The Extraordinary, Unordinary Gum Tree

By Karen Casey and Guy Price

"Oh. Oh dear," a croaky voice said. "You've brought someone with you. You never said you were bringing guests today children. Oh, dear me. Look at the state of me. Look at the state of the tree!"

Bea and Bertie looked to the ground and saw a great round wombat fussing around the bottom of the tree. His

• Language: English
• Publisher: Karen Casey
• Release date: Oct 17, 2018
• ISBN: 9780646995496

Karen Casey

Karen Casey has sold over 3 million books that draw upon meditations, motivations, and religion to guide and support women throughout the world. Based in Minneapolis since 1964, Casey is an elementary school teacher turned Ph.D. Casey published the first of twenty-eight books, Each Day a New Beginning: Daily Meditations for Women, with Hazelden Publishing in 1982. Casey has spoken to tens of thousands world-wide over her forty years as a writer. Through each new experience, her gratitude and commitment grow to continue doing what brings joy to her life. Additional notable works from Karen Casey include 52 Ways to Live the Course in Miracles: Cultivate a Simpler, Slower, More Love-Filled Life, Let Go Now: Embrace Detachment as a Path to Freedom, and A Life of My Own: Meditations on Hope and Acceptance.

Book preview

Chapter one

New friends for Tom and Nelly

TOM AND NELLY HAD LIVED on the farm for the whole of their short but exciting young lives. Their mum and dad milked just enough cows to keep their family comfortable. There was always food on the table, warm shoes on their feet and great, plump pillows to rest their heads on at night.

Tom often helped Dad with the milking and he came home covered in so much cow muck that Mum made him strip off his clothes before coming in the back door. But Tom didn’t mind. He liked helping and he liked even more to get his hands dirty, even in cow muck.

Nelly didn’t like milking or muck. Instead, it was her job to fill the cat’s bowl with water every day. One morning when she was doing just that Nelly spotted a big truck turning into the house across the road. It was different to the milk trucks that visited her house, so Nelly guessed it could only be one thing.

Tom! she called. The new neighbors are here!

Nelly’s brother rushed to the verandah and the pair stood high on their toes to see who had arrived at the neighbor’s house. Two strong men began unloading furniture from the back of the truck and soon enough a man, a woman and two children wandered out of the house to meet them.

Look Tom! There’s kids! Nelly looked to her brother with wide eyes. Living on a farm, they didn’t see many other kids apart from those at school. Having someone to play with just across the road was as exciting as a trip to the toy shop. Whoa, Tom, do you think we’ll be friends? We could take them to the tree. Oh, I’ve been waiting to show someone the tree!

Shhhh. Tom looked back at the house, afraid Mum and Dad were listening. They were busy eating breakfast in the kitchen. Tom and Nelly’s family farm looked like any other farm, but it was not. Deep in the bush behind their house was something no other farm had. And no one but Tom and Nelly knew about it, not even Mum and Dad.

Tom looked back across the road to the new neighbor’s house and lowered his voice.

Maybe we could show them, he said. Maybe we’ll become friends. That boy looks little. Like you. The girl’s almost as big as I am.

Tom was tall for his age. He wore old flannel shirts just like Dad, which made him look even more grown up. Nelly wore old clothes on the farm too, but hers were far cleaner and mostly red, her favorite color. Every morning Mum tied her hair in red ribbons to match.

It would be awesome to show someone the tree. Nelly tried to whisper, but it was hard to keep quiet when she was excited. They won’t believe their eyes Tom! They wouldn’t have seen a gum tree like ours before.

They’ll have to believe their eyes when they see it, Tom said.

Tom and Nelly wanted to race straight over to meet the new neighbors, but Mum said they better give them time to move in. She made them promise not to go over there until tomorrow when the removal truck was gone. Tom and Nelly agreed, but they watched the house across the road from their verandah for the rest of the day.

THE NEXT MORNING TOM and Nelly woke early. They ate a breakfast of gloopy porridge and honey while they waited for the sun to come up. Since it was still too early to go knocking on the neighbor’s door, Nelly and Mum cracked, sifted and stirred up a batch of muffins to give to them. This was the kind of mess Nelly loved, not the smelly cow mess.

By the time the muffins were baked it was finally a good time to go knocking. Tom barged ahead and thumped his fist on the neighbor’s door – one, two, three. A girl with wild red hair and a pretty freckled nose answered.

Tom and Nelly put on their biggest, most friendly smiles and offered up the plate of warm muffins.

Hi, I’m Tom. That’s Nelly. She thought you’d like muffins.

The girl took the plate from Nelly and peeped under the tea towel she had covered it with.

Ah, thanks.... I’m Bea.

Bea. Cool. Tom turned and pointed over the road to the farm. We live over there. You can come over if you want.

Bea looked pleased. Umm...Sure. Can Bertie come too? Bea stood aside revealing a small, round boy with dark hair. He’s my brother. 

Nelly gave Bertie an excited wave. Yes, you come too. She lowered her voice to a whisper.