dreaded winter. I stood tall and still amongst a few of my remaining friends, their limbs, like mine, aching from the chilly winds that ripped through the forest. Even though the frost that hung on our needles was almost unbearable, we still loved our home, the forest. I loved the company of my other companions and enjoyed the travellers who nested in my branches. I loved the smells of the flowers nearby and the wind cries of critters around my body but, oh how I dreaded winter! This was a time of sadness; for every year strange animals entered our forest, and how ugly these animals were! They walked on two legs with brown feet, blue legs and red and black checked upper bodies with hard yellow head tops and large beady eyes. They came with sharp-toothed monsters that growled loudly and ripped our bodies down and Tree loses its friends Every year at this time I lost my friends to these `humans', although they never cut me down. I heard one of them say, `Nah, Bob, this one is too scrawny'.

So they left me standing while they cut all the rest of my friends down. When they had finished, there were only a few of us left standing. I always wondered where my friends were taken.

I stood there with a fat body and a great thick coat, I had soaked in too much sun and water this summer. All my friends envied my thick lustrous hair, but I feared the day when those humans would come back into the forest with their growling monsters to cut all the best of us down.

Many days passed and each day my limbs grew stronger, my coat thicker and my needles greener. The snow and frost froze my body and made my limbs ache. Oh, how I longed for the first, hot breezes of summer.

All of a sudden a faint growl was heard in the distance, and the sound slowly crept forward. The humans were here! Loud shouts rang out, "Timber...'', as large trees fell to the ground. The shouts came closer and closer. Then, all of a sudden, men were standing right in front of me.

"This one's a beaut., Frank. Go on, cut her down!'' a voice rang out.

The monster started its loud growling and a man moved toward me. What were they doing to me, I silently screamed, as the monster's teeth dug into my trunk.

My body fell to the ground and humans surrounded me and started to tie my branches close to my trunk with a piece of wire. My limbs throbbed with pain as they tied me tightly. They then picked me up and threw me into a great truck and shut the door. I lay upon other companions in the darkness, unable to move. Where were they taking me? I was in that black hole for days, my limbs were numb from the tight hold. I thought I was going to die. I had lost all hope until the door opened to the black hole and rays of sunshine bombarded the cage that imprisoned me.

The warm air massaged my numb limbs, and the bright sunlight awoke me from the trance that I had been in.

I was pulled out of the truck and was leaned against a wall. Where was I? Had I gone to heaven? My surroundings were truly majestic and heavenly. The sea shimmered behind me as the sun lit up the sky, making everything look bright and colourful. Long grass and tropical trees swayed around me in the warm breeze as two or three cars passed at a time on a small, grey road.

Surely it was not winter here for there was no snow. But then again, cool breezes whipped around my body to remind me it wasn't summer either. I was in paradise! I stood propped up against a wall with my companions, still tied up, next to me. Every now and again, cars would stop on the roadside and families of humans would get out and come and look at us.

Some of my companions were taken away, the rest of us were left there. As the day went on, more and more of my friends were taken, until I was the only one left.

"Don't worry, dear old tree, you will get chosen. You're just a little bit too tall,'' a man with a rather strong accent said.

He had been there all day, showing us off to passers-by and trying to sell us.

The sun had sunk low into the horizon and a shadow was cast on the island paradise where I was. I stood there alone, my limbs itching to get out of the wires.

"You know beautiful tree, I have room for you. I'm going to take you home with me,'' the man said, with a great smile on his face. All the people seemed to have great smiles on their faces. They were all so happy. I was truly in heaven.

The man packed me up easily with his muscular arms and put me into his car that was parked on the roadside.

It was only a short ride until we stopped outside a beautiful house. Its roof was pure white and the rest the colour of holy berries that I had left behind in the forest. The man gently took me out of the car and rested me outside his house. He then ran inside and called out to his wife and children.

"Come and look what I have got!'' he yelled.

All of a sudden, two children came running outside and stopped right in front of me.

"Oh, Daddy, what a beautiful Christmas tree!'' the little girl exclaimed.

"Yeah, Dad, she looks bud. Can we take it inside?'' the little boy asked.

The man lifted me up once more and took me into his large cottage. He rested me in a plant holder which fed me sweet water. He then cut the tight wires from my body and my branches fell slightly, but not much, for they were so very stiff.

"That's alright, Christmas tree, your branches will fall again very soon,'' the man said, while his children danced around his legs.

I was so happy and for the next few days I stood there in their family room and soaked in my sugared water. My branches were back to new after a few days, and I looked and felt absolutely ravishing.

One night the family came into the room carrying big boxes in their arms.

Once they had rested them all down, the mother started to open each one and take beautiful ornaments out, which she placed on the table.

The ornaments shimmered and clinked and reflected everything in the room.

The children started to hang the decorations on my branches and before I knew it, I was decorated in red and green ornaments with red lights and strings of popcorn circling my body. And, on the top of my head, stood the prettiest ornament of them all, a gold star. I felt so beautiful and loved.

"God job children. Now it's time for bed. Naja, go and get the milk and cookies, please dear,'' the mother said, as her daughter ran off in excitement.

"Santa's coming., Santa's coming!'' shouted the little boy, as his father scooped him up and whisked him away to bed.

Who was Santa? I asked myself.

When the children were in bed, the mother and father came back into the room with even more boxes.

These boxes were wrapped shut in red and green shiny wrapping and were put under me. The boxes filled the whole room, there were so many.

"This is going to be the best Christmas we have ever had. I'm so happy you got that raise. The kid's are going to be so happy when they see all these presents,'' the mother said as she hung up the stockings.

When they had finished placing the presents under the tree, they turned out the lights and left the room.

Tree now sits in warmth of sun up the whole room. I was so lucky to be a Christmas tree. So this is where all my friends went. Oh, how I wish I had been picked sooner. I was so happy where I was now and I never wanted to leave. I looked at my reflection in the window. How glamorous I looked! All of a sudden a bug thump came from the roof. "Ho, ho, ho...came from the chimney, followed by a great big, fat man dressed in red who was now sitting in the fireplace. Who was this strange man? He rose and picked up a big red bag. He started filling the stockings that hung from the fireplace with small presents and candies. He then rested two big toys on the floor - a train set and a big doll. "Oh, what a pretty tree you are. Ho, ho, ho! I'm Santa Claus and you are the prettiest tree I have seen so far!'' He then grabbed up the cookies and drank the milk left for him by the children and shot back up the chimney. The children rushed into the room early the next morning, dragging their parents behind them. They sat underneath me and one by one opened the packages that were assigned to them.

"Oh, Mommy, thank-you,'' the little girl kept repeating. The little boy just dug his head into all the presents, bewildered by all of this. The family was so happy, and so was I. I was glad that I was in this warm, paradise for Christmas. I was glad that my family was so happy, and I was glad that I had met Santa Claus. The day passed by very quickly. Many friends and kin stopped by to exchange presents and chat. It was such a warm pleasant atmosphere. In the evening, all the family's relatives came over for a big Christmas dinner.

"We Bermudians are de best cooks!'' the grandmother kept shouting out. The smell of turkey and cassava pie wafted into the family room where I stood watching the little children with their new toys. They frolicked around me knocking off some of my ornaments and eating the popcorn that entangled me, but I didn't mind. Their presence was enough to make me happy. Christmas day passed, but I still stood tall with the decorations hanging from my twigs. I stood alone in the room now, with no-one around. The kids were too busy playing with their brand new toys, mother was too busy worrying about exchanging gifts and the father too busy trying out his new golf clubs. No-one seemed to have time for me anymore. My needles began to wither and become brown, my limbs began to ache from the weight of the heavy tree ornaments.

Then finally the day had come. I knew this happiness could not last. The mother entered the room with the empty boxes which encased the delicate ornaments that covered by branches. She put the boxes down and looked at me.

"You have been a wonderful Christmas tree, but all good things must end,'' she said with a sigh. She started taking the ornaments off me and the weight that I was carrying lessened more and more until I was finally bare once again. Once she had packed all the boxes away, she gathered the family into the room to look at me. "Bye-bye Christmas tree,'' said the girl and boy in unison. What did they mean, bye-bye? Where was I going? "Please keep me, I'm happy here,'' I silently cried. "I don't want to go, what is going to happen to me?'' The man picked me up and carried me down to the bottom of his road.

Put me down, take me back! I cried, but of course he couldn't hear me. He gently put me down at the end of his driveway, said his final goodbye and then walked back to the house, leaving me there. Why were they doing this to me.

What had I done wrong? I didn't understand. Was I cut down just to be a Christmas tree and then done away with? No,no,no...this could not be happening to me! There I lay at the bottom of the road on my side. What was going to happen to me? All of a sudden a big truck swooped around the corner. It came straight for me. As soon as it was close enough, it stopped and a man jumped Friends together again...

been cut down and sold at the same time as I was. I wasn't frightened anymore.

They too looked withered with their needles turned yellow. The truck stopped outside a large building and each one of us was carried inside. All of us were put onto a conveyor belt which led into this bag. It was scary, all of our withered and tired limbs shook as we traveled nearer and nearer to the machine. Once we were inside, huge saws cut our needles and limbs off and then cut our bodies into two. This didn't hurt, in fact it tickled a bit. Our bodies were then sanded down and taken out of the machine, where we were hammered together. You wouldn't believe what I had become! My body and my friend's bodies, made a lovely bench. And you know where you can find me? I'm the fifth bench from the entrance to Par-la-Ville Park. Come and visit me some time. I sit in the warmth of the sun. PHOTO UNDER 18s RUNNER UP -- Zoe Roberts is congratulated by Editor of The Royal Gazette Mr. David L. White for `A Christmas Tree', which she won second prize for in this year's Short Story Competition. CHRISTMAS SHORT STORY CONTEST CPN