It had been approximately an hour since Maggy had started her first hike of her holiday.
It had also been about a half hour since she had turned right back around.
Trees turned into suburban side streets as she exited the hiking trail. A feeling of slight disappointment inescapably began, and she tried to brush it off.
If a talking tree requesting birdhouses wasn’t a good enough reason to turn back on a hike, she wasn’t sure what was. There was no point feeling bad about it.
The shop where she normally got her building supplies was closed on a Saturday, so she decided to venture out to an open hardware store near Bentleigh. She ran through the list as she placed items into her cart: timber planks, nails, a hammer, wood glue (in case her hammering skills were mediocre) and a handsaw. At the last moment, she grabbed a can of bright paint as well.
The talking tree had seemed so excited about the prospect of seeing birds. It would be unfair to not try to make the best birdhouse she could.
With that in mind, she was overjoyed when she noticed an aisle full of electrical supplies. Cheltenham had the closest shop near her apartment, but they didn’t have the same range of lighting options. She was easily able to find a source of power and light for the birdhouse: a string of tiny, voice-activated fairy lights. Considering the tree could talk, it shouldn’t be an issue.
Whilst she might have felt like she was going mad, carrying an armful of building supplies up the hiking trail, the smile that formed on the tree’s trunk washed away any concerns. The smile only widened as she began to build the birdhouse.
It was dark by the time she nestled the structure onto the branch the tree instructed her to.
“It’s beautiful,” the tree sighed. The wind raced past its leaves, filling the air with natural music. Exhausted but happy, Maggy collapsed onto the trail by the tree’s trunk. Stars had begun to blink through the foggy curtain of the setting sun.
Her eyelids grew heavy and she felt a small, leafy branch slide under her head as a makeshift below.
“I can’t thank you enough.”
She had done it. Even more so than when she had first begun the hike, she felt weightless. Finally, after months of hard work, it was time to relax.