My Mostly Happy Life: Autobiography of a Climbing Tree

By Shelly Reuben

Chapter 6 – Ethan’s Best Friend

Now I have to tell you a story about a fictional bird named Pal and a mother and daughter who looked very much alike.

Both had bright red hair.

Both had freckles.

Both had big hazel eyes.

And both were very pretty.

The mother’s name was Pegeen Fitzgerald, and her ten-year-old daughter was named

Meg.

They used to sit on one of my lower branches and read aloud (they took turns) from Meg’s favorite book, Ethan’s Best Friend.

It was an old book, one that Meg’s mother had read during her own childhood. It was not very long, but it was jam-packed with illustrations and partially written in verse.

Since others, too, had loved that book, including Esther’s mother Donna, who was a successful sculptress, the last two-lines of the story were engraved on a brass plaque and embedded in a brick wall that surrounds the Children’s Garden in the Samuel Swerling Park. Sam had commissioned his daughter Donna to design and create the plaque herself.

I’ll tell you more about the Children’s Garden later.