Christmas Trees

Hutch has a surprise for Starsky.

There was no need to look through the window, Starsky knew Hutch had arrived, as announced by his car horn! Every time the car door opened, off it would go.

“Are you ready Starsk?”

“Just coming.”

Starsky grabbed his jacket and a cookie on his way out. “Good morning – lovely day.”

“Good morning, Pal. Hey! Don’t get crumbs all over my car.”

“Come on, Hutch, I doubt if anyone would notice a few cookie crumbs dropped in this rust bucket! Besides, when are you
gonna get that horn fixed? I’m surprised you didn’t wake the whole neighbourhood! We could always take my car; after all,
it puts this thing to shame! I hope you realise my street cred will be shattered being seen riding in this!”

“Eh, let me just tell you that this thing, as you so eloquently put it, gets me from A to B and is a lot more subtle than that striped tomato! Here I got you a coffee.” Hutch handed the takeaway cup to his friend.

“Thanks, Hutch. Anyway, where we going?”

“I’m taking you on a trip to the Strawberry Ridge Woods.”

“You gotta be kidding me! I thought it all got burnt down in the wildfire?”

“Yes most of it did, but by some miracle some of it survived.”

It was a chilly but pleasant day; they both enjoyed the scenic drive up to Strawberry Ridge and sang along to the festive
tunes on the car radio.

“How far now?” Starsky asked, fidgeting like an impatient schoolboy, as they followed the blue mountain path.

“Here we are.” Hutch stopped the car in a remote, sparse part of the forest, which still held scorched scars from the relentless forest fires.

“Wow! We’re in the middle of nowhere! I hope you got enough gas to get us back! I didn’t realise it was this bad Hutch,
you don’t get the whole picture on tv, do you?”

“You certainly don’t. Follow me.”

Starsky did as Hutch asked and followed him up the hill. The damage from the wildfire was devastating! “Breaks your heart doesn’t it, when you think of what was here before. All those forest creatures and trees perished.”

“This is what I wanted you to see, Starsk.”

Starsky stared at the two pines left standing. “Well would ya look at that, Hutch!”

“Yes this is what I wanted to show you. The whole forest burnt down around them and these two pines survived against all odds; in all that chaos and destruction while everything around them fell apart. They’re still standing. Strong, defiant.”

“A bit like us, eh buddy.” Starsky’s voice faltered.

“Yeah, exactly what I thought. I’ve made a donation to the Replant Strawberry Ridge Regeneration Project and adopted these two trees. One is yours and one is mine. Happy Christmas, Pal!”

“Aw, Hutch. That’s just terrific and what a great idea. I’m really touched.”

“I thought so too. I also thought we could do a big Christmas fund raiser at the station. You know, invite everyone to get involved and we can raise more money for the charity.” At that suggestion Starsky’s eyes lit up.

“Yeah, and I’ll ask Minnie if she’ll bake some of her wonderful cookies! They went down well at the last event and I’m sure
Huggy will have a few ideas. We’ll get Dobey involved too. Thanks, Hutch.”

“You’re welcome, Pal,” Hutch said, gently patting Starsky’s shoulder.

At that moment, a beautiful cardinal flew from nowhere and settled on a branch of one of the trees. The friends looked at
each other, full of emotion.

“See, Starsk, life goes on.”

“It certainly does, buddy. Where there’s life there’s hope, right?”

“Without a doubt.”

“Hey, Hutch, your car isn’t all that bad really! Come on, I’ll buy you a beer on the way home.”

“Well now there’s an offer I definitely can’t refuse!” Hutch smiled affectionately at his friend as they made their way back
down the blue mountain path…