day 3

Long before our hero came to live along the ocean, even before Jean built his home, there was a black oak sapling that had taken root a ways back from the water. At the time, there were no other oak trees to speak of in this part of the country, but somehow migratory and weather patterns had shifted in order for the seed to be deposited inland enough to not be washed away into the ocean and took root. By the time Jean had come upon the spot, the black oak had grown into a healthy and happy adolescence, rich with birds nests lining the branches and a thin coat of moss edging its way up the trunk. Jean thought, it's still growing so fast, the moss doesn't have a chance... Jean decided to build his home and his life beneath the black oak. Not directly beneath, mind you, but close by. He had purchased a large plot along the ocean, as he had come into a bit of inheritance after a close relative whom he didn't know very well had left him a small fortune. He inherited it by default, he was the next, and last, of kin. He bought the land sight unseen, and had a great deal of faith that it would be perfect. While most would say that it missed the mark, a great deal of this parcel of land was not suitable to build on, Jean had just purchased Eden. He would build his home beneath the tree of knowledge, watch the squirrels fight over the tempting acorns and cast out raccoons with a broom. The black oak provided a base from which to build his garden. Since this would be a wedding present to his wife, he spared no expense. He flanked the perimeter of the property with Aspens, and sparsely planted Manzanita among the normal verdant vegetation, so that if you looked toward Jean's spread, the white of the trunks in winter would cut out the plot from the rest of the coastline, and, if Jean forgot his glasses, the red of the Manzanita made him think that there were wildfires peppering his land. Only looking up at the sentinal would reassure him that all was well.