Frank Shapiro

The Old Man & the Tree Frank Shapiro

A Magical, Unforgettable Tale...

A splendid maple ? huge, majestic, and newly conscious ? has thrust out its dense roots, creating havoc on a nearby sidewalk. The jumbled mess causes an accident from which a young boy may never recover. Hidden high in the tree?s branches, a mother crow stands sentinel over what she knows will be her final clutch of eggs. Nearby, a hawk ? the same one that viciously robbed her of her lifelong mate and previous hatchlings ? stalks her, waits for the perfect moment to strike.

John Wilson, at 76, has lived beside his tree for 70 years ? rested in its shade, carved initials in its bark, watched it grow. But in possible destruction, he discovers something beyond himself ? his place in a world he?s allowed to pass him by.

A City Attorney threatens. A City Inspector ponders. A community gathers. An old tree defies its very nature becoming self-aware. An old bird resists the unrelenting force of instinct for self-preservation. An old man overcomes his self-imposed isolation and the inertia spawned by his past?

And an amazing story unveils a tiny slice of Man?s relationship to Nature ? and Nature?s to Man ? in this magical tale in which all entities converge on a typical American street and reveal the enduring themes we all share ? life, loss, regret and, ultimately, hope.