On Walking Into Trees
Once upon a time, but not very long ago, but also in a place that wasn't this place, a woman walked into a tree. The tree wasn't anything special. At least, not in this place. And the walking into it wasn't anything malevolent.
But things escalated quickly.
You know how things go. Particularly in a place that isn't this place.
They go something like: woman walks into tree. Tree puts up defense mechanism that is something like a turtle without a shell suddenly getting one, but it's spiky all over. Spiky shell on tree sticks woman good and hard. Woman gets angry and lights tree on fire.
It was a sad state of affairs. Indeed, the tree went up in flames like a grease fire made out of a liter of goose fat.
And in no time at all, the tree was gone.
The woman looked at the char on the ground and had feelings. They weren't good feelings. In fact, she felt quite a number of not good feelings.
So she stepped into a time machine. And went backwards.
(Now might be a good time to remember that the walking-into-a-tree place is not this place. And that this is a fairy tale)
This time, the woman watched out for the tree. And then she asked the tree some questions. As it happened, they got on quite well. Which all goes to show that you can torch a tree too soon.