The Swing Tree ~ Ulmus americana

What on earth is a swing tree?  Well, you're about to find out! 

This story is set in rural Northeast Louisiana the mid-1940s.  Basically, it's a true story spiced up with a sprinkle of fiction here and there.  Having been planted, or germinated from seed, the swing tree is already 50 years old when the story begins.  It stood on the lawn of the house where Maw grew up. 

"Come on, Maxine, I'll race you to the swing!"  The two cousins ran as fast as they could to see who would make it first.  That person got to swing a double turn on the first go.  Maxine won, and while she was taking her turn, Annette /maw began to look around for signs of bugs & worms.  Even at age 10, she knew she wanted to become a bugologist one day!  "Oh, a worm-hole", she cried, and raced off to find a broom straw.  She had played this game many times, and knew it was fun.  Maxine was on her last 10 swing turns when she returned.  Annette went immediately to the worm hole, put the straw in it, and tap, tap, tapped very lightly in the hole.  Now wait......sure enough the straw started moving around by itself.  It was time to jerk it up, and see if she caught a worm!  As Maxine watched, ready too scream or run, or do both Annette jerked up on the straw, and out came a worm a little over an inch long, wiggly and ugly.  Yes, Maxine screamed and jumped up and down!  Silly weakling thing.  They looked for more holes and continued to catch the worms hidden in them with their heads flush with the opening.  The worms were waiting for food, and were easy to catch with the broom straw.  Actually, they are not worms, but the larva of the Tiger Beetle, waiting to finish their life cycle in the hole.   

"C'mon, let's swing some more", shouted Annette. By this time they had gotten away from the swing tree again, so they had to race again.  This time, Annette won, so she started swinging.  The swing had long ropes that enabled it to swing in long, high cycles.  We even took turns running under the swing to make it go even farther and higher.  Just then Annette's mother came out to where the girls were playing, and asked them if they knew how old the swing tree was.  "I do", chirped Annette,  who was ten at the time...   "it's 20 years old."  To her that was ancient, so the tree must be that old.  It was very tall, and had large drooping branches that made a perfect canopy to shade them from the sun, or keep them dry during a light shower. It had to be old!

"That tree was there when I was your age" , said Annette's mother.  "It was planted there by my grandparents who came to Louisiana from Mississippi about 1880!  So you see, that tree is probably about 60 years old, if not older.  It's an American Elm, and makes one of the best shade trees of any tree that grows around here. "Why is it in our yard?", asked Annette.  Her mother was quick to explain that they were living on the same property that had been her grandparents' in years past.  "So", she said, "that's how we came to have the swing tree in our yard".  "It's an Ellum tree".  

"Com'on" shrieked Maxine, "let's go swing on the Ellum tree!"  They tied this time on who got to the tree first, so Maxine, who was staying overnight, being a guest, and all, got to swing first.  Soon it was time to get the cows up from the pasture, and set the table for supper.  The cousins were having so much fun swinging, and learning new words like 'ellum', they really hated to stop playing!  After supper, they bathed in the long aluminum bath tub, and jumped in bed.  With heads  under the cover, they began to tell the scariest stories they could think of.....And all too soon, it was morning.