from "The Phoenix Tree"

The Phoenix Tree grew from a rock that slanted precariously out to sea. Children loved to climb it. Their parents loved to scream. No one had ever fallen from The Phoenix Tree, but it was a cautionary tale waiting to happen. Someday someone would. And then that someone would die with their lungs full of green water and their skin starry with salt. Everyone would cry and shake their heads together, bitterly saying I told you so, and, no, I told you.

Then a man would come with an axe.

But for now the Phoenix Tree stood, tall and strong and calm. Each night it cut its silhouette out of the sunset. Tourists took pictures that always professional postcards, because The Phoenix Tree was particularly photogenic, even for a palm.