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.“What’s the matter, boy?” Nichols asked.“I’m fine,” Zachary snapped.“It’s really quite beautiful from the top,” Father Poole interrupted, trying his best to break the obvious tension between Arthur Nichols and Zachary Black.“You can see the whole of Holly, as well as all the surrounding farms.And if you look to the south side of the summit, you’ll be able to see the dome of the Exeter Town Hall in the distance.Our own town hall pales in comparison, I must admit.”These last words caught Arthur Nichols’ attention.As a lifelong resident of Holly, he agreed that his town was overshadowed by the far more prosperous community of Exeter.“Everything is smaller in Holly,” he replied, “even the rats.”Father Poole chuckled at the comment Arthur Nichols had made, but Zachary stopped, causing both men to follow suit.The boy straightened up before Nichols.“Who are you callin’ a rat?” Zachary said, with anger etched in his face.Arthur Nichols was speechless.He didn’t mean anything offensive by his choice of words.It was simply a coincidence that he had chosen a word that could make for a good joke as well as offend a boy who, as close as any human could, resembled a giant rodent.“Why did you say ‘rat’?” pursued Zachary.“My mamma and daddy always called me a rat when they were talking about me.They’d say, ‘Where’s the rat got to?’ and ‘See if the rat wants dinner’ or ‘Tell the rat to clean his room.’ Why should you be any different?”“That’s not what I meant at all, Zachary.I want you to know that I would never say anything to hurt anyone, especially a little boy.I would venture to say that most people are like that.”Zachary reacted slightly to Arthur Nichols’ use of the phrase “little boy.” He replied, “I only know what my mamma and daddy said.And daddy always claimed that I was rodent-like.” He then continued walking, rather fast now and seemingly not out of breath.They reached the top of the hill two minutes later.Zachary had beaten them up there by just short of half a minute.With his back still to them, Zachary ogled at what he could see of the great maple just beyond the rectory.Only a small portion of the branches was visible from where he was standing.He also perceived that it was the only tree on the hill and appeared to be immense.Although he had lived in Holly his whole life, Zachary, who never went out much, had never before seen Holly Hill or its solitary maple.Instead of walking up to the rectory, Zachary turned right and walked around the building.Father Poole passed Jessica over to Arthur Nichols and asked him to bring her inside to Sister Ignatius.“She’ll be all too happy to take the babe from you,” said the priest.“She’ll also have a variety of questions, I’m sure, such as why I came back with Jessica and who that boy is out back.Tell her I’ll be in presently to explain.”After the two men parted, Father Poole traced Zachary’s steps in the dead, flattened grass.When he cleared the side of the rectory, he watched Zachary approach the trunk of the great maple.Zachary was looking up at the vast branches, noticing how the limbs twisted and curved around one another, and he began to feel intimidated by the thought of trying to climb such a monster.He began kicking at the trunk and knocked off large pieces of bark.“That tree is an old and dear friend of mine,” Father Poole said kindly.“I’ll ask you to treat her with respect.”The boy stopped kicking and stomping.Still keeping his head down, he walked around to the tree’s other side from the left.Father Poole put his hands in his pockets, lowered his head too, and walked around the tree from the right.“Nothing makes any sense right now, I’ll bet.”The boy said nothing.The priest’s nostrils whistled slightly as he inhaled the cold air.He glanced up into the tree as Zachary had done moments earlier, but not with the trepidation that the boy had felt.“Notice anything interesting about the tree, Zachary?” Father Poole asked.Zachary kept his head down, his eyes still fixed on his feet.“Look up at her, Zachary.”He didn’t but instead started kicking the trunk again.The priest sighed.“Alright, boy.At least listen.”With these last words Zachary studied the wide expanse of dead grass, which by now was dry and brittle.He even ceased the assault of his foot on the tree.“You hear it?” asked Father Poole.There was a faint sound of chirping high up in the tree.“Look up into that great old tree, Zachary.” said Father Poole.He did.“You hear the chirping of a baby red tip hawk.Its nest is perched high in the tree.You can see it clearly.The mother hawk is gone now.She’ll leave him with enough nourishment to fend for himself.He’s still a fledgling, but in time he’ll be strong enough to fly and catch his own food, yet he still cries for her.”“I know you’re crying inside for your mother,” Father Poole continued.“I know she left you, and I bet you feel a bit like that fledgling up there.But he’ll survive, and you’ll survive, won’t you? ’Cause you’ve got a friend now who will protect you.”Zachary immediately gave his back to the priest.“I meant what I said back at your house, boy.I don’t want you to feel as though you’re alone.”“Why do I feel that way then?” Zachary asked.Phineas could see the tears well up in Zachary’s eyes.He quickly brought the boy to his chest and hugged him tightly.Zachary reciprocated.Phineas then took his right hand and stroked the boy’s head, letting his thick locks of reddish brown hair run through his fingers.Zachary withdrew, pushing Father Poole away with the heels of his hands.He wiped his eyes and sucked the snot that had collected in his nose back into his throat and swallowed it.Father Poole beamed at the boy, feeling as though he had broken through the hardness that comes from years of neglect and resentment.“I’m going to get you settled inside,” he said.“We’ll put you in your own room with your own bed.And you can come and go as you like.Mrs.Keats will prepare all your meals for you, and you will stay here until….”Father Poole realized he couldn’t finish that sentence.The boy was not his to take from his father.He asked himself whether this was not kidnapping.He believed in his heart that he was doing the right thing.After all, Mr.Black was abusive, and Mrs.Black had abandoned the both of them.The priest remembered his vow to help all those in need.He couldn’t turn his back on this lost soul, especially since the boy now presumably trusted him.To the devil with Mr.Black, thought Phineas.He then said to Zachary, “You will stay here until you are old enough to live on your own.I’ll see to that.You needn’t worry, son.”Zachary showed no further emotion, even when Father Poole called him “son.” He smiled back at Father Poole as the latter returned to the rectory
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