Writing Prompt Wednesday #6

Today's prompt:
Describe the lifeguard. Why does he (or she) take an axe to the oak tree? Write your story in five minutes.

(Reprinted by permission all rights reserved (c) C.M. Mayo "Giant Golden Buddha and 364 More 5 Minute Writing Exercises  www.cmmayo.com/d5mwe.html)

His name was Chip. He had deeply tanned, golden skin and blond, almost bleached hair that he liked to keep short and spiked. He pretended to be tough, ripping off his tank-top in front of the bikini-clad girls and showing off his firm pecs and rippled abs. But he was really a big softie inside. He like poetry and cried whenever he watched "A River Runs Through It."

He went out into his parents' backyard one morning to find a tiny baby bird dead on the ground. It had fallen out of its nest in the leafy oak tree. This was not the first crime the oak tree committed. When Chip was three he fell out of the tree and broke his arm. When he was 14 he carved his initials in the tree's trunk next to the initials of his dream girl, and she promptly dumped him. Then, just last year, a branch from the old tree had broken off and landed directly on his brand-new motorcycle. The baby bird was the last straw. The tree had to go.

Don't mess with Chip,
The Brown-Eyed Girl