Find a friend with the same tree in good working order and give them a goldfish then about two or three days later tell them you won a weekend in a nice cabin by a lake about an hour from their place. You can't go but they can take it a you'll feed the fish.
When they leave, go in and swap trees.
The great thing about this plan is you don't actually need to rent the cabin because they will never want to see you again once they figure out what you did, anyway.