Over the next few weeks I kept meaning to get out to Brush Creek for a visit. But things caught up with me, the way they always do. As usual I was busy growling about next year's Christmas tree and what a pain in the neck the whole thing was.

Then I got her letter. It arrived at the office one day when I was in a particularly bad mood. When my secretary buzzed me to let me know the helicopter pilot was waiting for me, I barked at her. "Let him wait!" I said.

I closed the door and began to read.

I was right. The crowds and the entertainment had all seemed overwhelming. She was wishing she hadn't come. She was frightened. Worst of all, she didn't recognize her tree in that place, surrounded by huge buildings instead of the sky, its branches weighed down with a brightness that all seemed false.

Then the lights came on and way up at the top, the star.

Here. I'll let her tell you the rest.

"I was overcome by the memory of a star from long ago. Suddenly I remembered that I had been there before, at that very place, with my father and that he had said the strangest thing. `The city is our jewel--beautiful yet hard.'

"I remember at the time I was a little frightened by his voice. There was a depth of sorrow there that I had never heard before. Later, I realized he knew what I didn't, that he was dying.

"He must have sensed that I was scared, because when he spoke again I heard the gentle tone I was used to.

"`See that star, Anna, there at the very top?' he said. `It's there to remind us of the beauty, even when all we feel is the hardness.'

"Standing there with Sister Frances and the others, I finally understood what my father was trying to tell me, and how much it must have hurt him, knowing that he wouldn't be able to teach me all the things he wanted to. I felt so proud of him, remembering that moment, and so lucky to have it come back to me. My fears just disappeared.

"I looked around and saw the happiness on the faces of the people who were dear to me, and the strangers too. I looked for you, but couldn't find you in the crowd. But the crowd no longer scared me because I could see that the people in it were doing just what my father had said to do. They were looking for the beauty.

"And they found it. My Tree gave it to them.

"He was beautiful wasn't he And I was able to see him, underneath all his finery. It was my Tree after all."