COME SEE OUR TREE

                                                          COME SEE OUR TREE!

                                                   HARRY THOMAS DANVERS

 

                         It was a difficult problem to choose the right Christmas tree, which would go under the bay window in our middle class home, in the suburbs of Pittsburgh.

                        Difficult, because there were many specimens of spruce; dethroned at the base and disposed upon a parking lot, where all the neighbors deliberated on the same subject. How would the bare tree be decorated below the same bay window in all the look alike habitations, in the said housing plan?

                       My father was a salesman, so he knew all the jokes and antidotes. He was a pitch man, who knew how to sell his product. I don't think he was particularly religious, although he had a catholic sense about the necessity to sell. During the said religious season, this was obvious.

                      It was all glitter and glitch and people were happy because they had their yearend bonuses, from the large corporations, which they represented. It was my father's bonhomie, which required him to say something. So he did. His stock phrase was: "Come see our tree!"

                     And now? Now it's all plastic; waterproof, fireproof and well deleted from the original purpose, although his words still rock me to my foundation. "Come see our tree…"

                    God bless his memory.