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Ashley Wade Linden. Former masters student under Dr. Bill Remphrey at the University of Manitoba. He wrote a paper called An Investigation into the Mechanisms of Shoot Bending in a Clone of Populus tremuloides Exhibiting ‘Crooked’ Architecture. Somebody mailed me a photocopy anonymously. It’s been spread out over my kitchen table for weeks, brushed aside occasionally so I can eat or so Clarke can set down his coffee.
Linden thinks the Trees might all come from one giant root. That’s interesting.
Last Saturday morning, at the beginning of my 9-day weekend, I locked myself in, made coffee, opened a new pack of cigarettes, and began reading the Shaw and Linden essays again. Eventually I ran out of room on the table and shifted some of the papers over to the floor. My plan was to spend the day in furious study, looking for a break somewhere in my understanding of the Trees.
At noon there was a knock on the door. Larissa Shapko. I let her in but immediately returned to my studying position on the floor.
"Whatcha doin'?" Larissa asked, following me inside.
"I'm studying."
"But you don't go to school."
"Nope."
"What, are you trying to be smart or something?"
"Yes Larissa, I'm trying to be smart."
She joined me on on the floor, kneeling, and took a closer look at one of the pages spread out over the hardwood. "Oh," she said with an intake of breath, "the Trees."
"You can hang out here a little if you want," I told her. "There's some snacks in the cupboard. But I really need to focus on this."
"Can I help?" she asked, running her fingers over a large book containing maps of Saskatchewan I'd pulled out for reference.
"I doubt it." I was trying to be nice.
Larissa looked at the title page of the Linden essay. "By Ashley Wade Linden," she read. I was concentrating on one of his more curious paragraphs.
Crooked aspen shoot leaning resembles, and might be attributed to, the inability to support itself due to poor strength. Whatever the cause, leaning appears to be the initial stage of shoot bending, and provides a cue for subsequent morphological and anatomical changes observed in relation to the gravity stimulus.
There was a tap on my shoulder.
"Yeah Larissa?" I said with amused resignation.
"Do you know him?"
"What? Who?"
"Ashley Wade Linden."
"No."
"How come?"
And then it occurred to me: I need to talk to these people. Remphrey, Shaw, Linden. I'll bet you I could.
7 comments:
1) I googled "Ashley Wade Linden".
2) I Clicked "Related Articles" under the second hit.
3) My brain exploded.
4) I expect you and Larissa to come and help clean up the mess.
Also, "Linden thinks the Trees might all come from one giant root. That’s interesting."
That IS interesting.
Also, also, I can't tell if that's a shadow or a sole patch. If you talk to Ashley, I hope ask him about that.
The trees are a battle between gravity and the Sun?
THAT is interesting.
Do it. Call 'em up.
I am now haunted by behemoth contorted tree root. God, it's like 'Tremors' all over again.
I like the idea of proclaiming "Ill bet you I could". Two moments of tense, creating a ...supreme "if"
Forrest:
A supreme "if." I like that.
Boyda:
Are you haunted? It's contagious. I apologize for the infection.
Jon C:
Gravity and the sun. Big powers.
Jon K:
Why did your brain explode? 'Cos you encountered the Linden article?
The second result on google today is THIS site. Three days ago it was the Linden article, right?
On the 7th it was the Linden paper.
Tried reading a page or two - because I find all of this quite interesting - but it was just way too beyond me.
Maybe Lunden could turn the paper into some sort of children's book... Pictures too.
I'll tell you something. That children's book thing is a really good idea. But leave the title the same.
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