The Tree Climber

I don’t see any children climbing trees anymore. I guess they are just not interested or that they don’t see climbing a tree to be fun. Maybe their parents do not encourage them to do so, I don’t know.

When I was seven years old, I was very independent. Tree climbing was one of my specialties. As a matter of fact I was the best in my family. Our house was a large kampong (village) bungalow. Surrounding it were large fruit trees of various sorts; a Chikoo tree, a few Mango trees including a Kuini tree, and of course the usual Rambutan dan Mangosteen trees.  I could climb them all.  I remember my eagerness to climb any fruit tree especially if my father wanted to eat any of the fruits. All he had to say was, “Khalil, I want this or that fruit.”, and I’ll be on top of that tree. The thought of pleasing my father made the climb and the objective even more interesting, I had an errand from my father and I was going to fulfill it with pleasure. Climbing a tree was never more fun!