Fall of a giant

The tree people appeared an hour later than the scheduled time to begin felling one of our two backyard pecans, the one tipping out of the ground and looming ever more threateningly over our neighbor's roof. Seemingly fearful of approaching the porch, they might have paced up and down all day, had we not noticed them and gone out to talk. One understood English very well, and spoke it a little. The other, probably not much of either. One went aloft, shinnying up in sneakers, sometimes using the trunk and at other times going up a nylon rope slung over a branch. The other remained on the ground. One used the large chainsaw; the other the small one. As the trunk grew shorter and shorter, its slices were made thinner and thinner, so as to weigh less and be easier to toss into the wheelbarrow. Nothing broke the telephone line; nothing broke the electric wires; nothing hit our neighbor's roof. The toll included two rosebushes, two hollyhock plants, some irises, one patch of bachelor buttons, delphiniums, and coreopsis, plus an unfortunate snake who lived under the wall surrounding Mack's flower bed, which also suffered. After all was done, we adjourned to Luby's for some calming drafts of cold tea, and coconut four-layer cake for K. and surprisingly generous and beautiful grilled salmon for me.