Chapter 2 It was a full week before Dingo returned. Tassie's 'deal' had fallen through so they went chasing another money-making scheme, working 'round the clock to prepare a submission for a lucrative contract to supply emu products to Tassie's Taswegian homeland. They missed out by 'that much', so came home with their tails between their legs, yet again. ozEkoala greeted them warmly when they drove up to her gum-tree residence. She saw they needed some encouragement, so invited them in for her famous gum-leaf tea. They poured out their latest tale of woe on her sympathetic ears while she prepared some damper for them. When their sorry tale was done, ozEkoala pulled up a stump and sat down in front of the pair of forlorn creatures and prepared to speak. Before she had a chance, Tassie jumped up and shouted, "I've got an idea!" "Sit down, Tassie!", growled Dingo. "I've just about had enough of your ideas to last me a lifetime! Let's listen to ozE for a change." Tassie sat down in uncharacteristic submission, and became quiet again. His latest failure had really kicked the stuffing out of him, and he was about as sick of his own ideas as Dingo. "Listen guys," said ozEkoala, "I've been thinking a lot about what we read the other day, since you've been gone, and I've had an idea." Tassie pricked up his ears at the word 'idea'. In his vocabulary, 'idea' translated 'money-making scheme', and 'money' translated 'food'. Dingo used a similar dictionary, and his mouth dropped open at the thought of ozEkoala having an 'idea'. ozEkoala was notorious for having a quiet disdain for ideas, preferring to live a quiet life, contentedly making craft items and selling them from her home. She did a good trade because the quality of her work was of an excellent standard, and the designs were unique. What the two before her didn't realise was that in her younger days, she too thought up an idea to produce an income to ensure her survival, but it was a carefully planned and executed idea, not a fly-by-night scheme with hopes of quick rewards for little effort. "It seems to me, from what I've read since you left, that God made us to be creative and productive. It doesn't seem right that you guys should spend so much time trying to earn a living for so little reward." The two listeners were shocked. This was their belief exactly! ozEkoala always seemed so out of touch with real life, but maybe she had seen sense at last. They listened with rapt attention to find out what this 'idea' was to involve.
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