was but it’s base was as wide as a car, so I figured it might have been a couple hundred years old.We always had strict rules to not to play in the front yard. When the bus came in the morning my mother would tell my brother and l “Stay on the driveway and don’t go near the tree”.My brother and I always speculated about why we couldn’t go by the tree. We always heard there was an Indian massacre somewhere around close to our house or did it have something to do with our father’s death. Any guess was as plausible as the last.One Sunday when I was 13 and my brother was 12, my brother did the unthinkable. This girl asked my brother to meet at the local ice cream shop. My Grandparents were over for dinner and we we started to do the dishes. My brother asked my mother if he could leave for a couple of hours and come back. My mother was adamant and said No because if he didn’t study for the history test test tomorrow the school wouldn’t allow him to advance to the next grade if he failed the test.I never saw my brother as mad as he was that day. He never had a girlfriend and all of his teenage hormones took over.He darted out the front door and I quickly followed behind him. He said “I’m sick of this I’ve had enough” as he proceeded to walk towards the tree.I tried to explain to him that failing a grade was a really big deal and that our Mother was just being reasonable, but I knew from the look in his eyes nothing was going to stop him from going towards that tree.He got to the fence of the tree and I yelled “Stop just take the girl tomorrow don’t go over the fence”.He went over the fence anyways and I quickly turned around at our house and saw the absolute look of horror that both my Mother and Grandfather had in their facial expressions.My brother without hesitation touched the tree and right away felt guilt for doing something that he was told never to do. He was just acting the way kids his age act and now he was filled with regret.I consoled him in the front yard for 20 minutes. Eventually, he calmed down and I joked “you touched the tree and we didn’t turn into dust”. We headed back to the house and our Grandparents were sitting at the dinner table and my Grandfather was sobbing while holding the Bible.I said “What’s wrong Grandpa?”He replied “You don’t understand what your brother did!”I said “Grandpa, look we are both fine”.He said “No, it’s your mother!”I said “Where is she?”He replied “She’s gone!”I said “When is she coming back?”He responded “She’s never coming back”.My brother never really recovered from the guilt of being somehow responsible for my mother’s disappearance. As I got older, I gave 10 different scenarios of what might of happened to my mother but like the mystery of the tree I’ll never know for sure. via /r/SlumberReads https://ift.tt/2GnVLgQ