by John Longhurst
continues from Think about it
All was fine in the "thinking about it" economy.
People solved all their immediate problems by thinking about them. World problems from climate change to overpopulation were dealt with by thinking about doing something about them.
But it was the problems in the middle that were not dealt with. People did not want to waste time thinking about the more mundane when they could think about where they could go, what they could do and what they could eat.
The problems at the Mologolo Zoo were a classic example. The summer bushfires had pretty much destroyed the zoo. The post summer pandemic finished it off. Lots of animals, no zoo cages and no clientele. No one wanted to think about that. Not ever.
The Mayor of Mologolo was the only one who thought about this more immediate problem for her community. In fact she had had to re enter the virtual economy and even scarier, the real economy to deal with the issue.
Lots of zoom meetings followed. The plan was audacious, even extraordinary.
The animals of the zoo were retrained to take over the real economy of Mologolo.
The giraffes ran the local ice creamery. Lyre birds relished the opportunity to serve customers at the local florist. Kookaburras were a natural fit for security and the alarm system. The lions and tigers loved running the butchery.
The more exotic animals took control of the local eateries. Malaysian sun bears ran the Thai takeaway and giant pandas could be observed throwing a stir fry together in a wok at the Chinese restaurant.
Uber monkeys sorted the delivery to the home caged population. There was so much scurrying about that the elephants were used as roundabouts to direct the traffic.
It was quite a sight watching feeding time in Mologolo. The monkeys had to be very careful the public did not escape from their houses when making deliveries.
But there were complaints. The Mayor listened. Children complained about the spotted ice cream from the giraffes. The lyre birds kept the prettiest flowers for themselves. The half eaten meat from the tiger run butchery upset the clientele and peanuts were in short supply to pay the monkeys.
The Mayor’s face lengthened as the complaints continued. She peered above her computer screen. She looked out the window. The grass was now long and green following the rains. It looked peaceful. The animals looked content after work.
“Naysayers” she thought.
“The community just saddles me up with more problems. I’ve done my bit.” she whined. She shook her head. “Naysayers, naysayers, naysayers.” She snorted.
And at that the mare stomped out the door and enjoyed the sunshine.
