Acacia Tree

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Acacia Tree

My mother says that when she was a schoolgirl growing up in Angeles City, Philippines, she would sometimes, during the twilight hours, sit in the shade of the high acacia tree that grew in her grandmother's back yard.

She never went there, though, without bringing along a flat piece of cardboard, with which she used to cover her head while she sat with her back against the tree's trunk.

The reason for the cardboard, my mother says, is because of the Giant, or Kapre who lived in the high crotches of the acacia's wide canopy.

According to my mother, he was very careless, this Kapre, and he would often tap loose the embers glowing on the tip of his fat, smelly cigar without bothering to check if anyone were shading themselves underneath the tree.