Day 20

David Benovitz first spied the tree while staring out of the fourth-floor conference room window during the stand-up meeting that had been moved from its usual second-floor location. That day they squeezed 15 team members into a room intended for six, and David found himself wedged between Eric Brewster and the left-hand wall and facing toward the east window. As each team member gave his or her update and everyone jumped into discussions of issues, David watched the tree's leaves ripple on branches that swayed in the biting fall wind. Two long branches hung so low to the ground that he saw squirrels jump straight to them without first going up the trunk. Above these branches were several large knots, followed by shorter branches for several feet. After that the tree grew more long branches that continued beyond where David could see from his spot in the room. His gaze stayed on the shorter branches, which resembled the rungs of a rope ladder that hung from the tree house in his best friend's yard growing up.

"David? David!"

He felt a nudge in his side from Eric and realized that it was his turn to speak. He looked back toward his colleagues and explained where he was in the current QA cycle, leaving out details that he knew would generate questions he would have to answer.

The next day's meeting was back in the second-floor conference room. David took his usual seat, which faced north. The window across from him overlooked the immense parking lot that was shared by the various tech companies in the building, and a highway loomed in the distance where the glint of the sun striking passing cars looked like flashlights communicating in Morse code. S.O.S. S.O.S., he imagined they were were saying.

During lunch, David begged off from the usual Friday walk to a nearby hot dog stand and circled the building to find the tree. It was not near any of the paved walking paths, so he stepped over the chain to cross the lawn. Leaves flew off the trees around him, but few lay on the manicured green where he passed.

The tree was larger than he had expected. Though he could tell from the window the trunk was wide, standing next to it he saw that it was more than twice his arm span. The low branches hung at shoulder height, and looking up he could not judge how tall the tree was other than that it towered above its neighbors. He reached out and moved his hand along a low branch, feeling the bumps and jagged pieces protruding from the bark. A gust of wind blew a handful of leaves from the middle branches, and they circled above him before landing across the expanse of lawn. He half expected a laser to vaporize them on contact with the grass, but they settle quietly as red and yellow dots along the green background.

David zipped up his jacket against the wind, but did not go inside. He wanted more time with the tree. He looked down at his feet, at the dull brown loafers he wore with his khaki pants and polo shirt that was his daily uniform. He wiggled his toes and felt them press against the stiff insides of the shoes. Then he looked to his left and his right across the lawn, but saw no one. He dared not look into the east-facing windows of the slate gray building behind him.

David put his hand on the tree trunk to steady himself as he nudged off one loafer, then the other. He then took hold of a low-hanging branch and began to climb.