Lulu in the Woodlands

Intro: Lulu in the Woodlands

DON'T BE LATE!

Lulu had graduated from high school almost a year ago. Many of her family and friends had been "encouraged", if you know what I mean, to go to university. But Lulu felt that she had learned enough and decided to get a job.  Not one of those sad internships. Yuck. No! A real job. And with persistence, she had been successful. She found a real job with her own desk and a regular pay check. They even deducted taxes. That was almost seven months ago, (seemed longer), but the fact was that she was employed and that she was feeling established, even a little prosperous. She had bought a few things and even set up a savings account. Now some of her co-workers were encouraging her to invest. Basically, they explained, you can use your money to make money.

But Lulu was just enjoying having a job and buying things. Still, the notion of making even MORE money began to percolate in her brain. Then, one morning she awoke with a start.Goodness me! thought Lulu, it's time to buy some stocks - or bonds. She thought some more. Or, maybe stocks and bonds. Yes of course, that's it! I will buy stocks and bonds. Everyone is doing it. Even my grandmother and she passed away five years ago! Why I'm sure that it's important to our economy, it's the patriotic thing to do and... ...and democratic too, probably.

"But what to buy ??"

Lulu scanned the investment page of the local newspaper and found a list of stocks and bonds. She looked down the list. Goodness gracious there are a lot of stocks and bonds, but I can't make out most of the names. Whatever is GSPTSE? I wouldn't begin to try to pronounce that. And SBUX? Some sort of an animal, I suppose. Gross! I'm sure that I don't want to invest in animals.

Then she spotted AAPL. AAPL? Apple? I've heard of them. My uncle Bob wants to get one of their computers. But Lulu and computers? Not really. Then she saw the stock Woodlands Inc. She circled it on the financial page. She particularly liked the Inc. part. That seemed very competent. And she liked their logo, a stylized golden tree standing on wavy green lines surrounded by a blue circle. And she really liked their motto! Yesterdays and Tomorrow's Trees Today. Right on! No time like today.

Now, her aforementioned chronically unemployed Uncle Bob had always advised her... "Invest in something that you know something about." And giving good advice was one of the things that her Uncle Bob always did well. (Actually, he did lots of things well, but unfortunately most of them didn't earn him any money.) Whatever.

"Well, OK! I walk in the woods a lot. I know something about that!"

It was decided then. Lulu glanced at the trees outside her window to reassure herself. She always found trees very reassuring. Just then, a rabbit came into view. But this was no ordinary rabbit. Oh no! It was a designer rabbit, with azure eyes, a taupe nose (that wasn't a great choice) and an over bite featuring two big front teeth. I'd get them fixed, - and whitened. And wait! Were those eyelash extensions?? I didn't know rabbits had eye lashes. She shrugged. Why not? Anyway, the rabbit hopped right past her window, then he stopped in Plainview looking very stressed.

Interesting! The rabbit was dressed in an understated, chic, post urban, geo inspired camo print, and wore two watches on one wrist and what looked like a GPS on the other. Lulu couldn't be sure because she didn't really know what a GPS looked like, although she had heard about them.

But it was his ears that really caught one's attention. Along the edge of one ear were a row of gold rings which seem to unbalance him. And on the tip of each ear was a what looked like faux pearl studs that made one tip flop forward and the other tip flop backwards.

Now, her parents had grown up in the 60s, and both had great, um, imaginations. So seeing a rabbit, even a designer rabbit with earrings and flip flop ears hop into view was not all that surprising.But when this one looked at one of the watches, (she couldn't tell which one), and said "Dear me, I 'm late!" and with that took off.... ... well Lulu literally and figuratively leapt to her feet.

She had to stand on her tippy toes with her face very close to the window to see where he went. She didn't usually like to do that because it made her mini skirt right up too high. But sometimes she forgot. Anyway, the rabbit headed for a large culvert across the street. Very curious! she allowed, and, grabbing a sweater, ran after him.

The culvert was large, large enough to stand up in, even in her heels. Drat, she said to no one in particular, These shoes will be a devilish nuisance. I best go get my Nikes. And I better hurry or I'll be late too!

In no time flat, she was back wearing her Nike Air Turmoil's. She wasn't sure if they were runners or cross trainers, but they were certainly better than those heels - much better she assured herself. She paused for a moment and looked, well, actually peered, into the culvert. Hmmmm. She could see quite far in, and in the distance was the silhouette of the rabbit hurrying along. What to do? Then a voice said "Don't be so judgy. Go on!" Lulu looked up, at the wise old Owl perched on a bush nearby, blinking at her.

"Well, I'm certainly not judgy, and I shall continue." Lulu replied, and with that she headed into the culvert.