The Fall by Jamie Hinson-Rieger

Once upon a time there was a leaf who lived on an old oak tree in the deep woods. The leaf had a good leaf life. He enjoyed watching the squirrels scamper about the tree branches. He enjoyed gossiping with the ants about the goings on in distant trees or down on the ground below. He liked swaying in the breeze with his leaf friends or soaking up the sun on a brilliant summer day. And then beyond all else, he enjoyed being in the presence of the tree.

One day he noticed his leaf friend, Ralph, on the next branch over, was becoming a little orange.

“Cool trick, Ralph,” he said. “How are you doing that?”

“No idea,” said Ralph. “I am just doing it.”

“Well, it looks good on you!” said the leaf.

Throughout the week Ralph went from orange to a vibrant red. Then one day the leaf was busy talking to a friendly robin when he noticed Ralph wasn’t there on the tree beside him. What happened to Ralph? He wondered out loud.

He probably fell, said the Robin. It’s about that time.

Time? What time? said the leaf. What are you talking about?

You know, said the Robin. It’s autumn. It’s time for the leaves to turn colors and fall off the tree.

Fall off the tree? said the leaf. This was news to him.

Yes, said the Robin. It’s what leaves do. Every year, you all fall off the tree.

Well, I have a lot of questions about that! said the leaf.

Ask the tree, said the Robin. So that is what the leaf did.

Tree, said the leaf, am I really going to fall off the tree?

Yes, said the tree.

I don’t want to, said the leaf.

I’m sorry, said the tree.

Do I have to, said the leaf?

Yes, said the tree.

Will it hurt, said the leaf?

No, said the tree.

Will it hurt you, asked the leaf, very concerned.

No, said the tree. Next year there will be new leaves. It is like a circle.

What is to become of me? Said the leaf.

The wind will take you, said the tree.

Where will I go? Asked the leaf.

You may stay very near, right here in this forest. You may fall right beside me among all the leaves you have known. Or you may be carried far away. If you land in a stream that feeds a river, you may even end up in the great ocean. No one knows what your journey will be. Maybe the wind knows, but it isn’t telling.

I don’t want to leave you, said the leaf. You are my tree.

All things are connected, said the tree. You can never leave me. You will become a part of me in a new way, as we are both a part of the earth.

You’re quite the philosopher, grumbled the leaf. I think I will stay.

Stay a while, then, said the tree.

So the leaf stayed. One by one, and sometimes in a great bunch, the leaves around him turned striking shades of orange and red and rust. And one by one, the leaves detached from the tree and floated away with the wind. The leaf stayed.

“Are you coming with us?” asked the falling leaves.

“I think I will stay,” said the leaf.

Eventually, the tree branches were bare of every leaf except the one. It grew quite cold in the forest. The animals began to go underground or migrate to warmer climates. The leaf was alone with the cold in the deep silence of the woods on winter nights. But he had the tree.

You will always have me, the tree reminded him.

Presently the forest was blanketed in snow. What is happening under there? Asked the leaf.

The leaves are turning into earth, said the tree, to nourish the soil and feed new living things, into which they will be reborn. It is a circle.

The leaf knew then that he did not belong alone on a barren tree. His edges were tinged with an orangey-red. Over the next few days, the color spread across the leaf until he was entirely red.

It is hard to let go, said the leaf.

It is, said the tree.

Wind, where will you carry me? Asked the leaf.

There is only one way to know that, said the wind.

Into what will I be reborn? Asked the leaf.

Into everything, said the night sky.

I have loved being your leaf, the leaf said to the tree.

You will always be my leaf, said the tree.

The leaf fell. The wind carried him. The forest was silent and still.