The Humongous Pepper Tree

At Madrone Apartments entrance on Rengstorff Ave, Mountain View is a humongous Pepper Tree. It's thirty feet high, but its girth measures twenty-four feet— wider than even redwoods. Circling around for photos of its contours and crevices, I listen to tales from this tree. One branch sheared off by lightning but more likely by teenagers riding on him as they were fighting. At Halloween ball, he squeezed through the door as everyone gazed on him. Conductor stopped the music and announced his presence, as lady trees Bay, Beech, Birch asked him to waltz while he oiled his way around the room. Huffing and puffing, it was much too exhausting, so he could manage just slow dances— rumba & two-steps. Those were the glory days— and now he sits still, calm and serene listening to tooting trains go by. — Peter Y. Chou     Mountain View, 3-18-2020

Madrone Apartments         111 Rengstorff Ave.         Mountain View, CA   Humongous Pepper Tree       111 Rengstorff Ave.       Mountain View, CA