That's what happens when a spice tree is harvested too many times without being watered and petted. It may be that your tree has exhausted it's lifespan (the home street trees "run out" after a while) and won't let you pet/water until it dies.

Either that or it was planted, petted 3 times, then left alone to grow for a while without petting and watering.

Yes, I think that is what happened: it was left alone to grow up unloved.

Last week I saw a lot of nearly dead cherry trees on the streets of Tallish Crest Quarters - they were nearly all green with no cherries. Some were dead.