The Baobab

Whisper your troubles to the Baobab.

The tree can keep secrets, her mother had said before she died.

Putain de sorcière. The other kids teased her mercilessly. They said her mother was a witch and a whore.

They threw stones at Fleurette and she would cry.

She’d carve a hollow in that tree, share her secret and cover it with mud.

The tree was her only friend… the keeper of her skeletons.

As the wood does not produce growth rings, radiocarbon dating today revealed it to be thousands of years old.

The human bones inside, at least a hundred years.