The new system

"Don't move!" Cheryl felt the cold steel of a revolver against the base of her neck. On this particularly muggy (get it?) July evening she decided to cut through a small park to avoid the downtown foot traffic while walking home from Hot Yoga, just a few block from her apartment. 'This man is bold' she thought, staring hopefully at the guard station only 100' or so away, hoping that someone was watching from behind the glass.

"Can I at least turn around?" she appealed.

"Sure. But I'm gonna need that purse, sweet haht." he replied with a thick Bostonian accent.

"Fine then, just don't hurt me." she pleaded.



"I'm not gonna hut you dahlin, I just want tha purse, now hand it over and we can both go ah separate ways." his Boston was starting to sound more welsh now. This was obviously his first offense.

"Here." she said as she held the purse out.

SMASH! 

"Oh my God!" Cheryl couldn't believe her eyes, or her luck. She looked at the gun, now lying loose at her feet, then at the fake Bostonian's arm, lifeless, and finally at the healthy young pine tree that now lay on top of her aggressor.

Footsteps. In her shock Cheryl had failed to notice the park security guard approaching on an electric golf cart.

"Evening, maam." said the guard in his best 'I've been inconvenienced by the massive tree interrupted armed robbery in progress' voice. Pulling a smart phone from a holster on his belt and tapping a few buttons. "You might wanna stand back."

Accompanied by the sound of hydraulic actuators the tree began to right itself. Slowly at first, but faster once it passed the 45 degree mark until it stood upright again. Save for the blood and small tears of fabric now marking the tree trunk, it was as if nothing had happened.

The security guard walked over with a shovel and began to clean up the mess.

"Should we call the police!?" Cheryl shouted, finally able to speak again.

"Nah, they never answer anyway, and this is a privately funded park, not a city park." the guard replied without looking up from his cleanup duties.

"Well, what do we do then?"

The guard stopped his work, standing up. "Well, if I were you I'd go on home."

He turned back to his work, picking up a pair of recently worn boots. "These'll clean up nice."

SMASH!

A small distance down the sidewalk a dog, it's red leash still attached, ran barking from a recently crushed patron.

"What the! Why did it kill that person!?" Cheryl pleaded, starting to believe she was imagining things.

The security guard released a frustrated sigh "Oh, they probably didn't use a doodoo bag for the doggy. One more to clean up."

Cheryl, now sure this was a dream decided to ask a question she would only ask in a dream "I don't understand. Why are the trees killing people?"

"Because, Maam. They're breaking the law. See, the cops never respond fast enough, so we had this brand new, state of the art defense system installed. I'd think you should be grateful seeing as how you're still standing, still have your purse, and ain't got any new bullet holes in ya. Police chief likes the system so much he's had these babies installed all over the city, thinks it'll cut down on manpower concerns. In fact, tonight's the first night the city's gonna use the system." said the man, pressing more buttons on his smart phone, resetting the 2nd tree.

SMASHarfsqueak

Cheryl and the guard spun around to see another pine lying across the walking path, an exposed red leash the only visible clue of it's target.

"Why did it kill the dog!?" Cheryl squealed.

"Well, there's still a few bugs to work out, and the trees don't take kindly to dog's marking their territory."

"This is crazy, I'm getting out of here." Cheryl began to stomp away.

SMASHSMASHSMASHSMASHSMASH

Cheryl ran to the busy intersection bordering the edge of the park. Still in their newly totaled cars and recovering from sudden tree assault were several groups of 'beliebers' on their way to a concert.

"What happened, what crime did you commit?!" Cheryl, hysterically asked the closest driver.

"I didn't do anything, Miss." Replied the young girl, out of breath, she looked to be about 16. "I was just listening to the radio and my favorite song came on, and this tree smashed into my car!"

Realizing this must be another thing the trees don't like, Cheryl planned to take it upon herself to call all city radio stations and warn them. "What's your favorite song?" she screamed.

"Baby, by Justin Bie" SMASH

"No!" Cheryl screamed in horror as the girl was crushed under another pine.

The screams continued as Cheryl turned to face the skyline. It was too late for them, but not for her. She ran until she could run no more, outside of the city limits to a small nature preserve on the edge of the main arterial highway. She stopped to rest, more falling than sitting on the vacant park bench, the city looked so peaceful from here. One or two cars sped by and she turned to her small brown leather purse to take stock.

• 2 bottled waters
• 1 cell phone
• 2 credit cards
• a granola bar
• $20 and some loose change
• A hair brush

No problem she thought, I'll just walk until I find a motel. 

Buzzzzz 

Her cell phone vibrated against the wooden seat of the park bench. 

*1 New Multimedia Message* read the screen.

Cheryl did not recognize the number, but assumed it was someone she knew from the city trying to warn her of the impending murder tree invasion. She pressed Play.

SMASH!

"Baby, baby, baby..." The phone's speaker blared as it fell to the ground. Knocked loose from Cheryl's now lifeless hand, hitting the ground with a crack. Then silence. 

What's the moral of the story you ask? I was hoping you could tell me.

Happy Tuesday!