Gray's 100-word story for July 2, 2025

Gray wrote the following micro-story on Hectalex on July 2, 2025. Each story on Hectalex is inspired by a daily visual prompt and must be exactly 100 words.

They'd hated it at first. Disrespectful, undignified. The googly eyes and painted buck-teeth were insult to literal injury. Then people started laughing. People whose light had left them looked up with astonishment. Even if the sight drifted from memory, it was something. Wasn't it? People hugged them. A teen boy patted their trunk. A path formed, became a popular trail, and they weren't alone anymore. They remembered the old man, wiry gray beard, black hat, smudging paint on with his thumb, gluing on eyes, seriousness in his face. He'd known exactly what he was doing. The tree no longer minded.

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