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“Can’t we just go to the store and buy a tree?”
“No, those are old and also you can never find the best one!” The Driver said, walking ahead of the Manager on the narrow path through the woods.
“And by walking the forest for hours on end you will?”
“It’s easier here, and it will be fresh and not loose needles as fast”
“Is it even legal to cut down trees here?”
WW
“Sure. I’ve always gotten my Christmas tree from here”
“And why is there no one else here with the same idea?”
“Because it’s a secret spot”
The Manager still wasn’t sure they should be here, but he still obediently followed the Driver to make sure he wouldn’t injure himself on the way or while cutting down some tree. And maybe most importantly to make sure the Driver wouldn’t get a tree that was way to big for their living room or their car.
“Here it is” They were now standing in a kind of clearing in the forest, surrounded by firs of various sizes.
The Manager stood to the side knowing there was no stopping the driver now that his goal was right in front of his eyes, while the Driver ran around the clearing inspecting all the trees, but at least mostly keeping to the ones that that were more or less his size, so the Manager stopped worrying so much about the Driver trying to cut down a too tall tree.
“Manager, look at this one! Isn’t it perfect?”
“It is quite nice” the Manager conceded, it was a very straight and full tree.
“Should we take it then?”
“If you are sure it is allowed”
“I am sure!”
“How should I help?”
“I think it’s better if you stay away. I don’t want to hurt you while I cut the tree”
“Shouldn’t I be the one who does the cutting? I don’t want you to hurt yourself!”
“I won’t hurt myself this isn’t the first time I did this, so stand back and enjoy the view”
The Manager sighed “Okay. Be careful”
The Driver cut down the tree without problem, he even expertly removed a few stray branches at the bottom. When he had finished the Manager went back over towards the Driver.
“What now?”
“We carry it back to the car”
“That’s at least 3 miles”
“I know a short cut. We kind of went the long way ‘round”
“If you say so” the Manager didn’t believe the Driver, he might be a driver but outside of a train he could have a really awful sense of direction “Where do I have to grab?”
“One or two branches down from the top, tightly grab the log”
The Manager followed the Driver’s instructions and soon they were on their way back to the car.
Sure the Driver didn’t go back on the path they had come on, instead he took a smaller and more overgrown path. When they finally arrived back at their car the Manager wasn’t sure that the path they had now taken was really faster or shorter than the first one but he knew better than to complain.
The next obstacle was getting the tree into the car.
“The bottom is too wide to get it properly into the car. That’s why you go to a shop they put them in a net”
“That’s why I brought this ball of string!”
“That’s not a net”
“No but we can tie the branches together so that they’ll be closer to the trunk. It’ll be better than the net”
“So how do we get the branches so we can tie them up?”
“You have to hug them together and then I will tie the string around them”
“But if I am hugging the tree won’t you tie me to the tree instead of the tree to itself?”
“No. I know how to do this”
The Manager went to do what the Driver had said was needed “If you tie me to the tree I will get my revenge”
“You don’t trust me today”
“I do trust you. You are just being very controlling today”
“But I know what to do”
“I trust you on this. I still don’t want to be tied to a tree. I need to drive the car home remember?”
“Yes” The Driver inspected the way the Manager was holding the tree “Can you hold it tighter?”
“Not really”
“Okay, I will now start with the string”
In the end the Manager had been almost tied to the tree three times before the Driver got it right.
They had started their journey after Lunch and now it was getting dark again, but the tree was in their car without any major accidents. The Manager drove them both home and after carrying the tree inside he went to make some hot chocolate while leaving the Driver to set the tree up so they could start decorating later.
The hot chocolate was almost done when the Manager heard a scream from the living room, he sprinted to see what had happened “What happened are you OK?”
“Yes. There was just a spider in the tree”
“I will get the bug spray. Go into the kitchen and watch the hot chocolate for a bit. I’ll spray the tree and then we can sit down with the hot chocolate”
“Ok. Don’t let them bite you”
“I won’t”
The Manager did like he promised using almost the whole can on the tree so no bugs could survive on the tree, good thing he had made sure to cover his mouth before hand. Making sure to close the living room door behind himself the Manager went back to his Driver.
Later that evening they had a lot of fun decorating the tree, and the Manager got his revenge by ‘accidentally’ getting the Driver tangled in a string of lights once or twice. Thinking back on the day the trip to the forest hadn’t been too bad. Going into town and just buying a tree would certainly have been a lot less fun.