Just a little ditty that I wrote while riding the train at Six Flags, hope you feel like you were right there with us. Better yet, why not take a real trip and visit Six Flags Over America in Arlington, TX.

Crazy name for a tree, but still, I'm the tree at Six Flags Over America located in Arlington, Texas. I can be seen when you ride the train around the park. I am not a normal looking tree. My branches are crooked and point out in all directions but all toward the left. Hence, my nickname was passed onto me soon after I started growing. Most other trees refuse to look quite like I do. Underneath me there is a great root system pointing to the left also. In fact, all of me is growing that way, towards the train which takes riders all the way around Six Flags in sixteen minutes or less.

My assignment by the Highest Tree Power when he planted me here was two-fold. First of all, I was put here to give tree lovers an odd tree to notice; and noticed I have been. Some people even take pictures of me which seems to cause a warm feeling inside of me and I feel growth happen in my branches as the camera snaps. Ego trips can even happen to trees.

Rumors are that the second reason for planting me here was to be able to listen to the park participants. My highest job is to report to "the other side" that their depressed relatives are having fun and are not miserable here on earth. I send reports back to the other side letting others know that their ill relatives still get out and about even if they can not go all day or are not able to ride the fast and scary rides.

Faces going by on the train are of the very young laughing as they sing along with "Conductor Joe". Sounds that swish by are from the parents and grand parents telling their little tots to look quickly at a particular sight. Train passengers have been happy couples holding each other close enough to smell the cotton candy, or famous funnel cake they have eaten. There have been couples barely sitting next to each other with frowns on their faces after an argument while pretending to have fun. These are some of the people that it is my particular job to get them to notice me, at least get that one minute of joy at seeing a funny looking mother nature sight and a smile. A normal pair of train riders is the woman who talks her husband into riding a "kiddy" ride, he thinks; but, he does so to get that special smile on his mates' pretty face.

Then there are quiet months when it is cold and the noises slow down or just stop. At night the park workers can be heard fixing equipment. Food vendors cause food smells that frustrate me because it is the food I'd like to try first if I was a human. When sleep comes to me (yes, trees sleep) the replenishing begins. I need all of my strength when all "noise and humans break loose" in order to accomplish my tow-fold job here on this great earth.

The sister and brother trees near me seem to be similar to some of the humans going by on the trains; they are quiet, boring and barely have a reason to keep on doing their "highest and best". Are their assignments as interesting as mine? Probably not. But, maybe I can be hope for them. I want to say to all who rode by me, thank you for taking the time to look my way, event if you weren't smiling; and especially thank you to those who felt a special bond with me and wanted to remember me always by taking a photo of me, Lefty the tree.

Thousands of riders have gone by and made my world a better place. I've been here for twenty years or so, but whose counting? I thank my Highest Tree Power for my home here at Six Flags and my assignments every day.

Won't you come take a ride on the train and see me around the Six Flags Park bend? Written by Toria in Februay 2000