Word of Louis' discovery spread through the village like a windstorm. The cathedral truly was the heart of the community. No one could imagine their lives without it -- especially not Louis and Emil.
Throughout that day, crowds of fretful visitors came to cathedral. They looked upon the disaster, then left, their spirits crushed. By sundown, all had departed, leaving only the two friends in the doomed building. Emil and Louis stood side by side, looking up at the beautifully carved wood panel ceiling.
"Will the ceiling fall, Emil?" Louis asked.
"Without the beams? Yes."
"Can we make new ones?"
"Louis, the cathedral was built 500 years ago," sighed the white-haired caretaker. "Then, the storytellers say, the lands about us were full of great trees. Today we have farms and pastures, but the trees...they are gone, all gone."
"Could we find more trees like that, somewhere?" asked Louis.
"Well, there is a legend about The Tall Trees of the Lost Valley..." For a moment, Louis noticed, Emil's eyes seemed to sparkle as he watched the day's last light dance across a stained glass window. Then Emil turned his gaze to the floor. "But no one has ever believed it."
Louis sat still on the altar step. Through the deep silence, the clock in Emil's shop chimed the hour.
"How long will these beams last, Emil?"
"A season, maybe two."
" No. No… NO!" shouted Louis. "There must be something... we can't just let our cathedral… die!"
The caretaker shook his head sadly, but said nothing.
As Louis walked home, he tried desperately to imagine a happy future. But the future looked as black as his shadow on the cobblestone streets.
