Mother Nature takes a break CHAPTER ONE
Mother Nature takes a break CHAPTER ONE
Nancy sat staring at her reflection in the mirror. The years had ravaged her once lovely features. An old woman stared back at her from the gilt framed oval on the dresser. How many times over the years had she sat at this dark wooden, hand carved piece of furniture? With its rounded edges and silver handles, the dresser covered in crystal bottles and proudly centered her silver backed hair brush. One hundred strokes a night for centuries.
Given that she was millennia old, she shouldn ' t’ t have been surprised at the change in her appearance. She wondered when this transformation had occurred; it had crept up so slowly, the change from young Nancy Nature to Old Mother Nature.
“ I’ ve had enough,” she said sadly to her reflection.“ I’ m so tired.”
Her hair, once shiny and free flowing was now a dull grey and lack luster, tied in a ridiculous bun at the back of her head. Dark circles and bags under her eyes combined with a sallow complexion made her look ill. The lines on her face were deeper than the Grand Canyon.
“ Frown lines,” she thought,“ worry lines because the world has changed so much, so quickly and I can’ t keep up.”
Changing seasons every three months had taken its toll on this normally strong woman. Global warming and the associated problem of climatic change were causing a shift in the natural flow of the seasons.
Changing seasons was bad enough, but each had to be changed at different times. If the northern hemisphere was in summer she had to remember to change the southern hemisphere to winter. It was the same with spring and autumn and then in reverse, in three monthly cycles, year after year. It was a tedious, convoluted and archaic system but Mother Nature didn ' t know any way to fix it.
No one on earth was happy, no matter what the season.
“ Make it rain,” they would chant.“ Now make it stop,” they cried.“ Its too hot, too cold.”
They would grumble and complain until Mother Nature had earache.“ What ' s the point?”, she wondered, and speculated over what humans would do if the she just took a break and didn ' t bother changing the weather for a year or two. That would really give them cause for complaint. Although to be fair the way things had been for the last few years the seasons were out of synch and in some places hadn’ t really altered much every three months. One season seemed to blend into the next.
But how to take a break? That was the problem. She visited all the sprites and asked them if they wanted to take over for a while.
“ No! Mother Nature we are too busy,” they replied.“ We have to strip and redress the trees every season. We have to make sure the leaves turn red, yellow, and orange in autumn and in spring help bring forth new buds. We have a lot of new staff here that need training. Dougal, the apprentice, denuded all the evergreens in Tasmania last summer.”
Next Mother Nature asked the Springers if they would take over for her.
“ No Mother Nature!“ they replied.“ We have to make sure all the seeds and bulbs flower at the right time.”
“ Yes I understand but you Springers only work short shifts each cycle,” complained Mother Nature.
“ Well!” huffed the Springers,” In our off season we’ re not just sitting around you know. We have to train a lot of new staff. Last year we had spring flowers in winter because the new apprentices weren ' t sure what season it was.”
Mother Nature snorted.
“ Last winter was rather warm you know,” the Head Springer sneered.
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