Chapter 4

We shared our work, we shared our fun

Joy and sadness for both were one

Each other's goals became our own

We built together neither one alone

Three weeks later school had ended when one Saturday Erik called and said he had an idea he'd like to discuss. Could I meet him out near the grove where we had waited out that rain? I agreed and headed out.

He was already there when I arrived and I saw he was holding a spiral bound notebook. "OK, what did you want to discuss?" I asked.

Now he seemed slightly shy. "Well, it's an idea I had. You know when we were out here you said something about having a shelter."

"Sure. It would be nice to have somewhere dry if a storm comes up."

"Well, I got to thinking. It would be even nicer if we had somewhere sheltered enough we could stay dry even if it was raining. Somewhere we could go to just read or play games or talk or something without worrying about the weather at all."

"You mean a shack or something?" I asked.

"Sort of. What I was thinking about was something like this." He opened the notebook and showed me a sketch of a small enclosure. I looked more closely as he turned the page and I saw the cube sketched into the branches of a large tree.

"A tree house!" I exclaimed. "Could we really make something good enough to be worthwhile?"

"I don't see why not."

"Just where did you have in mind?" I asked, my interest growing.

"Come on and I'll show you." He led the way for a couple of hundred feet and as we entered a small clearing he pointed to a huge maple. It was, in fact, the maple in which I had been perched that first time I met him out here. I looked at it a little more critically. There were several quite sturdy branches some ten or twelve feet off the ground. Branches eight or more inches in diameter.

"I've looked and I'm sure it is quite strong enough to let us put up, say, an eight by eight box. Here, look at this." He turned the notebook to another page and I saw a more detailed drawing, almost construction plans. I could see how the branches were used to support the weight and how the entire structure was anchored to the trunk itself.

I looked more closely. There was a small door and two windows on opposite sides. It had a sloped shed roof and a small overhang which would allow the water to drain away while still permitting cross ventilation. I looked back up at Erik. "Do you really think we could build this? I asked.

"Sure. It's on your property so we'd have to get permission from your parents." It was on our land but only by about fifty feet or so. "I'm sure I could get the materials through my dad and it wouldn't cost too much. I think we could even get the truck almost back here so we wouldn't have to carry things very far."

I could hear the excitement in his voice and I'll admit I was growing a little excited myself. I looked at the drawings again. "How do we get up there? Do we have to climb the tree each time?"

"I was thinking about a set of steps on a rope or chain. Not really a rope ladder, but wood plank steps connected by a rope. We could pull it up into the tree house when we weren't using it." I could visualize us climbing inside and closing off the rest of the world, dry and snug while rain poured down outside. We could read or play chess or just talk. Yes, I was definitely coming to like the idea.

I looked up at him again. "I think it would be great if we can do it. Have you said anything to your parents yet?"

"No, I was waiting to see if you liked the idea first."

"Well, I do."

"Why don't you come over to my place and we'll see if we can put together some better plans. I know it will go better if we can show my dad that we've given this some serious consideration."

I readily agreed. Erik brought out a tape and we spent a few minutes getting some measurements of branch size and locations. Then we headed over to his house and were soon in his study making detailed sketches which we then changed into computer drawings. Erik seemed pretty familiar with the CAD program and I had used it myself enough to be able to easily work with it.

In a few hours we had something resembling real plans. Then we spent some time putting together a bill of materials. By late that afternoon we had everything ready and before I went back home Erik promised to talk with his dad that night.

The next day Erik called and said his dad thought the plans just might work. In fact he had looked over them, done some kind of analysis, and even gone out to examine the tree. He had said it looked like a sound design but because the tree limbs weren't stress graded lumber he suggested adding a couple of steel rods to anchor the structure to the trunk a little more. Overall, though, he said that if my parents gave permission we should be able to build it. He even said we could probably get most of the materials from leftovers his business had lying around.

Erik brought over a copy of the slightly revised plans that night and we talked with Mom and Dad about it. My dad thought it looked all right but he couldn't say for sure. I reminded him that Erik's dad was a structural engineer. He and Mom looked at each other and kind of shrugged. "Well, if you two want to try it, it's all right with us."

We began making plans on how to proceed. In another two days we had the materials piled fairly close and began moving them over near the big maple.

We began construction and worked each day, except for one or two when it was raining too much. By the end of three weeks we had the structure basically finished. Erik's dad came out and inspected our work and pronounced it very professional.

With his stamp of approval we began putting on the finishing touches. The windows and door were just rough openings so now we added roll down plastic covers which would keep any driving rain out. We found a couple of vinyl covered exercise mats and a small, low table, just a little over a foot high. A couple of cushions completed the furnishings. One day Erik showed me a small cabinet with a couple of shelves that he had made. We moved this inside also so we could leave a few things out there without worrying about them getting wet or anything.

One morning in mid July - almost exactly a year since I had first seen Erik - we took lunches and climbed up to spend the day in our little refuge. For that is how we had come to think about it. A place where we could go to work, to play games, to read or to just talk. A place where no one else would interfere or interrupt.

We played chess and another board game, ate lunch at the tiny table while sitting on the cushions, and generally just lazed away the afternoon. Over the remainder of the summer we spent several days out there together. We also used our refuge individually, going there just to have a nice, quiet place to read, the only sounds those of birds and insects and the breeze through the summer leaves.

Summer eventually ended and school started once again. This year Erik and I shared four different classes: math, chemistry, English and world history. We managed to become lab partners in chemistry and often worked together in the other classes. It became quite common for us to get together in the afternoon or evening to work on homework. If the weather was nice we'd head out to the tree house. If not we worked in one or the other of our houses.