# Please help me find this SF short story -- SPOILERS **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 26, 2011, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-find-this-sf-short-story-spoilers/604165 "2011-11-26T18:04:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![shoes6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@shoes6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shoes6)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2011, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-find-this-sf-short-story-spoilers/604165/1 "2011-11-26T18:04:37Z")
Hello, About 3 years ago, I read a short story. You might say that, technically, it isn’t science fiction. Fine. Everything that follows is a spoiler. I don’t know how to describe the story adequately without giving it away. [SPOILER] The story is in the form of a letter, written from an oak tree to an unnamed superior. The oak tree recounts his/her abilities to appear large and small, as is appropriate for drivers at varying distances. The whole letter replaces our concepts of reality with an odd relativism, in that the oak tree is itself responsible for its appearance, not the usual laws of physics and perspective. The purpose of the oak’s letter is to object about a driver who hit the oak tree and died. The tree complains that, since it was the last thing the driver saw, it must keep itself in the driver’s eyes for all eternity, and that’s really asking too much. [\SPOILER] It might be written by Ursula Le Guin. I don’t remember the title. Can anybody help me identify and find this short story? Thank you for all serious replies. Ted Shoemaker ---
**Author:** ![nosynths](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d07c76/32.png) [@nosynths](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nosynths)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2011, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-find-this-sf-short-story-spoilers/604165/2 "2011-11-26T19:56:54Z")
It’s called The Direction Of The Road ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2011, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-find-this-sf-short-story-spoilers/604165/3 "2011-11-26T21:45:08Z")
It would have taken less than two hours if you had posted this in the right forum. You wouldn’t have needed to wait for another new user to register before your question was answered. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2011, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-find-this-sf-short-story-spoilers/604165/4 "2011-11-26T22:26:32Z")
The author of the story is indeed Ursula K. Le Guin. The story is variously titled “The Direction of the Road” or “Direction of the Road”. Here’s a list of all its appearances: [http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?69861](http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?69861) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2011, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-find-this-sf-short-story-spoilers/604165/5 "2011-11-26T22:50:38Z")
I’m not sure whether **DrFidelius** has reported this for a move yet, so I will. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2011, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-find-this-sf-short-story-spoilers/604165/6 "2011-11-26T23:13:00Z")
Moved from General Questions to Cafe Society. **samclem** , Moderator ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2011, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-find-this-sf-short-story-spoilers/604165/7 "2011-11-26T23:52:07Z")
I don’t remember the story being a letter written to a superior - I remember it as a simple first person reflection/narrative. I connected strongly with the definition of space and time.