My parents were getting a few trees in the front yard removed because they were getting dangerously close to power-lines so mother invited me out to lunch. I didn’t much care for sticking around and listening to the loud chainsaws and machines that are being used to do the tree removal, Caulfield has a bunch of nice cafes that need my business more. We spent a lovely afternoon sipping tea and enjoying those little cakes that look pretty but are a bit bland. My mother barely touched her food, I could tell she was worried about what was going on back at home. The tree was massive and in an awkward position in the yard. The arborist assured us that it would be no problem but I could tell that she was still getting stressed out.
When we got home the tree removal was still going, they had taken down two of the big gum trees and were hard at work on the third. I desperately wanted to grab a chainsaw and hack some of the tree down myself to get my anger out.
I was frustrated with my mother for not understanding that I had some issues with self esteem.
She should have known better than to jump to conclusions and make assumptions. Instead of going inside I sat on the porch with a blanket and watched the tree removal. Clayton was supposed to rain that evening, but the sky was a beautiful violet colour as the sun was setting.
The yard looked a lot bigger once the tree lopping had been finished. All that remained was the stumps that had been cut down to small orange discs on the ground. It was starting to get cold but I didn’t want to go inside. The tree cutting crew had left a few piles of wood behind for us to use in our bonfires. I started setting up a small fire pit and was tempted to light before I was driven inside by several mosquito.