The Rot Within

Our guests love the delicate pink blossoms

There is a lovely old tree just outside our kitchen. Colin, my husband, tells me his mother planted it more than a decade ago. Once a year, it would burst into a dazzling display of pink cherry blossoms that lasted for less than a week. I always look forward to the delightful blooms during those cold winter months as it announces Spring is on its way.

One morning, to my dismay, I found that one of the large branches had snapped in half, dangling on one side. Initially I thought Colin had started cutting it for firewood. When I asked him about it, he said he did not cut it but was just as puzzled as I was. As he chopped off the half-fallen branch with an axe, he yelled out,”Termites!”

True enough, hundreds of these white creepy-crawlies were squirming around, feasting on the sapwood within. They had already hollowed out the tree trunk so the whole tree was a mere skeleton of a tree.

It looked big and strong on the outside but would probably fall apart as time went on.

“Expose them to the light, “ Colin said. “They hate the light.”

The Termite-Infested Tree

We peeled off the bark of the trunk and let the sun shine on it. The termites went into a frenzy as they tried to find somewhere dark to hide but there was no escape. An impending doom awaited them.

Colin drove the tractor and pushed the tree over. It collapsed in an instant. Then he lit a fire and burnt it.

It was sad to see our beautiful tree reduced to a smouldering heap of ash. Yet it was the only way to deal with the termite-infested tree. The rot within had already sealed its fate.