Just Another Day at the B.R.C.

  "Man, you look as red as me!'

  Still smarting from embarrassment, I looked around.  Ah, it was Calijah, a friend I made only a few years ago.  Caliijah was a tree, or rather what was left of one.  It takes more than a split-rail fence to keep up apart.

  It happens that instead of going out to find more never-ending work, I had gone in for lunch instead.  I was on  my way back when he called out.  So, I told him I was still blushing from having judged a doe mistakenly.

  "Oh, we all make mistakes sometimes," he told me soothingly.  "You might as well just put it behind and keep making your rounds.  "I don't have time to make many more rounds," I moaned to him.  "I need to get on with the projects I intended to start this morning."

  Trying to calm me down, Calijah asked if I had time to listen to a helpful story.  Looking at my watch, whose second hand spurts like the r.p.m. of our poorly idling truck motor, I felt I had a couple minutes to spare.  So, my friend began his story.

  Long ago, Calijah's image had been imprinted on the tallest tree in this grove.  He was quite something to look at, and as we say around here, cut a proud figure.  His tree's height gave him a lofty, regal feeling. All kinds of birds would come to rest in his sturdy tree limbs, and they would talk animatedly to him.  Many deer, some taking a break from fishing, would doze contentedly under the shade of his wooden throne's expansive limbs.  Even the wild turkeys that aboud in the B.R.C. would flock together near him, seeking protection from strong winds that often howl across the prairie out here.

  Calijah was very content with his position at the B.R.C.  However, a visitor one day caused Calijah to have second thoughts about his stature in the club.  One wily fox had gotten jealous over how much brighter Calijah's reddish tint overshadowed its own.  The fox believed that club members paid more compliments to Calijah than to itself.  This foz began to plan how to equal this mismatched competition for compliments.

  Quite intrigued at this revelation, I encouraged Calijah to continue.  Calijah reported that the fox had proposed the idea that if Calijah's height didn't tower over everyone so much, why even more members would notice him. In fact, even more would praise him if they could just get a closer look at him. It's too bad that Calijah possessed a bit of a vain steak in his younger days.  If he hadn't, then ol' wily fox would've been barking up the wrong tree.

  At any rate, the fox suggested allowing one of the club's area workers at that time to cut the tree that Calijah was imprinted upon, down to a level all could readily see.  The fox added that in  no time at all, more members than ever before would enjoy seeing such a handsome Calijah than before.  And all that aside, the gracious fox wouldn't even mind being considered in beauty as "second best.

"  Since Calijah was now in a hurry to gain even more fame, he readily agreed to the fox'x proposal.Covering its smile of disbelief under its big red tail. the fox trotted off to find an area worker. The worker, also wanting to help keep members happy, proceeded to undertakew the fox's plan.  Sure enough, in no time at all, Calijah found himself sitting at a far lower leve than ever before.  And like the weed that grows up among flowers, other changes began to happen to."