Mistletoe Menace

Posted on Tue Sep 21st, 2010 @ 12:26pm by Lieutenant JG Elizabeth Jackson

437 words; about a 2 minute read

Mission: Peace, or Something Like It
Location: Arboretum
Timeline: Current

ON

Lizzie Jackson sat on the branch of a tree, her legs wrapped tightly around it to keep from falling. Normally, she loved climbing trees - and loved being in the woods. Or, in this case, the arboretum. Except today. Today, she was dealing with a nasty parasite.

Someone - as a joke she had no doubt - put some mistletoe in one of the large oak trees. And it had taken hold. Now, she had five trees to clean of all trace of the pesky plant, and then she had to make sure it didn't come back.

She was the first to appreciate Christmas. She usually grew some mistletoe in one of the back workrooms for the season, along with some holly. But never in her precious trees. The prankster probably had no idea what mistletoe actually did to trees. And why it was listed as a parasite.

She cut off another clump of plant and let it drop to the ground, then reached up to grab another section of mistletoe.

She hadn't installed security cameras to allow the crew some privacy. She'd spotted the Captain and the Major a time or two kissing in the trees. She didn't' want video evidence of what some other crew might be doing. She was a firm believer in allowing people their privacy - as long as they didn't damage her plants and trees.

Now, she wasn't so sure. She dropped another section of mistletoe and reached higher. One more strand, and this tree would be clean. It cut clean enough, but when she gave it a gentle tug, it didn't come loose. "Drat," she muttered. She'd have to stand up to get it.

She carefully held on to a branch so she could stand up and untangle the mistletoe. This bit had wrapped around and through several branches. She carefully cut it into smaller pieces so she could pull it out and drop it to the ground.

Finally done, she quickly climbed to where she could drop to the ground. She put her knife back in her pocket and gathered up the mistletoe.

She dumped the offending plant in the compost container, muttering dire threats against the next person to pull such a prank.

"I wonder if the Captain would let me order them to 40 hours of hard labor pulling weeds?" She liked that idea. She'd make a note of it for later.

In the meantime, she found a large knife and stabbed it through a piece of mistletoe and into the wall. It made her feel better.

OFF

Ensign Elizabeth Jackson (NPC)
Botanist
USS Calypso

 

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