US Life Post

My girlfriends and I were talking about the arrival of spring. They were saying their thoughts turn to sunshine and warm breezes, the sounds of birds chirping, the scent of spring flowers…

 “And Luke.” I sighed.

 They all perked up.

 “Luke? Who’s Luke?”

 “Damn, did I say that out loud?”

 And so I was caught, and pretty much obligated to tell them the story of Luke…

 One of the deciding factors when purchasing our home, were the ten maple trees in our backyard. It truly was a sight to see each fall.  The bright orange and red foliage was magnificent. And that’s what I reminded myself of as we raked and bagged over one hundred sacs of leaves and dragged them to the curb.

 “I love the trees, they’re beautiful.  I love the trees.”

 Over the years though the branches filled in and began to form a canopy over our entire yard. My husband loved it, reminded him of the cottage where he grew up. All it meant to me was the house was in sudden darkness each spring.

 I was not a happy camper; I need sunlight. I told my husband, either we take down some trees, or look for a new house. He finally agreed to have the trees ‘trimmed’ and called in a tree guy.

 And so enters… Luke. He arrived mid-morning on a warm sunny day; tanned and fit wearing ripped jeans and a t-shirt, the sleeves unable to hide the bulge of his muscles. I watched from the window as he harnessed up, threw a rope over a branch and hoisted himself up sixty feet in the air. He had a crew of two others who stood back taking direction from him, removing the branches as they fell.

 It was incredible to watch. He moved higher and higher in the tree and then swung down with such ease, chainsaw in one hand. I watched in awe. It was like watching Tarzan.

 Barely able to tear myself from the window I went to answer the phone, a moment later there was a knock at the door. It was Luke. His big brown eyes beamed, his white teeth glowed against the dark colour of his skin. He spoke slowly.

 “Sorry, to interrupt you maam, do you think you could give me a glass of water, it’s really hot.”

 I felt my face go red, and bit my lip so not to laugh. This scene was straight out of a movie. I wanted to reply “I’ll get you water and anything else you want,” as I watched a bead of sweat run down the side of his face and drop to his over-sized shoulder.

 I watched him down the glass of water and wipe his mouth with the back of his hand. I felt weak in the knees as he handed the glass back to me.

 He returned to the yard and I resumed my place at the window. 

 My husband arrived home from work and asked how it was going in the yard.

 “I’ve been busy,” I replied, “ haven’t really noticed.”

 He looked out the window and watched as Luke swung from branch to branch.

 “Muscular little guy eh?” my husband commented.

 “You think?” I replied grinning from ear to ear.

 It was two years later and once again the house grew dark. At my insistence, my husband called Luke back to give us a quote on more tree trimming.

 The three of us stood in the yard as Luke pointed to the branches he would remove.  He gave us the price and I gasped. He said “I know it seems high maam but it’s a dangerous job, I might make it look easy, but it’s pretty dangerous with those hydro wires.”

 “You, I mean, it, certainly is dangerous” I replied. “And you do make it look easy.” “Let’s just do it!” We arranged a date for him to come back to do the job.

 I told my husband I could sell tickets to all of the neighbour women and my girlfriends to come and watch next time, to offset the price. He rolled his eyes at me. Perhaps he had figured out why I only wanted the trees trimmed this time and not removed, it meant Luke would be coming back.

 The day of the tree trimming was fast approaching. I crammed all the work I could into the beginning of the week so I’d have the day free to watch him once again. 

 This time I was bold. I took glasses of ice water out to Luke and his crew, anything to help.

 I called my girlfriend that evening and confessed, “I’m a terrible friend.”

 I told her Luke had returned and I hadn’t told her or any of my girlfriends in advance as I had promised. I guess I just wanted him to myself one more time.

 Our trees won’t need trimming this year, maybe next, but I’ve talked a couple of neighbours into having theirs done. I’ve given them Luke’s number and I’ve even called him and suggested he might want to go speak to them in order to seal the deal.

 Aw, yes Spring…sunshine, warm breezes, the scent of flowers and the sound of a chainsaw tearing through thick branches, Luke’s chainsaw that is…