Gideon McGee's Dream: Chapter Nine

To speed the Earth’s birth and evolution into the span of a mere thirty minutes was a feat that no humanly-built computer could ever hope to duplicate, at least not the way Gideon was about to see it. He hung suspended in the blackness that filled the gap between the moon and Earth, while Zacharaias displayed before him the unimaginable power, splendor, and beauty that is the Earth. He watched as spiraling gases condensed to form a red-hot orb tens of thousands of miles in circumference. He watched as the orb cooled from the surface inward forming a molten core that could only release its constantly building pressure through vents to the surface called volcanoes.

The early Earth was dynamic and active, much like a toddler, changing constantly and exhibiting a ferocious temper. Gideon watched as the Earth took its first breath, forming an atmosphere that could support its immanent offspring. He saw the rains like he had never seen rain before, enough rain to fill several oceans and seas to a depth of five miles. The monsoons of the Far East were a mere foggy mist in comparison. It was as though the Earth itself was preparing to give birth.

Before Gideon’s eyes the surface changed from red to brown to green, while the oceans took on several hues of blue. He watched as the one land mass the scientists called Pangaea split apart and came together then split apart again. He saw India sail into and under the Asian coast, and, in a cataclysmic birthing process, the Himalayas appeared. He watched the Ice Ages come and go and Gideon thought of his own breathing. The American Southwest, once the bottom of a vast ocean, was thrust five thousand feet above sea level to unite what is now the North American Continent. The process was dynamic and ever changing, and, had it taken place one thousandth of one percent closer or farther from the sun, the Earth would never have been able to sustain life.

“You can look at it as a cosmic coincidence if you like,” Zack said, “but the Earth knew exactly where to be born in order to fulfill its function. It is conscious, Gideon, and deserves our respect and love for all it has done and continues to do for us.”

“That was wild, Zack. The Earth is perpetually moving and changing, just like us. It has more faces than we do. Thanks for showing me such a spectacular process that I had taken so much for granted.”

“You are most welcome, my friend. But there is something you must know. What I just showed you was based upon your own beliefs. In your reality everything is created anew in each and every moment and is reflective of your own beliefs. Enough already, we are off to visit with the Tree Clingers.”

“What’s so special about the Tree Clingers?” Gideon asked. He scratched his nose and wondered why it itched with no real body to support it.
“They are special in their ignorance of their potential. Their fear has forced them to choose safety rather than the life fully-lived. You will see in a moment. Since you are ready to be your own thought-pilot you may lead the way.”

“How do I get us there?”
“All you need to do is think of being in the Land of the Tree Clingers and you will be there. Nothing else is necessary.”
“Okay,” Gideon said. “Here goes.” He closed his eyes, although this was not necessary, thought of the Land of the Tree Clingers, although he didn’t know who or where they were, and then opened his eyes. Zacharaias was still by his side smiling broadly, while he and Gideon stood in the middle of what appeared to be a tropical rain forest.

“This is too weird,” Gideon said. “I think I like it better when we take a little time to get to where we’re going. It seems more real.”
Zack took Gideon by the hand. “Come,” he said. “Let us explore a bit.” They set off on a walking tour of the forest that was extraordinarily lush in both vegetation and wildlife. At first glance the flora and fauna appeared much like the varieties found on Earth, but there was one major difference.

“Do you notice anything odd about what you see, Gideon?” Zack asked, unable to control his incessant urge to teach.
Gideon thought for a moment, and then noticed a large snake, similar in every way to an Earthly python, grazing on thick green blades of jungle-grass. He saw what looked like a leopard lounging in the lower branches of a tree, feasting on broad dark-green leaves.

“I thought snakes and leopards eat meat?” Gideon said, sure of himself on this one.
“On Earth they do,” Zack replied. “Look! Over to your left.”
Gideon turned as directed and saw a lion, and what appeared to be a lamb, drinking side by side at a small forest stream.

“Why isn’t the lamb afraid of the lion?” Gideon asked.
“Because in the Land of the Tree Clingers there are no carnivores, no meat eaters. The lamb drinks beside the lion for she knows she is not part of the lion’s food chain. The lamb has no fear.”

“But if there are no meat eaters there are no predators. Why isn’t the Land of the Tree Clingers overrun with animals? With no natural enemies how is each species’ population kept in check?” Gideon remembered his studies of the animal kingdom and that the food chains kept each species’ population from exploding. By rights he and Zack should be waist deep in snakes and rats and all the other animals that breed in great numbers.

“Here the animals keep their numbers down through a less active and less bountiful reproductive system. For instance, that snake you saw eating grass normally lays 30-50 eggs a year on the Earth. But here, because there are no natural predators the female mates once every five years and lays only one egg.

“The Land of the Tree Clingers holds no trauma for all but one species,” Zack said, and then awaited the question he knew would come.
Gideon, growing in wisdom in his spirit form, surprised his guide. “That species would be the Tree Clingers, right?”

“Very good, Gideon.”
“Where are they? I can’t see up into the trees because the foliage is so dense. And now that I think of it, I haven’t seen any birds here.”
“There is only one winged species here, and, if you look closely, you can see their droppings under every large tree.”

Gideon looked at the base of a tree so large that two Mack trucks could drive through it side by side if a tunnel were carved for them to do so. At the bottom of the tree, spread out over a circular area the diameter of which Gideon estimated to be at least three hundred feet, were thousands of large greenish brown Tree Clinger droppings in various conditions of decay. The vegetation within the circle was more lush and verdant than anywhere else.

“Potent fertilizer,” Gideon joked, “but I’d hate to have one fall on me. They’re pretty big. The Tree Clingers must be huge birds.”
“The rest of the wildlife is most appreciative of the Tree Clingers for their droppings, although they’ve never set eyes on them. Let’s go up and pay them a visit.”

Gideon and Zack materialized at the top of the forest canopy, and still Gideon could not see the Tree Clingers.
“Where are they?” he asked. “They must be about the size of a human to produce such big droppings, but I can’t see them anywhere. I can’t see them from the forest floor, and I can’t see them from the forest canopy.”

“Remember, Gideon, the Tree Clingers are the most fearful species in the Universe, and what they fear the most is the unknown, better known as change. We must descend through the top layer of the canopy to find the Tree Clingers.”

As they descended at the speed of a falling snowflake the Tree Clingers appeared before them. There were thousands. The jungle canopy rose three hundred feet above the jungle floor and the entire world of the Tree Clingers took place between one hundred feet and two hundred feet, no higher, no lower. Their tribe was laid out similar to what Gideon visualized as an inverse Bell curve. In that middle one hundred feet they arranged themselves in the shape of a pyramid, a single Tree Clinger at the two-hundred foot boundary, and at least one hundred of them at the lower one-hundred foot boundary. All the other Tree Clingers were arranged in descending numbers as one ascended the tree, and all trees were laid out in the same pyramid form.

This hierarchal arrangement was odd enough, but nothing in comparison to what the Tree Clingers looked like. They were human in every respect but two. Their human legs tapered down to the ankle, and then, expecting to see human feet, Gideon saw bird’s feet large enough to wrap around the thickest tree branch. Growing from the middle of their shoulder blades was a pair of tri-fold white wings, much like that of a bat. A fine white skin covered the thin but strong wing bones that were tucked tightly against their backs. Gideon estimated that if they were fully expanded they would span twenty feet. Their arms and hands were human.

“Wow, I’d give anything for a set of wings like those. Do they only fly at night?” Gideon asked. “I don’t see any of them in the air.”
“Why don’t you ask them?” Zack replied.
“You mean they can see us and hear us?”
“As plainly as you can see and hear them.”

Gideon went to the branch upon which stood the top Tree Clinger. “Uh... excuse me, Sir...could I speak with you? My name is Gideon McGee.”
“My, oh my,” the top Tree Clinger moaned in a chirpy kind of voice. “More visitors. You come and you go, you come and you go, and we never remember what it was you came for, or what you had to say to us. We have wonderful memories for everything else, but we can’t retain any memory of your visits. You are like a dream to us. You say your name is Gideon?”

“Yes, and this is my guide, Zacharaias.”
The top Tree Clinger tore a broad leaf from the branch, and began munching. Gideon noticed that the branch immedi¬ately sprouted a new bud from which a replacement leaf began to grow. The Tree Clinger burped and introduced himself.
“I am Jester, King of this particular tree, dispenser of justice, and carrier of the Lore of this tribe, which happens to be the same lore as every other tree tribe.” King Jester reached for another leaf and offered it to his guests. His gesture being refused, he ate it himself, and then broke wind.

Gideon laughed. “Do you eat anything else beside these leaves?” he asked, unable to imagine a more boring diet.
This time King Jester manufactured a belch that no two Sumo wrestlers burping together could have matched. Gideon was impressed. It must be all that fiber, he thought.

“Eat anything else?” King Jester bellowed indignantly. “There is nothing else to eat. Look around you. Do you see anything other than these leaves?”
“Not here, but there are many varieties of vegetation down below,” Gideon replied.
“There is nothing but broad leaves all the way down to the lowliest dung-covered Tree Clingers. I challenge you to produce any other green thing between here and there.”

“You’re right, King Jester,” Gideon said. “Between you and the lowliest one-hundred there is nothing but green broad-leaves, but I noticed one hundred feet above you the top of your tree is lush with berries and flowers. Having been on the ground I can assure you that there’s a world of delicacies down there as well.”

“You are either crazy or sent by the devil herself. Our first Law as Tree Clingers is ‘A Tree Clinger shalt not trespass above two hundred feet’. Our second Law as Tree Clingers is ‘A Tree Clinger shalt not trespass below one hundred feet’. These are the Laws of our tribe.”
“Why don’t you just fly to the top of the tree and see for yourself?” Gideon suggested.

“We have everything we need here. Tree Clingers have never gone hungry; as you can see.” King Jester proudly patted his protruding belly. Gideon was reminded of his Algebra teacher Mr. Numer. “And what is this ‘fly’ you speak of?”
“You know,” Gideon said, flapping his arms, “Fly. Spread your wings and soar into the air. Fly!”


It occurred to King Jester that Gideon might be referring to the curse, the hideous growths that grew out of the backs of all Tree Clingers. “You’re not talking about these monstrosities, are you?” King Jester asked, pointing disdainfully to the wings on his back.
Gideon turned to Zacharaias, who merely shrugged his shoulders. “You’re doing fine, Gideon. Continue.”

“Those glorious appendages you refer to as monstrosities are called wings. They can take you places you’ve never imagined. You can soar into the wind and dance among the clouds. Is there not a one of you that has ever flown?” Gideon asked.
As carrier of the lore of the Tree Clingers, King Jester reached far back into his conscious mind, which was not far at all, before answering.

“There is something,” King Jester said softly, his chirp barely registering on Gideon’s ears. “Before our Law was written in bark, legend has it that one Tree Clinger, his name long forgotten, climbed to the topmost branch of the tree and never returned. For all I know his bones may be bleaching in the sun, entwined in the highest branches of this tree.”

“I saw no bones at the top of your tree. Did you, Zack?”
“I can assure you, King Jester,” Zack said. “There are no bones bleaching in the sun at the top of this tree.”
Gideon thought of another tack to take in enlightening King Jester. “Why did God give you hands?” he asked.
“To hold our daily leaves, to assist our young. There are many uses for hands, as you well know, having a pair of your own.”
“Why do you have eyes?”
“To see.”
“Why do you have ears?”
“To hear.”
“Why do you have teeth?”
“To grind our daily leaves.”

“Is there any part of your body, other than your wings, that has no purpose?” Gideon asked, sure that King Jester must be getting his point by now.
King Jester pondered this question for a moment, his eyes darting from body part to body part as if only by looking at them could he think of them. Finally after mentally and visually touring his Tree Clinger body he silently shook his head from side to side.

“Then why do you think you were given those two gossamer appendages on your back?” Gideon asked.

King Jester answered without hesitation. “Questions, questions. So many questions,” He chirped. “Any fool knows that they are our punishment for our First Mistake. Our Law tells us the first Tree Clinger was brazen enough to think that she was made of the same stuff as the Creator, that she and the Creator were one. She did not believe as we do that the Creator is there.” King Jester pointed upward. “And we are here. For this First Mistake of wrong-thinking, that we are more than we appear to be, all future generations of Tree Clingers were to be born with the curse. These grotesque encumbrances on our back are to remind us of our place.”

Gideon shook his head in despair. It was a lost cause trying to convince the King to change his mind, but then Kings, and all those who held power, always had the most to lose by new ideas, by changing the status quo. “Do you mind if we talk with some other Tree Clingers?” he asked.

“Be my guest. Yes, yes. I say, be my guest. But you won’t change any minds. No, indeed. You won’t. You won’t. We want for nothing, and, even if this curse could allow us to fly, as you say, why would anyone want to fly into the unknown? It is safe here.”

“Thank you for your time, King Jester,” Gideon said. He was happy to leave, as the pitch of the King’s chirp was beginning to make his ears ring.
“No problem. No, no problem at all. Oh, I should warn you and your friend to look out for falling dung. The lower you go the more likely you are to have some fall on you. It is an inevitable part of Tree Clinger life, but a small price to pay for our safety and comfort.”

It wouldn't be inevitable, Gideon thought, if you’d shed your fears and superstitions, and learn to fly.

The center section of the tree was the most befouled by Tree Clinger dung, for there was always someone above. The outermost branches were free from soiling, for in the pyramid design of their society no one perched above the outer branches. Being curious and not wanting Tree Clinger dung to fall through his spirit body, Gideon chose to speak to the lucky girl with no perchers above her. He moved to a middle level outer branch and struck up a conversation with the teenage girl, who, had it not been for her bird feet, would have made a great date back on Earth, wings or no wings. It did not pass Gideon’s attention that the Tree Clingers had no need for clothes, although umbrellas would have come in handy.

“My, oh my. More visitors,” the beautiful young Tree Clinger said. She eyed Gideon admiringly, and thought it a pity he had such strange feet, although she was impressed that he was not cursed. Her chirp was softer and had a mellifluous tone to it, more like a dove than a chipmunk.

Gideon introduced himself and Zacharaias. He learned the girl’s name was Falola, and that she was sixteen-years-old. Of course, the world of the Tree Clingers took only three hundred days to circle its sun, so in Earth-time she was only fourteen. Falola believed the same confining drivel about her wings as did King Jester, but she seemed more curious than the King.

“How do you know about wings and flying?” Falola asked.
“Where I come from the skies are full of flying creatures. We call them birds, and we envied their ability to fly so much that we made machines to take us into the sky. If I had your wings, Falola, I’d be off this dung-covered tree and into the air in a heart beat.”

Falola looked up and saw the sun was almost directly overhead. “Oh my, oh my. In just a few minutes my time at the outer edge of my branch will be over. I’m enjoying our talk so much. Would you move in with me? It’s not as bad as you might imagine. We Tree Clingers are quite used to it.”

“Why do you have to move in? Aren’t your places permanently assigned?”
“To a branch, yes,” Falola explained. “But there is movement along the branch. Time on the outermost edge, where you find me now, is awarded for meritorious behavior. Curiosity is frowned upon, and asking questions is definitely taboo. Since I went an entire week without asking a question or being curious about anything I was awarded half a day at the outer position.”

“And I assume the middle positions are for offenders of these taboos,” Gideon guessed.
“Yes. Unfortunately I spend much of my time there, but the broad leaves are as abundant as the dung. So I never go hungry, and it rains at least once a day. Showering is our greatest pleasure, as you may have guessed.

“Sometimes I think I’m defective or must be a direct descendant of the maker of the First Mistake, for I am curious all the time. I ask questions about everything. I don’t know how I went a week without asking one, but I really wanted to experience the outer position, just once.”

A revolutionary in the making, Gideon thought. He turned to Zack and whispered his plan. Zacharaias agreed, and Gideon turned back to Falola.
“Falola,” Gideon began, “you have an opportunity here that may never come your way again. And being the dreamer that you are, you’ll regret it the rest of your life if you don’t take it.”

“Take what, Gideon?” Falola asked, a puzzled look clouding her hazel brown eyes.
“Zack and I want to spread your wings. That’s all, just spread your wings. None of your fellow Tree Clingers will do it for you, for their hearts are filled with laws, rules, and fear, all based on beliefs, not truths. I promise you’ll not be hurt. You may have to spend some time in the middle for it, but that’s nothing you’re not used to and, as you said, it rains every day. What do you say?”

All of her life Falola had felt different than the other Tree Clingers. There was something in her that wanted more out of life than eating broad leaves and washing dung from her body, something that longed to know if there was a world outside the Tribal Tree. She was afraid, but her longing overpowered her conditioned judgment.
“Are you sure it won’t hurt?” she asked. “No one has ever done this before.” Her bird claws began to loosen their grip on the branch.

“One Tree Clinger has. You know the legend,” Gideon said.
“You mean the legend of the Tree Clinger that climbed to the top of the tree and disappeared?” Falola asked.
“Yes, but he didn’t just vanish into thin air. He spread his wings and discovered the world. He realized his beliefs were not truths.”

Falola looked around and noticed several Tree Clingers breaking the curiosity taboo. They were looking directly at Gideon, Zack and her. Maybe there are others that think like me, she thought.

Falola took a deep breath. “Okay. Middle of the tree, here I come. Stretch away!”
Gideon and Zacharaias slowly stretched Falola’s satin-white wings. Not being fully grown, her wingspan fell four feet short of Gideon’s twenty-foot estimate. It was enough, however, to catch a gust of wind and lift Falola off her branch.

“Don’t be afraid,” Gideon said calmly. “Zack and I are right here with you. Trust yourself above all else.”
“But, I am afraid,” Falola said. Her body trembled, but her face belied the excitement she felt. Ten Tree Clingers, their curiosity getting the best of them, earned a place in the middle of the tree.

“Move your wings up and down,” Gideon instructed the fledgling flier. “Catch the wind and live the life you were meant to live.”
Slowly at first, but then with increasing confidence, Falola began to use her wings. Since she had no idea how to maneuver, Gideon and Zack guided her to the top of the tree.

“From here there is nothing in your way, Falola,” Zack said. “Learn to use your wings and then return to bring enlighten¬ment to the rest of the Tree Clingers.”
“But they’ll never take me back. I’ve violated every rule of our Law.”

“It will not be easy, but a life fully lived never is. Many will curse your name, for they fear change, but some will learn from your example, and break the bonds of their fear. They will finally learn that what they took as truths were belief driven; true for them, but not a cosmic truth.”

Falola hesitated only long enough to say her thanks and to attend to one minor bodily function before spreading her wings once more, and soaring into the Land of the Tree Clinger sky. King Jester, for the first time in his life, experienced the distinct displeasure of being the recipient of what he had for years rained down upon his fellow Tree Clingers below him.