Afternoon of a Dryad

Although I am a young spirit, the roots of my tree are firm in the soil here. My name is Rosaceae, although in your tongue I'm known by the ugly name of "crabapple." I've been fortunate enough to come into the land of some good folk, and I was well-watered and looked after in my early weeks. Now the weather is cold and I'm preparing to sleep, but something one of the little ones said today gave me a fright. The father ordered new rubber tires for his automobile, and they were delivered to their door. He brought them inside, and I watched him show them to his little ones. The little ones played in them, and I was happy in their delight, looking in through the front window as I do and smiling on the hearth. Did you know they've brought one of my cousins into their home? One of the Abien family, a tall and prickly nymph by the name of Balsamea. She's all covered in lights and glass baubles, but she leans awfully and I suspect she'll drop her needles all over their carpet just to spite those little boys. (The small one grabs at her lower boughs incessantly.) But as I was saying, it was the older boy that gave me the scare. When the father drove his automobile back today with the new tires on it, the little one yelled at the top of his lungs to the mother: "Daddy saved me a tire and now we can have a TIRE SWING!" I hope that the father has more sense than that, but he appears to do whatever the little ones want most of the time. My arms hurt just thinking about a swing--even in adulthood we Rosaceae aren't particularly given to swings and treehouses and all those boyish constructions. He ought to see about a nice sturdy Quercus or Acer in the backyard for that sort of job. But then again, at least I have a family. My friend Cornus from next door has been sitting by an empty house for the better part of three months, and today when a woman stopped by to look at it with the realtor I overheard them talking about the "trumpet playing next door." Poor Cornus. But then again, she doesn't have to worry about tire swings.