Here to Stay: Day 3

 Word Count: 18,313

Summary of Events:

James thankfully saw little of Mr. Baron following the arrangement of a more suitable meeting time until finally the meeting day arrived and Mr. Baron, after arriving ten minutes late, told James that he'd bought his property with the belief that the advertised mountain views would be present from his yard site but such was not the case; thus, he was hoping that since the trees interfering with his view were on James' property, that James would cut them all down. James refused, seeing how Mr. Baron had bought the whole 404.7ha parcel . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

“I should hope that you are well aware of just how much land four hundred four point seven hectares is,” James said. “Even if it is about a fifth of what I possess, it is certainly neither small nor inferior, and thus it is entirely reasonable that if you were to travel across the entire expanse of the property you might’ve found an appropriately montane view for your home that the yard site, apparently, lacks.”

Mr. Baron actually looked a little annoyed himself. “Well I would expect that when a realtor is selling a property they would use that kind of a description to proclaim what is at the yard site, and since they apparently didn’t do so, I would really appreciate it if you would cut down the offending trees.”

James didn’t know that he appreciated his trees being called offensive, but he did his best to keep the amount of irritation he showed in his voice to a minimum.

“I must regretfully inform you that not only will I not do so, but I don’t believe that I even can,” James replied curtly.

“You can’t?” Mr. Baron asked.

“I don’t believe so, no,” James replied. “You see, my land falls within the boundaries of the Rocky Mountain Provincial Forest Preserve created by the Government of Alberta after my forebears had settled here, and thus any tree felling — including the logging that takes place further west — within the bounds, I am quite certain, would require a permit or some other government approval to do, and I don’t know that the government would be inclined to grant permission for such an action to be undertaken purely for aesthetic reasons, and I personally see no value for my family or business in putting out the money for the permits and the labour to do so.”

“Well, then would you be willing to top them off, at least far enough that I can see the mountains out my upstairs windows?” Mr. Baron asked.

“No,” James replied. “Not only because topped-off trees are completely hideous but because a tree, as a living organism, will continue to grow, and in case you haven’t noticed, trees have a bit of a nasty habit of growing upward toward the sun, thus, in as little as five years, owing to a profusion of new branches thrown out by the trees, I could be required to engage in a significant amount of expense again, after all, there are hundreds, if not even thousands, of trees in the area in question, and I don’t think I could appreciate that kind of a recurring expense in order to satisfy your need for mountain views, nor could I justify placing that expense on those who come after me.”

“Surely trees don’t grow back fast enough that you’d have to do it that regularly,” Mr. Baron pressed.

James felt a little shocked. What did it take for Mr. Baron to realise the answer was no?