Life Designed (Life Plan Series Book 1), Eliza Taye [great novels .TXT] 📗

Opal’s glare spoke volumes.

“Okay, okay…but seriously, I have never found any of these to be interesting.”

“Well, Garrett, I think your problem is that you don’t know what you want out of life. It’s probably why you’re having such a hard time writing your Life Plan.”

Garrett considered Opal’s words until his thoughts were interrupted by a loud announcement.

“Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Cardingriver Forestry Grounds. Here we grow many of the trees that we use not only in our capital city but also in the entire province. We have over a thousand acrions of trees. Nearly every species of trees in our entire world is represented here. Every day, we maintain the trees, plant new ones, and cut down the ones that have reached the level of maturity where they are fit to be harvested.”

Raising her hand and interrupting the guide, the girl with glasses from earlier asked, “How much does a career in Forestry pay?”

The guide laughed heartily. “Well, we aren’t the highest-paid people in the world, but we are paid enough to maintain a modest living. The greatest thing about working in forestry is that we are helping to keep the environment in balance. We never cut down a tree that hasn’t grown large enough to be harvested, and we plant more every year than we cut down. Essentially, it maintains the same number of trees to be harvested every year so that we will never run out of lumber. It is a very important material in our society, and without it, we would crumble. Don’t you think having an important job like that pales in comparison to being wealthy but harming the planet?”

The girl said nothing as the guide continued to grin ecstatically.

“I think it would be great if we started the tour, Mr. Greenwich. We have two other occupations to visit today,” suggested Miss Harrigan, gesturing towards the various pathways leading to different sections of the grounds.

“Ah, yes, I also have an activity for everyone near the end of our tour. So, if you’ll follow me.” Mr. Greenwich began down the path straight ahead of them, gesturing for the students to follow.

Shuffling their feet along the white stone pathway, the students halfheartedly followed their guide. Mr. Greenwich first led them to a row of trees so tall their spindly branches seemed to disappear into the sky. The base of the trunk was so wide that ten students could have stood side by side without equaling the width of the tree.

Smacking his hand against the solid trunk, Mr. Greenwich explained, “This tree is the largest tree in our world. It is called a Jerio tree. They live for well over two hundred years. We consider them mature at age one hundred and fifty, so we never cut them down until after they’ve achieved that age. They contain the hardiest wood in all the forest. If you were to build a house to last, it would be out of Jerio wood. Each plank of wood from a Jerio tree sells for thousands of trecins. Only the wealthiest individuals can afford to use them in construction.”

Every student in the group’s eyes widened. None of them had ever heard of a Jerio tree or any wood that could cost thousands of trecins for just one plank.

The tour continued for over another hour. Mr. Greenwich stopped at every major group of trees and gave a long explanation on the type of tree, its uses, and a short overview of its origins. At last, they came to the activity portion of the occupational tour.

“In small groups of three, I want you to fill out this worksheet on the different types of trees and where you can find them on the grounds. Some of the trees I didn’t point out specifically on the tour, but I did show you another in the same family. Your mission is to find the tree and then prove that you found the correct one by drawing a quick sketch of the tree for me.” Mr. Greenwich began walking around handing out the sheets and a small remote with a singular button. “This button is in case you get lost. If you find yourself lost, press this button, and one of the nearest forestry employees will guide you back to this spot. Any questions?”

Opal’s hand shot into the air. “Yes, I do have one. Can we choose our teams?”

“Yes, you may choose whom you wish to work with.”

Opal smiled and nodded at Garrett, who in turn smiled and nodded back. Before either of them could choose a third person to join them, someone had appeared next to them and linked arms with Garrett.

“Hi, Garrett! I want to be in your group with you and Opal.”

Hearing the high-pitched, sweet-sounding tone, Garrett winced and turned to face Miranda. “Hi, Miranda.”

“Hi!” Miranda beamed, her white teeth glistening in the glow of the lamplights illuminating the forest.

“Are you certain you want to be in our group? You know I’m no good with these sorts of exercises.”

With a pouty frown, Miranda looked around at all the other students and quickly replied, “Well, everyone else has already chosen their groups, so even if I wanted to change now, I could not.”

Garrett tensed his shoulders but remained silent, so he didn’t hurt Miranda’s feelings, even though he hated the idea of having to work with her on the assignment.

“Great.” Miranda snatched the worksheet from Opal and started scanning through the list of trees. “It looks like the first tree we need to locate and identify is a feather tree.”

“A feather tree?”

“Yes, and I know exactly where to find it!” Miranda clasped Garrett’s hand tightly in her own and dashed toward the direction she thought the feather trees were.

Stifling a laugh, Opal quickly hurried after them. Even though Garrett would act as if he were in