Once again I am using one post to do double duty. (Remember? Lacking Motivation.) This weeks 99 word prompt from Carrot Ranch involved searching for trees, or at least one tree. So here you go.

“The Red Maple”

She bought the house in winter and didn’t realize the tree in the backyard was dead until spring.  She had it removed at the end of the summer and told herself she didn’t want to rake leaves anyway.

As the year progressed she thought the yard looked naked and found she missed raking leaves.

In the spring she wandered around the nursery feeling overwhelmed until she saw a six-foot tall red maple.  Her tree.

She took her home and named her ‘Betty’.

Thirty years later her heart still contracted with joy as she raked up Betty’s jewel colored leaves.  

Til tomorrow…