Susan

I have vague memories from my early days of being part of a living, growing, tree. In the forest where I grew I was serene and content to provide a home for nesting birds and protection for the forest animals.###
Then one day there was a terrible noise as men with chain saws arrived. In horror we trees watched as our neighbors were cruelly cut and came crashing to the ground. The screams were terrible. My tree was one of the victims and my sap still runs cold when I hear the whine of saws.### I became part of a board that went to a lumber yard and was bought by a man named Harvey Kutz. Most of my board was used to make birdhouses, thereby ironically becoming once again a home for birds. I, however, was just a little piece of scrap and would have been swept up and thrown away except that Harvey Kutz had a brainstorm which rerquired a small piece of wood like me. ###Once again I was cut then for the first time sanded and screwed. Harley worked hard to make sure my parts fit and worked smoothly. Then I was put into a tiny box and presented to his wife Mildred. "Ohhhhh! Harvey!" I could hear her exclaim as she shook the box rattling me quite a bit, "What could this BE?" I could hear the crinkle of paper as she unwrapped the box then the lid came off and a pair of bespectacled eyes fixed themselves on me in puzzlement. I thought I also detected a bit of disappointment in them. There was a moment of silence. Then she asked, "Harvey, what IS this?" "I invented it myself" he replied proudly,
"It's a recipe card holder so you can cook your devine dishes without getting the cards soiled." Mildred rallied and gave him a kiss saying, "You're so clever Harvey! It's just what I needed."
###I was happy to be wanted and to have a purpose in life. Unfortunately, I wasn't big enough to do the job and even small recipe cards were too heavy for me to hold up and we fell over constantly. I was put aside.### For years I lived in the back of the kitchen 'junk' drawer unused. I wasn't lonely as my best friend was a wooden doorknob who shared memories of being a tree same as me. We rejects in the drawer told each other stories of our earlier days like Key whose lock was long gone. He had once had the very important function of opening and locking a strong box where valuables were kept. One day our lives were disrupted when all of us were dumped into a box and taken for a ride. We ended up in a thrift shop where we were tagged and put on shelves.###There I tried to relate to the other things on the shelf but they looked down on me because of my small size and questionable worth. I was very depressed.###One day not long ago two men came into the store and one of them actually picked me up! I felt a thrill of being chosen from among all the other objects on the shelf. I could hear them muttering in amazement as I was carried to the register and actually purchased! A whole new life was opening up! Then, like a celebrity, I was photographed and introduced to thousands of people who would wonder at my unique attributes. I have never been happier since losing my tree form. I hope the loving care that Harvey put into making me is finally recognized. He wasn't a great inventor but he was a good man.