The spring morning was starting to warm up, and people were out and about in the street. A few glided or cycled past, while community buses on the outer lane took people further afield. The buses and electropacks were silent and there was only an occasional squeak of a bicycle due for a touch of lubricant. They could hear the birds in the park, the whistling of a man walking in front of them and the wind rustling the top leaves of the trees.
Jonathan swung the electropacks over one shoulder, faced the solar panels outward to give them extra charge, and lightly took Molly’s arm as they walked down the street.
“So tell me,” said Molly. “How is young Belle?”
“She’s wonderful. We’re going to a ballet performance tonight with some of her friends. I must admit I’m not sure about ballet, but she loves it. I do think she is so very beautiful.” he said and then suddenly looked embarrassed by his declaration.
“What’s she doing today?”
“Experimenting with her latest snacks. Maca-roons! They are so delicious and give you such an energy boost. She wants to take some with us to the ballet for taste-bud testing on the final six in the range.”
They waited briefly for a break in the transit lanes, then crossed over and walked through the park gates. The park had been there for hundreds of years and was full of beautiful old trees. There were many new areas built in the last few decades that were used both for recreation and growing food. Molly loved this park. It had a small community area for fast-growing foods, but was mainly a place to relax, take in the sun and pass the time of day. She had lived in the area a long time and knew many of the people in the community. She liked to introduce people to each other, and especially liked to present her favorite people to Jonathan whenever she had the chance. Molly worried about her young friend. He was sociable and had plenty of friends, but he was reserved, as if he was waiting for something. She often wondered what else she could do to help him break through whatever was holding him back.
They stopped at the dead tree. It had been beautiful, one of the largest and oldest in the park. But now there was a large sign on it, saying that it had been poisoned and asking for information on who could have done it.
Molly was shocked. How could someone poison a tree on purpose? She looked back and saw the terrace of an apartment block right across the road from the tree. From the terrace there would be a magnificent view of the whole park with the city landscape as a backdrop, once the huge old tree was gone. It reminded her of a beachside suburb she had lived in years ago, where trees had been poisoned to allow a sweeping ocean view from a residential building, and it saddened her deeply that this could be the same reason for the fate of this tree.
Jonathan had recently bought a new camera made by his favorite inventor, Merlin, one of the early graduates from Sean’s Academy. It was lightweight and small enough to fit in his pocket, but with such a strong zoom lens it doubled as binoculars. He pulled it out of his pocket and took pictures of the tragic tree from different angles. His love of the camera was more than a hobby; it gave him a connection to his father. And he felt secure behind the camera lens. He could look without feeling self-conscious and disappear for a moment into a world where only he entered.
“I’m worried, Jonathan.” Molly said. “Life has been good, really good, since you were born. But lately I’m seeing and feeling things that haven’t happened for years.”