The Eucalyptus Sprouts Adventure

I held tight to the pole-like tree as it swung wildly and threw my weight back and forth to give it an even wide arc. Swinging fifteen feet in the air, I did my best to target one of my friends on a nearby trajectory. These eucalyptus tree sprouts were barely larger than a fist-size bamboo stalk but were much more flexible, allowing us to swing our attacks, laughing manically while twisting like three-dimensional comic-book ninja-gladiators to avoid being kicked loose ourselves. Our hoots and screams could likely be heard county-wide.

Things were going great for our group of pint-size swinging warriors, until we heard a loud CRACK, and one of the sprouts changed the whole game. Each of us paused, letting the waving tree slowly stop swinging while we processed the share thought of, “oh no. . .