A young, red-haired woman walked the streets of Treeville. She walked slowly, as the two-year-old at her side could only toddle so fast. People flowed around the two of them, rushing off to obey their own busy schedules. That was just the way the young woman wanted it. Them with their schedules and she with none. She was free to have all the fun she wanted with her daughter.
They found their way to the pond where children could swim without coming out glowing and green skin. The meandered through the park where the bar-ba-loots played and the swomee-swans sang from the tops of the trufulla trees. The wind blew the tufts of the colorful trees, sending the sweet scent of fresh butterfly milk swirling through the air. The little girl giggled as she chased a baby bar-ba-loot in a circle.
The young-woman smiled at her daughter's care-free nature. She was so happy that that her daughter could live in a world so changed from what it had been when the young woman was a girl. A secluded city surrounded by a wall. The air so full of pollution they had to get the fresh stuff from bottles and cans. A crazed business tycoon that had surveillance all around so he could make sure everyone stayed in line.
But then the young woman, just 15 at the time, had dreamed of trufulla trees. She had dreamed that someday she would have one of her own. And a boy that was out for her heart risked everything to get it for her. The wonderful world they now had was all thanks to him.
As she sat their reminiscing, someone slipped their hands over the young woman's eyes. "Guess who?" the person asked. The woman could hear a chuckle in the masculine voice.
"Ummm, is it Grammy Norma?" she giggled.
"Hey!" the person said. He released her eyes and swung over the back of the bench to sit next to her. "Come on, Audrey. I sound nothing like my grandmother."
Audrey smiled as she gave her husband a quick kiss on the cheek. "Of course, Ted. Don't be so sensitive." She ruffled his sandy brown hair and bumped his shoulder.
"Daddy!" the little girl cried as she rushed at her father. As she left, the baby bar-ba-loot stared after her, sad that his new friend had left him behind.
"Hey there, you!" Ted laughed as he swept his daughter into his arms. "What're you up to?"
"I'm playin' with the teddy bear," the little girl said. She waved at the bar-ba-loot and it walked off among the trufulla trees. She turned to her mother. "Mommy," she asked, "what are the fluffy things where the birdies sing called?"
Audrey smiled at her daughter and shared a look with Ted. "Well honey," she began, "those are trees."