Behind the Lines: by David Heiller

by David Heiller Tree house. Those two words can fill a kid with bliss and a dad with fond memories. My son and I built a tree house on Saturday and Sunday. We chose the box elder by the outhouse. It is easy to climb, and has four trunks that come out of the ground like giant weeds. First we rounded up scraps of lumber. Rule number one about tree houses is that you can’t buy materials. You have to scrounge them. The inspiration for  Noah's tree house dreams We nailed three two-inch boards to the tree for the floor support, eight feet off the ground. I showed Noah how to use a square for cutting straight ends. I showed him how to read a level for a level floor. I was glad to show him this. No one ever showed me when I was his age. Then we nailed the floor boards onto them. We had to notch some of the boards so that three of the tree trunks could come through. The end result was a platform that seemed part of the tree, like it belonged there. While we worke...

David Heiller Every once in a while the bitter memories return. David was pretty good at keeping  things  in perspective.   Of course, we all get  hurt, by people  whose  aim  is to  hurt us, whether we are 12 or 50. When I was going into eighth grade, I decided to leave my elementary school a year early, and go the high school 12 miles away. I did this because I wanted to play sports. Most of my classmates were staying at the old school for their final year. They thought I was a snob and a deserter, and they let me know it. “Νο one likes you anyway, Heiller. Everybody’s glad you’re going,” one kid said. Boy, did that hurt. The memory is so vivid that I can still remember where I was standing when he said it. Just a couple of cruel sentences, but they have stuck with me for 30 years. Then there was the time at the playground, when I wanted to join in a game with some kids who were sort of my friends. I didn’t feel l...