One hot sunny day a small caring koala and a silly little kangaroo were having fun. They were playing near a thick rainforest and a gigantic orange outback.

“Let’s go play on Skull Rock tomorrow, Colo!” Marlu the Kangaroo shouted, “Sure,”.

Colo was a grey Koala with a big pair of ears which came in handy when spying on others. She had the friendliest and kindest heart in the entire outback, known everywhere because she always cared for the land. Marlu was fun, daring and didn’t care about anything except playing, only known for her magnet to danger. They were the least likely pair of friends as they were complete opposite to each other.

While the sun slowly descended behind the duo they quietly walked home. One of them heading to a bunch of gum trees and the other to a troupe of Roo’s. After a restless hour, Marlu finely snoozed happily, excited to keep playing the next morning.

Early the next day as the sun rose, Marlu woke up making a huge racket. It woke up the entire outback, but Marlu did not care at all. She was too disobedient to even wait for Colo to come, so she went straight to where Colo lived.  She saw Colo climbing up a long tree and decided to surprise her.

She hid behind a big green bush, waiting for the perfect moment not realising she was destroying a bush. The bush came back up and hit Marlu. She got annoyed, so she pushed it to the ground. It came back up again and she started hysterically squashing the plant, repeatedly getting angry…very angry. “Seriously!!!!!” she screamed. “You silly, dumb plant”

A scratchy hand pulled her from the irritating and yucky green bush filled with disgusting insects. “Stop doing that,” An unfamiliar voice whispered. The TREE was holding her!!! She screamed louder than everyone in the world combined. She was scared to the bone. Her heart skipped a beat. A million thoughts rushed through her mind, the tree moved and was holding her! “Let go of me, you rough tree!” she screeched in excruciating pain.

“We as the land and plants have watched your and your friend’s behaviour toward us and we see a major difference. She treats us as people and living beings instead of a silly green thing to hide behind, as you do. We do not like your actions! But Since we are so wise and generous we will give you one last chance to prove yourself worthy in this magnificent world, so be warned any poor manners toward nature you will suffer the consequences!” It explained.

As Marlu was still in awe and amazement it took her a minute to digest the information and when she understood everything she closed her eyes, rubbed them and looked up at the tree again as if waking up from a long nap. The tree was still there and it had talked! She ran out of the tree’s arms and didn’t stop till she was miles away. Panting she sat on a rock, so tired.

She looked around her surroundings and finally saw everything the way she should have. The caring way that Colo looked at the nature. She kept running, trying not to step on the bush’s, not the irritating and yucky green bush but the beautiful green bush. She finally found Colo and explained what had just happened and that she had finally understood that the land and plants are living beings and need to be treated with care.

“OMG, wow! I’m so glad you at last have realised that!” Colo replied. From then on Marlu was always kind to the land, but not just kind; she was just that little bit kinder than needed. Somehow that story (of Marlu being mean) had spread all across the land giving Marlu the reputation of Marlu the Uncaring Kangaroo.