Jamieson's head drooped and he spoke in a whisper. "You're gonna think I'm
crazy."
"Try me," encouraged Pete. He believed that the simple explanation could make
anything sound stupid. Pete's specialty lay in sussing out the small details that
people overlooked, the ones that made sense out of an otherwise crazy story.
Everything people did made sense if you looked carefully enough. All it took was
gentle pulling at details, however insignificant they may be, until the truth revealed
itself. "Something about the trees?"
"Yeah." Jamieson looked up with red-rimmed eyes like pits of despair. "They call
them The Harrow Trees. They've been chasing me for months now."
"Okay." Was Bolton right? "Why are they chasing you?"
"I saw the first one on my ranch."
"This was in Monett, Missouri?" interrupted Pete.
"Yeah. I grew up there. The tree was a funny-looking one, but not so strange
you'd stop and stare. It had these two trunks growing together and meeting in the
middle. Like a tree with legs."
"I've seen that before."
"Right. Odd, but no big deal. Well, it was outside the tree line. I didn't know how
it got there. I know my ranch, you see, so when I saw it, it's like the thing grew up
overnight. I didn't worry much about it, so I tried to cut it down." A fresh tear
slipped down. "I didn't KNOW! If only I had known, I'd have left it alone."
"It's okay, Jamieson. What happened then?"
Jamieson gathered himself and heaved a sigh. "Tore up two chainsaws and
blunted one axe trying to remove it. Then I rented a backhoe. I drove out there and
then I realized… the tree had moved."
"Moved?"