The Elm Tree

The wind howled shaking the windows and pounding on the enclosed patio's tin roof. The cold late winter the wind is all anyone could hear. Every creature in the house shivered and huddled beneath layers of blanket, but that did not keep out the cold. The street lights shook and trembled in the 50 mph gust.

The neighbors dogs howled and their cat moaned. Cloths left on the line outside blew off and sailed away. In the final moments of the mighty wind, the elm tree, which had withstood other Las Vegas windstorms, crashed to the ground its upper branches catching on the cable that powered the streetlight. The tree lay on the ground blocking the sidewalk until the city came the next day and removed the branches that lay across the walk. The remaining trunk and limbs now lay in the front yard, waiting for someone to cut up for firewood.