'Maki! Climb down! I have some news!' Nory called to his daughter. He was slightly past middle age, his fur graying, yet he was in surprisingly good physical condition, perhaps because his job as a carpenter kept him very active.
'What is it, father?' Maki asked while making her way down the tree.
'I was just talking to old Chosay. He has asked us to accept the job of making a detailed map of Eucalyptus Grove!'
'But how can we do that? We don't even really know Eucalyptus Grove,' Maki replied.
'Which is why they want us to go over there these next few days and study it carefully, tree by tree, making drawings, and even taking careful notes about the size and apparent quality of each individual tree.'
'Why, that sounds like an enormous job. Do you really think we're qualified?' Maki was unsure of herself.
'Well, I couldn't refuse. It was the Council itself that made the request through Chosay.
Besides, you should never forget: where there's a will, there's a way. Always trust in your abilities, and they will be up to just about any task,' Nory encouraged her. 'I should also mention that they are giving something in return. They are going to let us get wood from the trees in the forest north of Eucalyptus Grove.'
'Oh, that would be wonderful!' Maki exclaimed. 'There are some first-rate trees up there, yet we've never been allowed to make use of them.'
'Now that Eucalyptus Grove is being purchased by our community, that part of the forest will also belong to the koalas,' Nory explained.
'Father, we should make a list of all the things we will need. Pencils, enough paper, measuring tools…'
'Sure. Let's do that right now, and start out as soon as we can. It's still early, but I figure we might as well get as much done today as we can.'
Maki and her father went back to their tree, climbed up, and continued to chat about the commission they had received.
'Why, this is quite an honor!' Maki exclaimed. 'Imagine, the Grove Council selecting the two of us for such an important duty! I suppose we should feel proud, father, but in truth, I feel rather awed by the faith they are placing in us.'
'I know what you mean, dear,' Nory agreed. 'Awed, and honored. Yet let's not feel any pride before we finish doing the work, and then only if it turns out well.'
There had never been any doubt but that Maki Koala would follow in her father's footsteps. When she was a mere koala baby, she used to sit silently for hours at the base of their tree, watching her father intently as he cut the wood, shaped it, then assembled it into chairs, tables, boxes, whatever his customers had ordered. She often felt the urge to participate and help her father, but of course, her parents thought it too risky to let a koala baby handle the dangerous tools. For this reason, Nory always kept them locked in a wooden, waterproof toolbox at the foot of the tree. Often, when the weather was hot, baby Maki would jump onto her mother Fooey's back, and Fooey would then climb down to the base of the tree where it was cooler. Maki would crawl over to the toolbox and try to open it, only to find that it was locked. 'Ma, ma…' she would moan, looking up to her mother, 'key, key!'
'Oh, no, Koala Baby! Your father has the key. There's nothing in that box for babies.'
But Maki would insist, whining, almost crying: 'Ma, ma, key..key…. Ma, key… Ma… key!'
That's why, when Maki had grown from a koala baby into a young toddler, her parents thought that the name 'Maki' was the one which should be bestowed upon her at her naming ceremony. And 'Maki Koala' had a special ring to it, one that they both found delightful.
Just before Maki reached adulthood, her mother died, a victim of wet tail, the dreaded, all-too often deadly, disease. Her father had sent Maki up to the forest with many other young koalas whose parents did not want them to catch the fatal illness. When Maki returned from the woods a few weeks later, she found that an atmosphere of great sadness was weighing heavily upon the grove, for almost every family had suffered a loss. Arriving at her family's tree, she looked for her father, but he wasn't there. Almost in panic, she asked around until someone told her where he was: a bit further south, on the western edge of the grove, in the koalas' graveyard, performing a heart-rending task. She found Nory there with a shovel in his hands, smoothing the dirt on top of a new grave. Her father looked up at her when she got there. His face looked much older than it had only a few weeks before, and his eyes were red from weeping. Maki, too, began to cry, and her father walked over, knelt down, and hugged her warmly, though neither of them said a word. From then on, Maki and Nory would be living alone, for Fooey, her mother, had gone on to a better world.
When still a child, her father had taught her the basics of carpentry, and let her help him sand the wood to make a smooth finish. This work was monotonous and tiresome, but Nory figured that if she got fed up with it, it would be a sign that she should not go into carpentry.
Yet Maki never tired of it. She sat for long stretches of time, carefully sanding down the pieces until the finish was so smooth that it didn't even feel like wood when you ran your finger over it, but almost like satin. Even at that age, Maki displayed great patience, and was an obvious perfectionist: two qualities essential for a good carpenter koala. By late childhood, she was helping Nory with practically all stages of furniture construction, except of course, the carrying of heavy pieces of wood. Now, as a young adult koala, she had become her father's full partner, and the two of them worked many an hour making what was considered by all to be furniture of the very highest quality.
Of course, not all koalas felt a need for tables, chairs, or other pieces of furniture. Yet the number who did was steadily growing, perhaps because many wanted to 'keep up with the Joneses', or maybe because they had sat at a table when visiting a neighbour, and felt that it was a luxury that they too should have. More popular than such pieces, however, were boxes.
Maki and Nory fashioned boxes of different sizes, and for a variety of uses. Almost every koala wanted to have at least one little box, mainly to store food such as leaves, berries, nuts or mushrooms. Nonetheless, now that more koalas were learning to read and write, there was a growing demand for boxes in which they could store pens, pencils and paper, not to mention hand-copied pages of the manuscripts in the grove's collection, which was a small, yet valuable treasure-trove of information about koala history, the geography of Koalaland, practical information on foods that were safe to eat, which animals were to be considered dangerous, and the like.
Though only about two-thirds of the adult koalas in Koalaville could read at the moment, the grove's elders were sure that within a generation almost all of them would join the ranks of the literate. Thus, it was not surprising that Maki and her father had a long waiting list of customers who wanted boxes for their writing utensils and manuscripts.
Since Koalaville had no monetary system, barter was all the vogue. For a small wooden waterproof box, for example, a koala would give Nory a large basket of berries that would supplement his family's meals for at least a week. A big box would be more costly, and for such a one, payment might consist of a month's supply of walnuts, without the shells, of course. Other koalas might offer services in return for their box. For instance, they would offer to chop wood in the forest and carry it back to Nory's tree for him. Hatchy, who spent his time collecting honey from bee hives in the forest, paid Nory and Maki with jars of honey in exchange for the boxes he needed to store his jars in. Doctor Koala, of course, needed several pieces of furniture: a table, a few chairs, and a big cabinet in which to keep his medicinal plants, herbs and roots. It had taken Maki and Nory several months to complete all the pieces he required. In return, Doctor Koala had promised Nory's family free medical care for many years.
All in all, the barter system worked very efficiently for the koalas. It would only be after they moved to Eucalyptus Grove that their expanding needs – or what they perceived as needs – would require that they adopt a monetary system.
But we are getting ahead of ourselves...
Nory and Maki had placed everything they required into two bags with shoulder straps.
Then, each one picking up a bag, they began the walk over to Eucalyptus Grove. They first went north through Koalaville, since they planned to keep close to the edge of the forest while crossing the field: they knew only too well that large hawks would be able to sight them easily if they crossed the middle of the field, and that there would be no place to hide if they were attacked. Walking at the edge of the forest meant that in case of danger, they could quickly jump into some bushes, or scurry around to the back of a tree, or perhaps hide behind a rock.
'This will be fun, father!' Maki remarked happily. I do love to draw, and there will be so much to draw once we get started!'
'No doubt, Maki. Let's just make sure we get all the distances right. The map we make will be the basis for determining the trees that the koalas will inhabit, once we make the move over here.'
'Why, that is important!' Maki exclaimed. 'If we make a single mistake, some poor koala could end up living in the wrong tree. Imagine!'
'…which is why we will be careful not to make even the slightest error,' Nory replied.
'Of course, father. We will design a map that we will be proud of. Who knows? Koalas might be referring to our map for years to come!'
'That is a definite possibility,' Nory responded with a smile.
After a while, they arrived at the northeastern entrance of Eucalyptus Grove. This grove was darker than Koalaville, due to the higher density of trees, but it was truly lovely, and had an almost magical atmosphere. 'Father, isn't it wonderful? And to think, we will soon be living here!'
'Yes, it is really beautiful. But we have a lot to do. Let's start by measuring the outer dimensions,' he suggested, reaching into his shoulder bag and pulling out a large ball of string. 'I'll do the measuring, and you take note of what I say.'
They then began their work, and spent the entire day measuring, jotting down results, and taking descriptive notes about one tree after another. It was plain that they would need many days to complete their task, but they didn't mind, for they knew that this would be one of the greatest contributions they had ever made to koala society.