Of course, people do know about this tree house.

How else would they come for a visit?

So you build something on public land…and eventually it’s discovered and in danger of being removed….not because it’s ugly….or damaging to the environment….or encroaching on what someone else needs for a livelihood or because it blocks someone else’s “view”….just because….because it’s on public land and you just can’t build something….no matter how beautiful or magical….on land that you don’t own.

You can’t build a secret out in the woods and expect that someone else won’t want to remove it….just because “they can”….just because they “own”….or OWN.

(I’d be kind of perplexed and PO’d if someone built something….no matter how beautiful….and set up residence on land that I owned. I don’t know how I would respond to that….)

There’s something kind of scary and beautiful about being a pirate like that….putting up a hideaway cabin on land that is far from any roads….far from places that people usually go.

There’s something hopeful about building something beautiful that might be destroyed….just because….because no one expects to see something unexpectedly wonderful in woods that are for everyone….and no one.

That’s the kind of thing that kids build in someone else’s tree….and live out a dream where they have no right to be….except that they breathe… and the air surrounds them… and they are citizens of this air that we all share.

I could deal with having a cabin out in the woods….even woods that I didn’t have a deed to.

I could deal with a secret treehouse without a hint of a mortgage.

House pirate.

I could deal with feeling free.

“free” Donavon Frankenreiter