Although his externalities were already stiff, he stood as still as possible. The air around him felt charged by electricity, buzzing due to the high voltage, almost such as a swarm of bees was trying to populate his unmoved body. If he would have stood a few more meters closer to the wired fence, he could have taken shelter from the threat of being seen. However, fortune or coincidence placed him right in the middle of the scene where he was now waiting, quietly and inconspicuously.

He couldn’t imagine the consequences of being discovered by the always alert guards patrolling the area, so with every second of waiting in unpliable position the suspense was growing exponentially. All his life he had been careful, yet it seemed that he always ended up in the same situations over and over again. He was not able to remember how long he already had to hold his breath.

No wonder! All the trees in the power plant area did not breathe at all.

Occupied with the feeling of deep relieve about the solution of his none existing problem, he did not notice the real problem he was facing – that he did not have a face to look at the problems he might face. Which basically was the reason, why he was a happy tree. Not being aware of issues spared a great deal of trouble, because not only the trouble but also the worries about a trouble would double the misfortune once discovered. Yet, some of his senses tingled.

It wasn’t the magpie building a nest deep inside his maze of branches or the squirrel – he called him Freeze –  that used to run up and down his trunk like a lunatic. The actual pronunciation was Three-S, for Stupid-Spastic-Squirrel, but he was sure to suffer from an s-fault, in the case he would have a mouth. All the other trees would make fun of him, calling him names or just don’t care, so he stuck for Freeze as the perfect name for the rodent. However, the alarm tingling did not stop.

Oh, how he wished for a face to see! He would be able to marvel at all the beauteous things in life! The hatching of the magpie chicks, the soft fur of the maniac squirrel or the giant shockwave of the explosion crawling towards him at high speed. But he could not, what a pity! With his last thoughts pointed at the fungi problem on his rear the tree was gone, taken by the all destructive power of the shock wave followed by a blazing inferno setting every root on fire. In the area of a one thousand metre radius, everything was turned into ashes and dust. Everything but that one little creature in the centre of the explosion crater.