“We have so many,” they said. “We have so many trees!”
John told them he would chop the trees with his ax. He chopped trees in the morning when some of the people went to work or school. He chopped trees in the afternoon when the people returned to their homes to read and sit and eat. He chopped trees in the evening when he used his large oil lamp to light the trees so he could chop them while people ate and slept. He chopped starting from the bottom. He chopped from the sides. Sometimes he chopped for many hours just to chop one tree. Most of the time, chopping did not take very long.
John never did anything with the chopped trees. He left them where they laid and collected his money from the people, which he needed in order to pay for his room with the cot, the stove, and the toilet. He liked to cook oatmeal on the stove, and he liked to sleep on the cot. He found it comforting to sit on the toilet and look at the chopped trees that his walls were made of. He could see when they used an ax to chop them.
He lived in the room with the cot, the stove, and the toilet for many years, and he never stopped chopping. He chopped every tree as quickly as he could and the people were happy to see the land. The trees were no longer in the way.
John liked to chop trees and it made him happy.
“We love you, John.”
One day, when John was older than he was in the beginning, there were no more trees. John walked everywhere and no one had trees. The lands were empty and he could see every building, every mountain, every car, in every corner, of everywhere. He looked for a long time and John found no trees.
They told him, “You have chopped all the trees. There is nothing left.”
He went home and sat on the toilet. He wondered what he would do now that there were no more trees to chop.
“I could chop people,” he said out loud. “There are many people.”
He walked outside with his ax in hand and found an elderly man in a brown overcoat walking a half-bald dog. John lifted his ax and chopped them where they fell. He found that chopping a man and a dog was not the same as chopping the trees. He returned to his room and sat in the bathtub full of hot water until his skin was clean, then he washed his clothes until they were clean, and finally he scrubbed his ax until it was clean. He placed his ax beneath his bed and slept on the cot until the next afternoon when he heard the knocking on his door.
John looked through the window and saw the police men, standing in front of his doorway. He stepped outside and felt the warmth of his bare feet burn.
“I chopped that man and his dog.”
“Why did you do it?” they asked.
John looked at them and said, “I want to put my shoes on.”
They let him go inside to put his shoes on. When he reached for his shoes under the cot he found his ax. John knew they did not like that he chopped people, and he was in trouble. He put his shoes on and walked outside to chop the police men so they could not take him away.
It was cold but John’s feet felt good. He held his ax and walked away from his room, the cot, the stove, and the toilet, and the chopped police men. John walked away beyond the corner of the land until he was not on the land anymore.