he knew this, but this is how the world had always worked, since before the beginning of the calender, and it was the only way the world ever could work and it was up to him to do his part. This gave Dr. Treekenstein a sense of purpose that extended far and beyond his simple pursuit of money, power and fame.
Little Jimmy soon grew tired of the conversations with Woodpile and the others about the tree extinction and what Treekenstein was going to do about it and how he would save the world. He found his own tree to sit under and quietly read during breaks and lunch, occasionally glancing over at Treekenstein with a suspicious glare. It made Treekenstein nervous and it made it more difficult for Treekenstein to perform his daily intercranial fusions of abstract and applied mathematics that would be necessary to eventually figure out how to nail the trees back together.
He could almost feel the gears turning inside of Little Jimmy’s head and knew he was up to something. It was strange that Little Jimmy would never ever use a intercranial fusion device, yet Treekenstein could see him reading books about them every day.
Treekenstein, while working with Little Jimmy, was careful to stay out of Little Jimmy’s reach as Little Jimmy grabbed the lumber from his hand and pushed it through the saw. He pretended not to notice Little Jimmy watching him out of the corner of his eye.
Treekenstein was starting to become a nervous wreck and something soon had to be done.
One Wednesday afternoon it finally happened. Treekenstein got home from work and picked up a card out of his mailbox. His sack full of taxpayer money was waiting for him at the post office. Little Jimmy was fully trained, he could hover over to the post office on his way to work, pick up the sack of money and begin building his shack and not likely even see Little Jimmy at the lumber yard. He would be building his shack and Little Jimmy would be busy working and therefore out of mind.
He slept a little better than he usually did that night and hovered into the lumber yard with a new found sense of relief and optimism as he carried his giant sack of taxpayer money over to the supervisors shack early the next morning.
Little Jimmy had different ideas. Treekenstein could feel Little Jimmie's hard stare whenever their eyes met, at lunch and at breaks. It had kicked his soul right in its gonads. He nearly urinated in his pants on a few occasions and this feeling he had was not likely to go away soon.
He had to set a trap for Little Jimmy to fall into.
He carefully considered this, but then realized something about human nature: when we become afraid or angry, we immediately become stupid. This was the time to think and not act, and for the thinking that involved Little Jimmy, he needed some help.
Being the foremost illustrious and famous tree sturgeon had its privileges, and one of those privileges happened to be connections. At a party for people that were famous and illustrious he had met the most famous and illustrious expert on human psychology and propaganda. He had a sackful of money and could hire him on short notice.
A few months ago Dr. Know had had his picture on the front of Subjective Regional, posing on his new ultrasonic hovercraft. Treekenstein had bought the magazine and read some of the articles in it. His friend had been very concerned about the impending tree extinction and in the article he had demanded that something be done about it. He had demanded that governments take responsibility with a co-operative effort around the world and his demands had not been taken lightly.
Treekenstein pulled his communicator out of his pocket and made the call as he watched Little Jimmy push big pieces of lumber into the saw then pull smaller pieces out while occasionally glancing over his shoulder and give Treekenstein that hard stare, again, again and again.
Minutes later a ball of light ripped across the sky then spiraled downwards toward the lumber yard. It felt like the whole lumber yard was shaking as the ball of light made its way toward the ground. Everyone turned off their saws and stepped outside the covered areas to see what was happening in the hot summer sun. It scared Chimney, Stone and Little Jimmy as they covered their ears from the deafening noise. Woodpile ran to hide in the outhouse.
The ball of light suddenly became a ball of smoke as the strange looking craft then spiraled down and gently touched down to the ground ten feet in front of Treekenstein. As it rested on the ground, steam and smoke shot out from all around the vehicle, blinding Treekenstein and the others to what lie behind the steam.
3. Dr. Know
The steam and smoke quickly dissipated in the light wind and the legendary, illustrious and famous Dr Know waved and smiled at Treekenstein through the canopy of his brand new ultrasonic hovercraft. He undid the seat belt, released the canopy and jumped out to shake Treekenstein's hand.
"Thank God you called Treekenstein! I was getting behind on my insurance payments for this little baby and their office was going to remotely shut it off tomorrow if I didn't make at least two payments by then!" Treekenstein indicated that he was glad to help and led him to his favorite spot under his tree and offered the good doctor some cetula leaf as they sat down.
"Now what is it about this Woodpile character that has you so worried?" the doctor asked, then lit up the cetula pipe and took a long haul as Treekenstein began to explain. "Its not Woodpile. You see that great big guy walking back toward the saw?" He pointed to Little Jimmy and then proceeded to explain the situation.
Dr. Know then explained that given these facts, he would do some research, plug into his intercranial fusion device, and give it all some careful consideration and get back to the lumber yard with a solution. He would take half of his money now so that he could go and catch up on his payments for his hovercraft. He would be back later that afternoon with a solution and to pick up another sack full of money.
The two men relaxed, smoked cetula leaf and talked of intercranial fusion devices, ultrasonic hover craft and the latest holographic generator sets. Treekenstein talked briefly about making a new type of Intercranial Fusion Device, he called it the Intercranial Fusion Injector. Dr Know listened intently for the remaining few minutes before he excused himself.
Dr Know then went over to his hovercraft, grabbed an empty sack from the tandem rear seat and tossed it over to Treekenstein, who promptly went into the office to fill it and toss it back to Dr. Know as he climbed into his hovercraft and waved goodbye. Dr. Treekenstein backed away as Dr Know closed the canopy. He plugged his ears, and watched the shiny new machine blast off into a ball of light into the clear blue sky.
Later that day, just before the afternoon break, Dr Know's ultrasonic hovercraft landed in front of Little Jimmy’s work area. It all happened too quick for Little Jimmy to run away from the smoke and the steam that filled his covered work area. He stumbled out coughing and choking to meet Dr. Know as he emerged from the cloud of smoke and steam that concealed his ultrasonic hovercraft. Dr Know seemed anxious to greet him and wore an ear to ear grin.
Dr Know asked him if he remembered being at the county fair last year, and if he remembered filling out a card and putting in a slot to win a brand new hovertruck. Little Jimmy said that he did and Dr. Know reached out to shake his hand and congratulate him on winning the new hovertruck. Little Jimmy was thrilled, he could not find a way to express his full gratitude toward Dr. Know.
Dr. Know was soon convinced that Little Jimmy hadn't recognized him from his picture on the front cover of Subjective Regional magazine.
The break time buzzer went off and Little Jimmy decided to talk to Dr. Know for a few minutes instead of joining the others at the table and sharing the good news. Little Jimmy asked him why he had come earlier to talk with Dr. Treekenstein.
The only evil Little Jimmy really ever knew were the shows on the holographic generator set about Monday mornings that the ancients experienced that he sometimes watched while visiting friends. Little Jimmy wasn't stupid by anyone's standard, but living in the country, hunting on the weekends with his dawg and fixing up old hovertrucks could not prepare anyone for the evil that could exist among the rich, the powerful, the famous, and
the illustrious. To Little Jimmy, the ends never justified the means, but for these other types it always did. Little Jimmy could not even have imagined....
It could even be said that Little Jimmy’s choice to lead the simple life out in the trees and country was a real choice because Little Jimmy passed all the tests. He himself could have been a famous and illustrious scientist and maybe even got his picture on the front of Regional Rock & Dirt magazine one day. Little Jimmy was also blessed with the gift of a discerning reflective judgement that normally made him no ones fool, but Dr. Know was completely out of his experience.
The smoke and steam cleared away from Dr. Know's brand new powerful sport hovercraft and Little Jimmy wanted to have a look at it. He looked it over from back to front, from side to side and top to bottom as Dr. Know explained why he had been talking with Treekenstein earlier that morning.
Dr. Know said "There was a mix up at the office and they thought that Treekenstein was you Little Jimmy.". He explained that when he had landed this morning he recognized Treekenstein from the hologram he saw at the office and went to tell him that he had won the new hovertruck. "Treekenstein tried to convince us that he was you", he said. Little Jimmy became visibly agitated and said
Dr. Treekenstein Page 3