asked angrily. "Jake, why did you just hang up?" Came Kate's voice.
"Listen, I can't now," he said sullenly, "I'll see you on Monday." And then he hung up.
The garden gate crashed shut behind him. Arriving at the front door, he rummaged for his key, when he looked up briefly, his gaze fell on the huge red beech, whose leaves rustled in the night summer wind.
His key quickly disappeared back into his pocket.

Jake ran across the meadow to the other side of the large garden. He stood under the tree with an upset heart and a pounding heart.
It was where he'd said goodbye to Jill eight years ago. Until just now he had believed it would have been a goodbye forever. He had waited forever for a call, a letter, just any sign of life - in vain. Jill never called.
Jake had tried to forget. He had only been ten, but she had meant a lot to him - she had been his best friend and the fact that he had apparently not been so important to her had hurt him very much.Jake had tried to forget. He had done quite well at repressing in recent years. And now, when Jill was a faint shadow in his memories, she just reappeared.
He grabbed the rope ladder that dangled from the wide tree trunk. Planks had previously been nailed to the tree to use as a ladder. Since his seven-year-old sister played in the old tree house, Jake and his father had mended a few old boards and installed a new, sturdy rope ladder.
He climbed nimbly.
How long had he not been up here? On the floor he felt for a small flashlight and switched it on. Memories from his childhood flitted past his mind as he looked around. Most of the things up here belonged to his sister, but then he discovered a faded photo that was pinned to the wall of the tree house with a thumbtack.
Jake ripped it off.

[i]Cadmium green -end-[i]