The Tree of Ivo s Heart

My name is Violet and I come from a far-away land, the land of vast plains and wide rivers, of high mountains and the snow on the peaks almost touching the sky…

I came here, to this area, for holidays and was going to stay for a couple of months, just relaxing, doing nothing. But it happened so that I encountered some strange things here – and no one warned me it could be like that.

I heard some rumour that made my heart tremble but paid no attention to it. I thought – it’s just another fantasy, nothing to be worried about. I had to repent later.

The area was not much inhabited, and I and my neighbour were the only people whose houses were located very close.

I stayed in a small house built of red bricks hiding in the bushes near the hills. My neighbour was a tall sad guy who could hardly talk. He liked being silent most of the time and was always busy playing with his dog or cutting figures from the trees. He was a carpenter and his name was Ivo. Sometimes I could hear his deep voice when he was playing his old guitar.

In the country where I come from Ivo is a word that sounds similar to the name of one tree which grows near the water. It is called willow. In my language we say that willows can cry. This is an expression we use – “a crying willow” (I would have never believed I would see a real one very soon. The real crying willow, alive!)

And so was the looks of this guy. Although, he was not just sad. He was handsome, tall, funny. Playing with his dog, laughing…He looked quite happy. Yet his heart was heavy, that’s what I felt. He would not laugh playfully, he tried not to show his real feelings. That is how he thought it should be – and it was natural for him.

I was a stranger, an invader who came to that place unasked, from a different world. He would not open his heart to a stranger. He would be afraid, I knew that. Ivo was careful with his feelings – he had been hurt before, I felt that.

And the sounds of his name were flowing like a river…I loved it…

One day I was walking near the lake in the forest close to where I stayed.
What a surprise it was to see a willow growing very close to the water! It looked somehow familiar to me – this is what amazed me from the very beginning. I approached to the tree and looked at it once again, when I noticed the tree sighed deeply and sadly. I got frightened and thought of running away. But then I heard a soft, tender voice coming from the trunk of the tree. I listened carefully, trying to grasp words it was whispering.

And the willow was saying – “Save me, save me, Ivo is my name, save me, save me, Ivo is my name…” My hair was standing on end with fear…I looked at the willow again – and then I saw Ivo’s face in the hollow of the trunk. Maybe I drank too much of my usual herbal tea – and this was the reason for seeing these strange things and hearing these strange sounds. I was ready to swear I really saw my neighbour’s face but when I looked one more time – there was nobody in the hollow and no sounds were heard from the tree.

I thought it was the play of my imagination, so I returned home trying to soothe myself any possible way – thinking that the time of magic and talking trees had passed away.

Another thing that made me believe I was mistaken was Ivo – sitting on the porch of his house, playing with his dog. I said hello and looked him in the eyes, smiling. He smiled back without showing his teeth, still stroking his dog. When I passed him, I turned back to see if it was him whose image I saw in the hollow. I thought – I might tell him about my vision and ask if he had heard something strange happening in this area.
But I didn’t say anything, I don’t know what stopped me from that.
2009

To be continued.