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M A Yuletide story by Peter Parrott presented with the compliments of the season from The James Publishing Company and its employees. The Last Christmas Tree v / The Greenville Elementary School had a secret. Amidst the weeds and gravel of the playground, there grew the world's last living Christmas tree. This was the year 2050. And everybody everybody thought that all the trees were dead. They had been hunted to extinction on every hill and in every valley as the world searched for sources of pulp and lumber. Everybody Everybody knew that it was wrong to cut down so many trees. But everybody decided that it was all right just to cut down a few more of them -- just this once. And so, it came to pass that eventually there were no more trees anywhere. Except at Greenville Greenville Elementary School. Despite the absence of trees, humans humans survived. Every third-grader knows that trees are needed to produce produce oxygen. With the trees gone, the engineers and scientists had to design oxygen factories driven by nuclear power. They sprang up every every few miles and they gave the world enough air to breathe. And so, life went on. But the birds no longer sang. Squirrels and chipmunks chipmunks no longer played in the woodlands. And the sky was a dirty shade oÿgrey all the time. Nevertheless, at the Greenville School, the world's last Christmas tree somehow flourished. Actually, it was only a Christmas tree for E art of the year. It was really just a eautiful young pine tree of the same species whose trunks and branches chased the sky on the North American continent after the last ice 'age. , It grew up quite by accident -- possibly, from a pine cone that had been discarded from someone's long-forgotten science fair project. The students tended the tree carefully, year after year. They gave it a mulch of compost in the soring and always made sure it had plenty of water in the summer. They even celebrated its birthday every year with cake and ice cream. And at Christmas, the tree was extra special. Every Christmas, the children decorated it with strings of popcorn and tinsel. Before leaving for Christmas holidays, it was traditional traditional for the entire scnool to gather around the tree for carols, songs, stories, and hot chocolate. Unfortunately, the students and teachers were not the only ones who knew about the secret tree. For, as it grew, it spread its branches above the schoolyard fence so that passers-by passers-by could admire it. And one of the admirers was none other than Chainsaw Charlie. Now Chainsaw Charlie, as the name suggests, used to be a lumberjack. lumberjack. He was a lumberjack in the days when there used to be trees. But now he was forced to work as a janitor in the oxygen factory. However, he longed for the old days of falling timber and flying sawdust. And the sight of some evergreen evergreen branches peeking above the schoolyard fence stopped him in his tracks. Day after day and month after after month, he drove his pickup truck past the school and admired the tree. Of course, it wasn't really big enough to make a decent fence post or board. But, as the first snow began to fall and as the tree took on its white and silver scarf of snow, Chainsaw Charlie had an idea. In fact, it seemed to Chainsaw Charlie like a very good idea. The tree may have been too small for lumber, but it was just the right size for a Christmas tree. It had probably been over a decade since anybody had bought a real Christmas Christmas tree. Everyone used the plastic varieties nowadays, or they did without Christmas trees altogether. Chainsaw Charlie knew that trees were rare and that everything which is rare is expensive. He suspected suspected that old Mr. Greenbacks, who was the richest man in the world, would pay a fortune for the Earth's last Christmas tree. It would be worth at least five million dollars to the billionaire who had made his money as the owner of a chain of oxygen factories. And so, a few weeks before Christmas, Chainsaw Charlie paid a visit to Mr. Greenback's mansion. The two men exchanged a few words and there was a handshake. The ex-lumberjack imagined that once he sold the tree, his days of pushing a mop and a broom would be over. Meanwhile, back at the school, the children had completed their usual pre-Christmas celebrations. But the students and teachers were all just a little bit worried about the fate of the tree. Ms Credenza, the principal, had seen a suspicious character lurking about the school- yard and learned that it was Chainsaw Chainsaw Charlie. Everyone feared that he was up to no good and they were afraid that the tree needed protection. protection. But what could be done? Everyone Everyone was about to leave for Christmas Christmas holidays. Nobody could possibly guard the tree every day while the school was closed. The principal looked for suggestions suggestions and Ms Chalkduster, teacher of the grade threes, had an idea. "Leave it to me," she said. "Our class will find a way to keep the tree safe and sound." And, since Ms Chalkduster was seldom wrong, the principal was a little less worried. However, as she left the school on Christmas Eve, she took a final look at the tree and wondered if she would ever see it again. It looked so lonely out there amidst the swirling snow. The principal had good reason to be worried. For while she was locking locking up the school, Chainsaw Charlie was getting ready to put his scheme into action. He took out his lumberjack boots. He put on his big lumberjack coat and his big lumberjack gloves. He dusted off nis chainsaw and carefully carefully sharpened each pointed tooth. Then he gave it a few drops of oil and placed it in the back of his truck. He drove to the schoolyard and looked to see if anyone was watching. watching. There was no one in sight. The coast was clear. So Chainsaw Charlie Charlie shouldered his saw and went Stomp! Stomp! Stomp! with his big lumberjack boots across the school- yard. The tree was a real beauty. And it still held the tinsel and popcorn strings that had been used for deco rations at the Christmas party a few days earlier. For a moment, even the heart of the lumberjack softened a little as the smell of pine needles brought to mind Christmas mornings of long ago when a young Chainsaw Charlie Charlie had bounded out of bed to discover discover skates or sleds or hockey sticks under the tree in the parlor of an old northern farmhouse. But that was another time and another place. This is the present, the lumberjack thought. And, besides, besides, there was the five million dollars dollars to be earned. Chainsaw Charlie fingered the throttle of the chainsaw chainsaw and warmed up the engine. The saw went Grrrrrrrang! Grrrrrrang! But wait a minute. There was something beside the tree that the lumberjack hadn't seen before. Why, it looked for all the world like a Christmas present. Chainsaw Charlie shut down his machine and picked up the package with the fancy wrapping paper and a home-made bow of red and green wool. There was even a card on the present. It was addressed to him. In the neatest printing of one of the grade three students was a tag that said: "To Mr. Chainsaw Charlie." Then it said: "From Ms Chalkdust- er's Class." And, since nobody can resist a Christmas present, Charlie tore off the wrapping. Inside was a box. And nestled in the box were a pair of hand-knitted wool mittens and a matching red toque. It was a real lumberjack's toque. Just like one that Charlie's mother had made. He quickly put it on and then read the note which went with the gift. It said: "Dear Mr. Charlie: We hope you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy new Year. P.S. Please don't kill our tree." And, beneath the note were the signatures of 23 grade three students students along with the signature of Ms Chalkduster. A cold tear trickled down the cheek of Chainsaw Charlie and he smiled. When he looked down at his feet, he also noticed something else -- something that maybe not even the students had seen. There was a tiny pine seedling raising its two or three tooth-pick sized branches ' through the: sniow. ^ ' " • - "I guess we couldn't leave you an orphan, could we now?" remarked Charlie. It was the first time in his life that he had ever talked to a tree and he looked over his shoulder to see if anybody had heard. The yard was still empty. Charlie then bent over and took a few strands of the wool from the bow on the Christmas present and tied them around the topmost branch of the seedling. His big hands were cold and he fumbled a little with the knot. But at last the tiny tree was decorated. As an afterthought, afterthought, the former lumberjack draped a piece of tinsel from the mother tree around the lower branches. "Merry Christmas," he said. And then he looked again over his shoulder shoulder to make sure nobody had seen him. He packed up his saw. And his big lumberjack boots went Stomp! Stomp! Stomp! back across the schoolyard. vrt t _ *