Nobody could say where the tree had come from. It just showed up one day. A dead tree against the far wall of the complex. Planted firmly in the ground but definitely dead.
They all agreed it hadn’t been there the day before. Or at least, none of them could remember it. And it was in such a weird spot in the complex that none of them had pictures they could compare to. They all just felt like it was new.
But, if it hadn’t been there before, why would someone go through the trouble of planting a dead tree?
If it had always been there, why were they all surprised to see it?
Things like that did happen in their complex. One day a couch would show up and the next day it would be gone. Sometimes it would be beds or a desk. There was even a refrigerator once. Those were all easily explainable though, someone offloading junk, and often were gone within a couple days, someone deciding that junk was treasure. A planted tree was much harder to explain. They why and how of it were beyond any logic they could come up with.
Eventually the chatter died down and they went back about their days with a shrug. Maybe it would disappear too. That would be interesting. Was it someone’s junk and would it become someone else’s treasure?
Time would tell. In the meantime, they were up one dead tree.
The Matticus Kingdom 
what a mystery –
Truly. Such a weird mystery.
Was it Colonel Mustard with the rope in the complex?
It very well could have been. It’s a mystery.
If it’s a mystery doesn’t that automatically mean the butler did it?
No. Usually the butler but sometimes the neighbor. And sometimes it’s aliens.
If it’s aliens, that should be pretty easy to check for. Has the tree been probed?
I haven’t checked. Maybe I’ll do that today.