Bella the tree in the capsule

People think that there are no trees in space. They are wrong. We had one in our capsule. It had actually been planted into a giant pot  during construction of the shuttle and allowed to grow. By the time it was due for us to go up into space, the tree was flourishing. It was an attractive feature of our space shuttle. I have to say we might have gone stir crazy if it wasn’t for old Bella (that’s what we called the tree). It was a cherry blossom tree that was genetically modified to be flowering roughly one week out of every month instead of for a few weeks every year. The psychologists working on the project made a wise move in giving us that tree. Little did they realise we’d been in dire need of tree lopping. Melbourne CBD being so far away, we were left to our own devices…

I think the genetic modifications which caused the tree to flower more often than it ordinarily would have had some effects on its growth. It’s like the darn thing was on steroids. It started growing its roots into all the equipment, causing blackouts and all manner of complications.

Poor Bella just had to go. If it wasn’t for being in outer space, we’d have long gotten stump removal. Melbourne residents don’t realise how lucky they are to have these services available to them just a phone call away. We had to perform our own makeshift tree surgery. And let me tell you, it wasn’t pretty. There were cherry blossoms and wood chips everywhere. Poor Bella did not go painlessly. We were devastated to see her go. Even though she was interfering with our equipment, she was the light of our life. She really brightened up our day.