Timber!

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FOR THE PAST few hours I have been a witness to a murder occurring across the street from my house. There are many people involved, so in that sense it’s a mass murder: at least eight people have a hand in it, not counting the two masterminds, Bruce and Brenda, who took out the contract on the innocent tree but are nowhere to be seen. I guess they simply couldn’t watch. But I did. (Somebody had to.)

A tall, proud pine sprouting copious new growth at the top to herald the return of Spring, it had no idea that today would be its last. No more drinking in carbon dioxide along with the sun’s rays and contributing to the health of our environment by improving air quality, conserving water, preserving soil and supporting wildlife, not to mention producing the oxygen we all need to stay alive.

No more impish squirrels running up and down its trunk, playing hide and seek among the branches. No more birds building nests up high to house a new family. No more hosting flying lessons for the fledglings. That’s all over now, mere memories being fed into the wood chipper.

Why? Seems that the tree was “starting to lean a little,” and the property owners didn’t like it. They worried it might fall over in a storm —just like any other tree, leaning or not. Then too, it blocked the sun from their living room for part of the afternoon. It simply had to go. One of the young men on the murder squad admitted to me that it was a healthy tree now but that “some day” it wouldn’t be.

“Some day” turned out to be today.

—Andrea Rouda

Andrea Rouda blogs at The Daily Droid.