Forest Kids

Forest Kids
age.
Ariana uses a measuring tape to find branches the right length
for the girls’ den. Tegan scribbles on a clipboard. Scarlett flips
through a tattered British Columbia nature guide to see if she can
match plants in the woods to photos.
“Whoa! A spider!”
They stand at attention, watching the creature scoot up a tree.
“Where did it go?”
“Why can’t I find it?”
It’s hard to see because it’s brown like the bark, Ava tells them.
“He can hide so animals don’t eat him.”
“Oh, yeah,” says Tegan. “You mean predators.”
“Do you think it’s a daddy-long-legs?”
The morning is only halfway through. But already the discoveries
are piling up. The children barely stop moving. The questions
never end.
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