A homeless woman, Dilah, who roamed towns picking up trash, again entered a neighborhood new to her. Within seconds, she noticed litterbugs had been busy. Quickly starting down a street with an array of lovely trees, she headed for an empty plastic bottle lying on the edge of the sidewalk. After scooping the container, she squeezed it with both hands, turning it into a small clump. She then dropped it into one of the four large canvas bags that hung from her shoulders.
While crisscrossing down the road to collect more litter, Dilah spotted a no trespassing sign held in place by wire tightly wrapped around an oak tree. Slogging onto the homeowner’s front lawn, she crept within two feet of the tin warning—close enough to see the rusty wire holding it in place was badly cutting into the tree’s bark. Saddened by the deep gouge that looped the trunk, she placed hands over the tree’s wound as tears trickled down cheeks.
Unknown to Dilah, a young boy, Henny, who had been doing some Saturday morning house chores, paused to watch her from his bedroom window. She looks like she’s crying, thought Henny as he watched Dilah extend arms around the tree. She must be one of those people Dad calls a tree hugger, he told himself as he started toward the front door. Once outside, Henny took a full breath as he slowly approached the stranger.
Dilah, meanwhile, released her embrace in order to walk around the tree with eyes glued on what she saw to be a strangle hold. Spotting one end of the wire, she pinched it with her thumb and index finger, then managed to begin prying the wire away from the tree.
Henny became more concerned. “I’m Henny. I live her. Is something wrong?”
“My name is Dilah. I’m a passerby who picks litter. Please get your mother or father,” she asked while tugging the wire with both hands as she stepped clockwise.
“Mom’s working and Dad’s shopping,” answered Henny.
Dilah continued to remove the wire and sign from the tree.
“What are you doing?” anxiously asked Henny.
“The tree was being choked. I’ll come back soon with the sign nailed to a stake that I’ll hammer into the ground near the tree,” explained Dilah.
“That’s probably a bad idea, because my dad will be back soon. He gets upset easy,” fretted Henny.
“Displaying the sign in another way to show I mean no disrespect,” said Dilah.
Henny had qualms. “I better go with you so that I can be the one to bring back and hammer down the sign. My dad’s quick to call the police on strangers on his property. My mom says he’s territorial,” noted Henny.
“I could gently explain that many people don’t know a tree can be choked to death,” offered Dilah.
“I don’t think that’ll help. Dad will get riled and call you a tree hugger. He doesn’t like those he calls tree huggers,” warned Henny.
“Do you dislike tree huggers, too?” asked Dilah.
Before answering, Henny looked down the street to make sure his father’s car wasn’t in sight. “I don’t get why anyone dislikes people trying to keep trees alive, but I’m just a kid. Do all tree huggers get sad when they see a tree being hurt?”
“I suppose crybabies, like me, are rare. Are you sure you want to tell your dad what I’ve done without me around?” asked Dilah.
“It the best way to try to keep him from choking the tree again. We better get going,” advised Henny, again turning to make sure his father wasn’t arriving home.
“OK, where’s the nearest hardware store?” asked Dilah.
“Not far. Give me a minute to lock up the house,” answered Henny.
While taking the short walk to the store, Henny had a question for Dilah. “Do you like working for the rubbish people?” he wondered.
“I work for myself. Recycling litter doesn’t pay much, but I get by,” answered Dilah.
Henny became more curious. “You mean you made a job out of spending each day wandering wherever you think trash might be?” he asked.
“I do other things. I gaze at the sky a lot. I especially like watching sunlight poke through openings in the clouds. I make it up as I go,” summed up Dilah.
“I like making it up as I go,” shared Henny.
“Will you do me a favor,” asked Dilah.
“If I can,” answered Henny.
“Meet me at the hardware store around nine tomorrow morning so that you can let me know how things turned out, OK?” asked Dilah.
“OK,” agreed Henny.
Luckily, Henny had the no trespassing sign stuck in the ground by the tree before his father arrived home. Unluckily, after returning, his father marched to the stake in a huff. “Henny! Get out here fast!” bellowed the father.
Henny rushed through the front door stammering. “A re, re, recycling lady, had, had the sign off the tree before I, I could do anything. She said the, the, the tree was being choked. She bought the stake,” he explained.
The father remained furious. “What did she look like and which way did she go?” he loudly grumbled.
“She was wearing a lot of clothes. I didn’t pay attention to the way she went,” answered Henny, vague on purpose.
“You should have called me right away!” growled the father as he pulled his cell phone from a shirt pocket.
“Who are you calling?” nervously asked Henny.
“I’m filing a police report. Brazen tree huggers have to be put in their place. Try to remember something that’ll help the cops spot her,” ordered the father as he began to dial.
Henny panicked. “Don’t call! I lied!” he blurted.
“What’s going on, Henny?” fumed the father.
After taking a deep breath, Henny slouched forward, then continued to fib. “When I saw a fellow on TV say wrapping a wire around a tree can kill it, I got pliers and took the no trespassing sign down. I bought the stake at the hardware store. Seeing you upset about what I did scared me. So, I made up a story.”
The father was quick to decide how Henny would be punished. “For misbehaving, and then lying about it, you’ll go to bed after supper for a week. . . . No son of mine is gonna be a dumb tree hugger!”
The next morning, Henny headed for the hardware store as he’d promised.
Draped in her sacks, Dilah was happy to see Henny approach looking chipper. “It’s good to see you. You look like you’ve got good news,” she said from a bus top bench.
“Though he’s still pretty upset, Dad has left the sign on the stake,” answered Henny as he sat next to Dilah.
Dilah happily shook Henny’s hand. “You’ve been very brave.”
“Actually, I got so afraid that I did something everybody calls wrong,” revealed Henny.
“What’s that?” asked Dilah.
“I lied. When Dad said he was going to send the police after you, I told him it was me, not you, who took the sign down. I told him I did it after I saw somebody on TV talk about choking trees. He thinks I made you up,” explained Henny.
“You fibbed to try to save a tree and to keep me out of trouble’,” noted Dilah.
“I don’t feel bad about getting punished with early bedtime for a week,” replied Henny.
“Wow! You held onto feeling good about yourself by believing it’s being nice that’s most important!” exclaimed Dilah.
“When it comes to liking ourselves, it’s being kind and fair that matters,” noted Henny.
“Very, very right. Look over there,” said Dilah while pointing to the sky to her left.
As they watched shimmering yellow rays pour toward the horizon from an opening in a massive cloud, Dilah had a heartfelt suggestion. “Don’t stop reminding yourself that lost self-respect is given up, not taken away, Henny,” she advised.
“I’ll try hard not to,” said Henny.
“Time to move to another town,” noted Dilah as she stood.
“Will you be back?” asked Henny.
“I hope so. . . . Stay courageous, Henny,” encouraged Dilah before leaving.
1. Why do you think Dilah cried when saw the tree was harmed?
2. Was Dilah right when she said “lost self-respect is given up, not taken away?” Explain your answer.
3. What makes calling someone a tree hugger a putdown?
4. Why did Henny feel relief when he continued to fib to his dad?
5. Are there times being nice is more important than telling the truth. Explain your answer.