\u201cHow much is it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA dollar fifty each.\u201d<\/p>\n
Charlie pulled the three dollars from his pocket and passed them through a narrow slot in the window of the museum\u2019s ticket office. It was the first time that he and Kate had visited and he\u2019d spent days preparing, studying the guidebooks and reading up about the extensive range of species on show. He loved that kind of thing. Of course, his sister didn\u2019t, but he wanted to do something to take her mind off things.<\/p>\n
They had parked in the lot opposite the museum, the one that was developed from a green belt area a few years ago after much local protest. Kate\u2019s husband, Bill, was the protest leader, always the green activist. He was the one who stood firm against the developers of the hotel, shopping and night club complex, calling it a tawdry replacement for the paradise there before.<\/p>\n
\u201cCome on, sis. Let\u2019s go and look at the elms first.\u201d Charlie stepped forward through the gate and tugged her by the hand.<\/p>\n
\u201cOk, ok. I\u2019ll be right there. It\u2019s all kinda painful, you know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s good for you. There\u2019ll be trees everywhere. We can pin a little note on one, with Bill\u2019s name on it. He\u2019ll like that. I\u2019ll take a pic.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat, and then I can take it to him when I next visit?\u201d She said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYep, that\u2019s the idea. He\u2019ll love it. He can pin it on his cell wall and remind himself of how the trees were before.\u201d<\/p>\n
Charlie walked on through the fabricated forest, holding his sister\u2019s hand. He\u2019d been staying with them that night when the cops came and took Bill away. The police car arrived in the night, its bright yellow colour like a beacon warning of the danger ahead. They slammed the screen door as they took him, with Kate wailing, \u201cThey\u2019re taking away my old man. Come back.\u201d<\/p>\n
But it was no good, you can\u2019t stop progress.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cHow much is it?\u201d \u201cA dollar fifty each.\u201d Charlie pulled the three dollars from his pocket and passed them through a narrow slot in the window of the museum\u2019s ticket office. It was the first time that he and Kate had visited and he\u2019d spent days preparing, studying the guidebooks and reading up about the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-writing"],"yoast_head":"\n