My Mostly Happy Life

Autobiography of a Climbing Tree

Once upon a time, Samuel Swerling, a World War II veteran and inventor, decided to build a park. It would be filled with trees trained to grow in such a way that children could easily climb them. To this end, he bought bought two acres of land, hired Alonso Hannah, a one-armed arborist, and began to turn his dream into the reality. After five years, Alonso and Sam had created a small, privately-owned park in a big publicly-run city. Sam married Ghita, bought an apartment across the street from his park, and had five children. People fell in love at the Samuel Swerling Park. Painters painted pictures; dogs chased Frisbees; pretty girls basked in the sun; and time stood still. Most of all, though, children did what the park had been built for them to do: They climbed trees. The narrator of this book is one of Sam’s climbing trees. He thrives on human contact, and in his long and happy life, he has had few disappointments. Lately, however, he is being subjected to life-threatening injuries by Jarvis Larchmont, a power-hungry politician who was thrown out of the park for bullying when he was twelve-years old. Time passes. Sam’s grandchildren, particularly Esther Swerling, are now in charge of the park. Esther is young, beautiful, and like her grandfather, an inventor. She is also ferociously protective of her heritage. When a hurricane floods the area, she and her family provide food, warmth, and shelter in the park to those seeking refuge. At the same time, the City’s beloved mayor is hospitalized, and Jarvis Larchmont is put in charge of the Department of Parks. Still bitterly resentful at having been thrown out of the park as a child, he joins forces with ecco-terrorists to destroy Sam’s creation. Suddenly, our narrator and his fellow climbing trees are separated from people. Separated from all that they know and love. Separated from children. They cry…and they begin to die. Then Esther, her friends, and her family organize. And they fight back.