Lies

Every morning thirty year old Mike Smith goes on a walk up Tobin's Track in Arrowtown. Whatever the weather, rain, shine or snow, Mike is seen trudging up Tobin's Track. A cosy, mellow, yellow cottage on an idyllic street in Arrowtown is where he lives and has lived for three years now. Mike is a kind person, constantly looking for ways to help his neighbours.

One morning, when the sun blared and the clouds had abandoned the sky, Mike set out, wearing shorts and his usual green running sneakers. He practically skipped down the path. The trees were green and tall and the birds were serenading the streets. Soon, he was almost at the top of Tobin’s, feeling good about how fast he had walked that day. He would now have time to mow Mrs Greaston's lawn and then fold his laundry and get to work. His day was going exactly as he had planned as he bent down to tie his shoe lace. Then it changed. He noticed something in the corner of his eye, something glowing and red.

He finished tying his shoe and turned, gently pinching the small round red thing and placing it in the palm of his hand. It was actually brown, with small patterned indents and a red aura. He thought it looked a bit like a seed, so he burrowed it into his pocket and turned around, walking back down a steep hill.

When he got back to his house he grabbed his blue watering can, blue trowel, and gloves from his rickety old shed. He strolled out to the strip of grass in between his house and the road, and dug a hole in the green grass, gently removed the seed from his pocket and placed it in the dirt. He covered the hole, sprinkled some water over it, and went on with his day.

The glowing seedling, nestled deep in the dark granules of dirt, began to grow. After a few days of Mike watering it and the sun’s rays reaching down and touching the ground above it, a tiny green shoot with patterns engraved in it broke through the

dirt. The small plant gave off an aura that no one could quite describe, but it made all the people who passed the plant want to chip in to help it grow. Soon the plant was a tree, with blood red leaves and dark bark with the same patterns engraved in it. People flocked to it, sitting underneath it and chatting, reading, playing music, or just listening to nature. This whole time Mike had continued to water and prune the tree, filled with joy about the fact that the tree was bringing people together. Little did he know it would soon split them apart.

One day tiny, glowing, red bulbs began sprouting on the tree. People grew excited, thinking it was fruit. But after they grew fully, everyone was surprised. They were glass bottles with little slips of paper in them. One day one fell and hit Mrs Greaston on the head. She uncorked the bottle and read the small print on the paper. It read: ‘Mr Greaston once told you that he loves your apple pie. That was a lie.' Fuming, Mrs Greaston stormed over to her husband and confronted him. They got into a large fight, screaming and stomping. This began happening more, with little bottles tumbling upon people. Soon, the place of unity under the tree became a place of division. Everyone fought and yelled, and Mike could only watch helplessly.

Soon the fighting became too much, and Mike came up with a solution. He gathered everyone on the street and used an old rickety lawn chair as a stage. Mike got up first and said, "I am so sorry for saying I walked your dog when I didn't, Mr Shepulski. That was the wrong thing to do." He then turned around and fell backward into the audience. Mr Greaston walked up and did the same, apologising for his lie. This continued, till everyone had crossed their arms, closed their eyes and fallen. By the end, everyone was happy and trusting again, and they all had a barbecue, and the sounds of laughter and the smell of sizzling sausages wafted above the town. As for the tree, its leaves have turned from a dark blood red to a deep rich green, and all the little bulbs on the tree have disappeared.