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Steve looked out the apartment window at his favorite tree. He really wasn’t even sure what kind it was – all he knew was that it wasn’t a maple or an oak or an apple tree. It was old, though, with gnarled branches that he and Bucky (mostly Bucky) used to climb, when they were boys. They had rested beneath its welcome shade during the hot summer days and crunched its leaves under their feet in the autumn on their way home from school. And while those were fond memories, that wasn’t what made this tree his favorite – it was because it was a harbinger of spring.
Perhaps it was because the tree was sheltered from the winter winds in the small courtyard. Perhaps it was a hardy species, transplanted from a more northern clime. Whatever the reason, this humble tree was always the first one in the neighborhood to show hints of green on its branches.
Steve’s mother had been the one who first noticed it. Even if there were still dirty piles of snow on the pavement, and the passersby were still bundled in heavy coats, the tips of its branches would start to swell, buds slowly filling out, day by day. “Spring’s on its way, my boy,” she would say, more often than not with a sigh of relief. Steve was always happy to see those signs as well, even if the pollen the tree spread around the courtyard tended to make him wheeze.
After she was gone, and Bucky moved in, Steve told him about the tree. “Doesn’t matter what the almanac, or the papers say, Buck. That tree knows when spring is almost here.” Their first winter together had been brutal – Steve had gotten awfully sick, and Bucky had worked overtime for weeks to make ends meet – so they were both eager for the season to change.
Even after a late March nor’easter blew in, bringing stinging sleet and freezing temperatures overnight, that brave, stubborn tree insisted on proving to the world that the winter would not last forever. As the sun rose further above the surrounding buildings, the tree reached up, shedding its icy shroud and spreading its tender green leaves to the sky.