"The Fort" a short story by Craig Zimmerman

After several hours of hiking, Joel had penetrated the swamp on his father's property deeper than he ever had before. The trees were alive with the sound of birds and all manner of critters slithered through the grass.

Joel decided to stop for lunch and that's when he found it. Some sort of cleverly-camouflaged building was nearly invisible at the top of a large tree. After he finished his lunch  Joel made an attempt to climb the tree and find out what the building was.

The climb was easier than he expected and Joel reached the top of the tree without incident. An unsecured trap door in the bottom of the structure was plenty wide enough to crawl through. The interior of the building was like stepping into the past. Posters of rock stars and Playboy centerfolds from the 1970s covered the walls. In fact, nearly everything in the treehouse appeared to be from the past.

Joel was so busy examining the relics that he didn't hear the trap door opening until it was too late. An old man with a shotgun entered the treehouse. "I built this fort in 1974 when I was 12 years old and you're the first person to find it," he said to Joel.

" I promise I won't tell anyone about it," Joel said with tears in his eyes.  "You're damn right you won't," the old man said as he chambered a round into the shotgun.