Brick and Mortar

The Great Tree of Life at the Center of the World is located in the Sears wing atrium of the Jackson Corners shopping mall in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. It is a ficus. Its guardian, a blue canary named Mark, lived in a nest high in its branches. That bird was holy as shit. All of this was not apparent to the skaters haunting the defunct mall, board-sliding along its gnarled roots and occasionally slap banging right into it.

There was one time Mark eked out a wee poop that dropped on Brody's shoulder mucking his favorite OP shirt. Unaware that was a blessing of sorts, Brody hurled a crushed Surge can, which hit its Mark, knocking the little bird dead. At which point in the tremorous bellow of 1,000 trumpets, the earth opened up, and, as Lennie and Toodles fled, Brody was sucked into the magma below. 

We blame Amazon.com.