Upon Leaving Eden

 

            The fish was lovely, as were the mushrooms. The cowboy coffee was good. The company was charming and kind. The forest was glamorous like a Bierstadt painting. But evening was coming and it was time to leave the world of the Great Forest.
            Ramona hugged Hannah goodbye, saying, "Come back again!"

           "Thank you, I will!" said Hannah.

            “We’ll see each other again,” said Ralph.

            "Oh, I  hope so!" said Hannah.
            “I want to help,” said Cherry. She wanted to go with Maeve and Hannah, so of course she was allowed to drift along.
            “Stay right with me, it's so easy to get lost," said Maeve. “I will fly a short distance, then wait for you to catch up. You’ll see me if you watch carefully. Then we’ll do that again and again.”
            “I will,” said Hannah, and they started out of the Forest by a new path. Leaving looked different from arriving. The sun slanted low, picking out some things to highlight with golden evening beams. A startlingly red rose burnt there like a beacon. Surely, she hadn’t just missed that on the way in.
            This path was much shorter and straighter. Cherry stayed right with Hannah, nearby in the air. Maeve would fly a short distance and then be found waiting on some branch or bush. It was quite a nice walk they had together.
            At last, Hannah could see the ranger station through the trees, and knew that it was time to say goodbye.
            “Goodbye, Little Cherry, I love you,” said Hannah.
            “I love you too,” said Cherry, then she darted back toward home.
            “You’ll see me around from time to time, Hannah. I keep an eye on things around here,” said Maeve.
            “Yes, Ma’am,” said Hannah. “Goodbye!” Maeve called a goodbye, as she flew back into the trees. Hannah was on her own.
            She stepped out from behind the station dumpster intending to go up into the campground and to her little mobile. Rick’s truck was in its usual spot, though it was a little late for him to be at the station. It seemed like it must be time for him to go home. Dexter’s little junker was on the other side of the service vehicle.
            Maybe Hannah’s eyes were full of memories, or maybe there were still some tears, and maybe someone had left a stone on the parking lot, but in any case she stumbled and fell. She had been walking swiftly, and it was a sudden and shocking fall.
            She sat there stunned for a few moments.
            Then she cried out a little because she noticed that one knee of her jeans was torn and that she had a skinned knee just like kid, and it was bleeding through her jeans as she sat there.
            Inside Rick’s office, where Dexter had been talking park business with Rick, Dexter heard that little cry. He jumped up and ran to the window. Then he ran to door and pulled it open, running out to Hannah.
            “What happened?” said Dexter.
            “I think I tripped on a rock, but I don’t see it now,” said Hannah, a little damply.
            Dexter scanned the lot quickly. “I don’t see a rock either,” he said.
            He turned to help her to her feet, and it was awkward, because he didn’t know exactly how to go about it without actually touching Hannah, which he had never done before.
            “Just pull on my hands, and I will stand up,” she said.
            But, somehow, she ended up in his arms. That was awkward too, but they just stood there in the middle of the station parking lot, with the late sun light gilding everything around them, with their arms wrapped around each other as if they had forgotten how to let go.
            After some period of time, Dexter said, “We have a first-aid kit in the office. Why don’t we go patch up your knee?”
            “OK,” said Hannah. But neither of them moved off the spot.
            Well, eventually they figured out how to let go, and Dexter helped Hannah, who was limping a little bit, into the office.
            Rick looked up when they came through the door, then he smiled.

💚

Look Deeply Into Her Green Eyes!

 

This is what it looks like when she has a tale to tell.

(It's almost beyond me not to spell that 'tail'.)

Suzy wishes you all a fine Catfurday.

You can see that there is a lot going on there behind those green eyes.

Toots knows!

🐈‍⬛🖤🐈🐈🖤🐈‍⬛🐈🖤🐈

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?

 

            “Evermore,” Maeve whispered from her perch on a fir branch. 
            “Hi, Birdy,” said Ralph. “We have company!”
            “I see! The camp host, I believe. I don’t know her name,” said Maeve. After everything else, Hannah was not surprised to hear Maeve speaking.
            “This lady is Hannah, who put 2 and 2 together and came up with a question. To test her theory, she left gifts, which you saw, by the highway,” Ralph told Maeve.
            “Hello, Hannah. Few human people find their way into the Great Forest,” said Maeve.
            “I know! I tried it. The Forest turned me around! That’s when I really knew something unusual was going on here,” said Hannah.
            “Yes, there must be a guide,” agreed Maeve.
            Maeve floated down onto Ralph’s shoulder, to stay close so they could talk if they wanted to. The path was narrow, so Ralph went ahead and Hannah followed behind. She was glad of the opportunity to look around without being observed.
            When they first entered the forest, near the parking lot, it looked like any other section of forest, familiar in every way. Just a path in between the great firs. Beams of sunlight peeked in from the sky here and there. The sounds of the forest were as usual, birds, bugs, far away noises that were more obscure, but totally normal.
            When things changed, Hannah tried to put her finger on what had happened, but it was hard to say later, when she tried to describe it.
            It wasn’t a jarring change. It was pleasant, like going to some place greatly desired, such as when a child gets to experience their heart’s desire in some way. It felt a little bit like that ghost of almost a memory that comes upon us once in a while, and is gone before we can define it, leaving only a sense of sweetness behind.
            The Great Forest was like that.
            First, she noticed a shift in sound. What was bright and sharp became soft and dreamy. The wind sighed. She thought she must able to  hear a river whispering too. Then there was scent. Something sweet and resinous and persistent was on the breeze. She’s never noticed that particular scent before. She wondered about exotic flowers.
            Then Hannah noticed the forest floor as she walked on it. The path was now covered in soft moss, full of tiny white flowers like stars in an inverted green sky. Mist rose up from the ground, and literally curled around the largest fir trunks Hannah had ever seen. She was so amazed that she had to tell herself to keep moving.
            “Doing OK back there, Hannah?” said Ralph, turning around to see how she was.
            “Yes, it’s like a dream,” she murmured. “But now, everything before seems like the dream.”
            “The Forest often has that effect on visitors,” said Ralph.
            “Do we have far to go?” said Hannah.
            “No, we’ll get there whenever we want to. Would you like to walk a bit more?” said Ralph.
            “Yes, please. It is so pretty to be here,” she said. And as she spoke, she realized that she was changed too. She didn’t feel so much like little short blond Hannah, she felt taller and wilder, like some figure from a story so old that no one believes it anymore.
            “Would you like to meet Ramona now,” called Ralph from up the trail a little. It seemed like maybe they had been walking a spiral, but maybe not.
            “I would,” said Hannah. “And Cherry! And the animals!”
            Just then the path opened up into a large clearing among the trees. At a slight distance Hannah could see a kind of round stone fireplace, surrounded by seating made of sections of a large tree’s trunk. A fire was burning, but making almost no visible smoke.
            There seemed to be a cliff face behind the fireplace with a green door set into it.
            Seated by the fire was a figure of such exotic beauty and serenity that Hannah knew she was looking at Ramona.
            While Ralph looked as solid as the mountains, Ramona was obscure, and hard to describe. Later, Hannah couldn’t quite bring her face to mind.
            Maeve jumped off of Ralph’s shoulder and flew to Ramona, settling down beside her.
            As they were nearing the fire, Ralph called to Ramona, “Look! I’ve brought a Daughter of Eve to visit!” His eyes twinkled when Hannah looked at him in astonishment, and his laugh rumbled off into the trees.
            Ramona called out, “Please, Daughter of Eve, you are welcome.”
            Hannah started crying, but good tears, not bad, and Ramona came to  her and held her until she could stop crying.
            “I think you must have a name,” said Ramona.
            “My mother called me Hannah,” said she.
            “Welcome, Hannah. I sense that there is a story coming,” said Ramona. “Please, sit.”
            So, Ralph and Hannah told Ramona the story of how Hannah had surmised their presence, and that she was the one who left the gifts, and that she was the one who wore Cherry’s green crown.
            Then, as if on cue, Cherry appeared in the air, drifting softly down from somewhere near but above.
            “Oh!” said Hanna, “You’re Cherry! Oh, beautiful child!”
            Blue came along on foot, and laid her head in Hannah’s lap, where she sat with Ramona.
            Hannah put her hand on Blue’s head, as if they had been friends forever.
            Ralph whistled. There was silence for a few minutes, then two fully grown pumas appeared at the fire, smiling their secret cat smile.
            “This one is Bob,” said Ralph, indicating Bob, “And this one is Berry,”
            The great cats sat together by the fire, with green eyes shining. Neither spoke.
            “Are all your questions answered now?” said Ralph.
            “I had no idea,” said Hannah. “No idea at all! But, yes, yes.”
            “Can you stay until dinner?” said Ramona. “It will be fish today.”
            “I’d rather be here, having fish dinner with you all, than any other place on  earth,” said Hannah. “Yes, thank you, I’d love to stay.”
            “When it’s time to go back, Maeve will show you the way,” said Ralph.
            Hannah just nodded, because she had tears in her eyes again.

💚💮💚

That Can Be Arranged Easily!

 

            “You sure about that?” said Dexter. “The first time I ran into him in this office, I nearly fainted. He’s real big. And very hairy.”
            “I’ve seen photos, or drawings,” said Hannah.
            “They don’t prepare you, Hannah,” said Dexter.
            “If you’re really sure. Knowing and believing are two different things! But, if you really want to meet him, I can just call you next time he shows up,” said Rick.
            “I’m sure. I expect to be impressed. You guys know? But I’m not afraid, since you both know him and are his friends.
            “Waiting is hard, but I’ll be waiting for that call. My phone is always in my pocket!” Hannah said. “I’m so excited!”
            Life went back to its sleepy normal at the ranger station. And in the campground a few campers stayed for a day or two, and left. And different campers arrived. Hannah answered questions and gave advice. She never left her phone at home.
            Without notice beforehand, the day arrived.
            One summer morning at about 8AM, when Rick had just gotten to his office, Ralph slipped out of the Forest. Every morning for a week or so, he had been feeling like it was time to go check in on Rick and Dexter, and the camp.
            He looked both ways carefully, saw no one, took about three steps and was at the office door. He knocked quietly, and stepped inside, saying, “you home, Rick?”
            “Come into my parlor!” said Rick. “Sit down. I have a surprise for you.”
            “I’m already surprised, in anticipation!” said Ralph. He sat. The big chair was always in front of Rick’s desk.
            “The camp host, Hannah, wants to meet you,” said Rick. “Good idea? What do you think?”
            “I wondered. I saw her wearing the crown that Cherry made! We were enjoying the fruit and stuff in the jar she left us. Sure. I wouldn’t mind meeting her at all!” said Ralph.
            “The stuff in the jar was peanut butter. She told us. You Forest guys are supposed to just love it.”
            “We did love it. It’s all gone now. Shall I just stay here?” said Ralph.
            “I’ll call her. I told her to wait until you showed up,” said Rick.
            While Ralph had some coffee and three or four doughnuts, Rick made the call to Hannah.
            “Ralph’s here now, Hannah. Seems like right now would be a good time. Good for you?” he asked her.
            “I’ll be right down,” she said, hanging up quickly to finish dressing. She wasn’t afraid, but suddenly felt very shy. She kind of knew that this was a turning point. Life was never going to be exactly the same. And so, it did make her feel all fluttery inside.
            But the ball was rolling and she would chase it to wherever it rolled.
            It took about three minutes to get down to Rick’s door.
            Hannah took a deep breath and opened the door. “Hello…” she called out.
            Dexter had been right. Nothing she had seen online prepared her for the presence of Ralph. He was large in a way that seemed to have little to do with physical dimensions. He was huge in spirit too. She could feel that.
            But, physically, she had never been in the company of such a large person. She guessed his height at nine feet maybe. She had no idea what he might weigh. He was bulky and muscular with a bit of a middle ager’s belly. He was covered in dark espresso brown hair maybe six inches long. He sat quietly.
            When she was able to look at his face, she saw friendly big brown eyes, with a lot of wrinkles around them, though he didn’t look old really. He had a beard touching his chest with some white streaks on either side of his mouth. The mouth was smiling. He looked like he found life to be generally amusing.
            “Hannah, this is Ralph,” said Rick.
            She couldn’t quite muster speech yet, so Ralph said, in a voice so low it was almost pure vibration, “Hi, Hannah.”
            All of a sudden, she was filled with a childish happiness, like she knew the greatest secret in the world. She would speak.
            “Hello! Oh! I am so happy to meet you!” she said all in a rush. “May I call you Ralph?”
            “Of course, yes. We loved the fruit and the peanut butter! Thank you!” said Ralph.
            “Did that big raven tell you they were there?” said Hannah.
            “Why, yes she did! That’s Maeve. She is a Greater Raven, unlike a regular raven. She’s kind of a messenger,” Ralph told Hannah.
            “You said ‘we’, do you have a family?”
            “Yes, I have a Firekeeper, my Ramona, I have a son with his own family, and I have a young daughter named Cherry. My son is Twigg. We have animals too, living with us,” said Ralph.
            “Bears, raccoons? Or?” said Hannah.
            Ralph laughed for a few seconds, “No, two puma brothers, and a white wolf named Blue who is Cherry’s companion. The cats are Bob and Berry, and they talk if they feel like it.”
            “Oh, wonderful,” sighed Hannah.
            “Would you like to come and meet everyone? Ramona would love to see you. Cherry will be a little shy, but still  happy to get to know you,” said Ralph.
            “I want to! But I’m supposed to be working today,” she said.
            “It’s alright, Hannah. You may have the day off, or however much of it you need,” said Rick. “Dexter can check in with the campers, when he finally gets here. Go ahead.”
            “Will Maeve be there too?” said Hannah.
            “She’s probably out there now, waiting for us to get moving. She has a way of knowing what’s up,” said Ralph. “You know your phone won’t work in the Great Forest.”
            “That’s alright. I don’t care about that. I don’t need to call anyone,” she said.
            “OK, then! Let’s go see what Ramona has to say, and maybe Cherry will demonstrate her special gift for you!” said Ralph, standing up. “Shall we go?”
            “Yes! Thank you! This is the best thing ever, after that green crown, which is in my fridge staying cool, Ralph!” said Hannah.
            “See you later,” said Rick, flipping his laptop open and looking down.
            Both Ralph and Hannah said, “Bye!”
            Outside, Ralph said, “I’m supposed to be a secret, so we have to kinda slide through the parking lot quick like.”
            When they got beyond the station dumpster and entered the trees, Maeve was there to meet them.

🌲💚🌲

An Observant Girl

 

 

            Hannah didn’t notice any one thing; it was a constellation of related observations. She kept her eyes open. She had a lot of free time working as the camp host, when no one needed her for anything.
            The first odd thing was smoke. Not dirty black smoke, but a consistent column of light smoke above a certain location in the forest. It was there nearly every day. It seemed peculiar. No one was supposed to be living out there, but obviously someone was. Or, something else was happening out there, something on a daily basis.
            Hannah thought about talking to Dexter about the smoke. But she hadn’t actually brought the subject up yet. She kept looking, without saying anything.
            One day when she was taking a bike ride on SR 20, heading east, she rode past a spot where the verge was very wide and had a lot of tire tracks on it. She noticed that there was a very well-traveled looking path heading out into the forest. Hannah stopped and tried to peer into the trees there, but she couldn’t see very far into the forest. It was hard to see anything because of how close and shady it was in there. As she was standing there holding her bike upright, an extremely large raven flew out into the open, saw her there and then headed right back into the trees, as if it were in a hurry.
            Hannah had never seen such a stunningly large raven before. It must mean something, she thought.
            Then, once or maybe twice when she entered Rick’s office when Dexter was there, the two men had given each other a very noticeable look when she came in. There was relief and a bit of alarm in the look. Women notice such things. She didn’t ask any questions.
            But she began to feel like they were keeping secrets from her.
            Now, Hannah was not completely out of the loop. She had a computer, like everybody else and she had seen some interesting videos about this very part of the world. She wasn’t completely dead set against the stories she watched, but she was a curious newbie. The subject had never come up with either Rick or Dexter, or any of the campers either. The subject was the possible existence of Forest People, Sasquatches, or Wild Men who lived apart from human society.
            The next time Hannah had some free time she went back to where she had seen the great raven. She was there to examine the ground. She was just curious. What she found was tire tracks. Not surprising. But it also looked like there was a scuffed foot print near the tire tracks in an area where there was some loose soil. She looked all over the wide spot in the verge, but she only saw the one possible very large footprint, because there was a lot of rough grass and so on just a little closer to the trees.
            It was too much. Curiosity was getting the better of her. She brought her bike up away from the road, and laid it down out of sight as best she could. She decided to just start walking the path and see what she could see.
            For some distance the path was wide and clear, and then it wasn’t. Looking into the trees, in an attempt to keep following the trail, Hannah saw it kind of fade into underbrush and grass, and huckleberry bushes. She decided to push on. Maybe it cleared out up ahead. But it didn’t.
            Poor Hannah. She shoved her way through thick underbrush and found herself facing SR 20 again.
            Now she knew something special was going on here. She pondered her next step.
            She decided to try leaving something nice, and just see what happened next. So, she hung one of her old Easter baskets with six perfect Delicious apples in it on a broke alder sapling branch. Then she bided her time for a couple of days.
            When she rode out there again, she brought a big jar of homemade peanut butter. She’d heard that they, if they were real, doted on peanut butter.
            The apples and the basket were gone. So she placed the jar down in the grass at the foot of the alder, sort of out of sight from the road. The next time she came back it was gone, slick as a whistle.
            This was becoming fun. Next trip to the unofficial parking spot, she left a nice bunch of bananas. This was kind of a joke because the videos said the Forest people didn’t like bananas or oranges, or carrots! Leaving bananas was like an experiment.
            The experiment was successful because when she came back to check, the bananas had vanished. After a moment’s elation, she saw there among the greenery, hanging on the same little stub was a beautiful, fantastical work of art.
            It was formed in a loop, woven of several types of greenery, and reminded Hannah of a sort of green crown. It had to be a gift. Someone out there in the trees where she couldn’t go, had made this beautiful thing for her. It was the most incredible thing that had ever happened to her. She placed it on her own head, and it fit perfectly.
            Back in the campground she parked her bike by the mobile where she lived when she was working. Then she marched down to Rick’s office. This was going to be fun!
            And it was fun.
            “Hi!” Hannah called out as she stepped into Rick’s office. Both he and Dexter were there, drinking coffee. They gave each other a wary look.
            “Wow, did you make that?” said Dexter.
            “Nope, I did not,” said Hannah, agreeably.
            “Where did you get it?” said Rick. If his face had an expression it might have been called ‘the jig is up.’
            “I found it on an alder sapling over by the wide spot on highway 20,” she said.
            “Cool!” said Dexter. “I wonder who made it?”
            “Oh, come on!” she said. “You two are obviously hiding something from me, and I think I know what it is! Why don’t you just tell me? I won’t cry or run away!” Then she told them about seeing the smoke in the forest, the big raven by the parking spot, and how nervous they looked sometimes when she popped into the office. And she told them about how the basket of apples and the peanut butter, and the bananas had all been taken when she left them there.
            “OK, Hannah. Take a seat,” said Rick. “You’re right. We have been keeping a big secret from you.”
            Then he and Dexter, filling in for each other, and talking over each other, explained to her about the big secret, and why it needed to remain a secret.
            She sat with her hands folded together and listened quietly to the whole story. “I knew it,” she said happily.
            “I want to meet this guy, Ralph,” said Hannah at last.

🍁

Happy Tootsday! July is Just About Half Over!

 

"Oh my word," said Sweetie. "She got the iPhone out again."

"If you just close your eyes, you won't even be able to tell," said Booker.

"I was just trying to sleep," said Sweetie.

"Shhhh, it's okay. Now, she'll go post it online," said Booker.

"We'll be famous," said Sweetie, dropping off to sleep.

"Yep," said Booker. "In a minor sort of way."

"Zzz," said Sweetie.

🐈‍⬛🖤🐈‍⬛🐈🐈‍⬛🖤🐈🐈‍⬛

Please, enjoy your Tootsday!

 

It Was Bound To Happen Eventually

 

            Apples don't grown in the Great Forest. But there they were. Six of them. Dark, very red, looking like something from a fairytale, arranged in a charming basket.
            The charming basket was hanging from the stump of a branch on an alder sapling near the wide spot on SR 20, so not quite within the Great Forest, but at its periphery.
            Naturally, Maeve saw it first, but she didn’t touch it. It looked a little too good to her, felt like a trap maybe.
            When she got to Ralph, he was naturally intrigued. “Oh, really, Birdy? Let us go take a look and puzzle it out!” said he. He headed right over to the highway, and just as she had said, there was what was probably an Easter basket, with six perfect organic deep red apples inside hanging on the little alder tree.
            “Hm,” said Ralph, and he walked all around the tree, looking for sign of any kind. Nothing out of the ordinary appeared.
            “The Plaidies didn’t leave it here. I know it wasn’t them. I kicked their tiny posteriors out of the Forest for good. Didn’t I?” said Ralph.
            “Yeah, you did. They haven’t been back,” said Maeve, from her usual perch.
            “Cool,” agreed Ralph. “I’ll take them to Ramona, they look delicious.”
            Ramona agreed that the apples looked delicious. She and Ralph and Cherry and Maeve all ate an apple, and noticed no ill effects. There were two left, and they didn’t explode or vanish or anything uncanny.
            It was a couple of days later when Maeve came to Ralph again.
            “Boss, there’s something else at that tree by the road. It’s in a jar. It’s brown," she said.
            “That’s strange,” he said. “I suppose I better go look, might be like bait or something. Who knows?”
            And just like Maeve said, there was a plain glass jar on the forest floor with some anonymous light brown substance in it. Ralph picked it up and turned it all around. He sniffed it, then he screwed the lid off. He sniffed it again.
            “It smells like nuts,” he said. He stuck a big forefinger in the stuff and pulled out a glob of it and popped it into his mouth.
            “Take it easy, Boss!” said Maeve, urgently. "It might make you sick!"
            “I’ve never had any of this stuff before. It’s really good!” said Ralph. “I bet it would be good on a biscuit or something. I wonder what people do with it?” He screwed the lid back on.
            “More to the point,” said Maeve, “why is it here? Better see what Ramona thinks of it.”
            So, back to Ramona they went. Ralph waited and watched while Ramona sniffed it and tasted it.
            “I wonder what it’s good for?” said Ramona. She thoughtfully ate a spoonful. “Maybe I’ll put it in cookies. I bet Thaga knows what it is.”
            Two more days went by. Life in the Forest proceeded normally, the sun rose, meals were made and eaten, work was done, the wind blew, then the sun went down just as it should.
            Yet again, Maeve came looking for Ralph.
            “Boss, It happened again. This is getting weird,” said Maeve. “I don’t even know what these things are, but I sure know they don’t grow out there on that alder tree.”
            “This I gotta see,” said Ralph. “What do you think it is?”
            “I don’t know. I can’t tell if they’re some kind of weird flower buds, or something like a fruit. They’re yellow and long and fingerlike, held together in a bunch,” said Maeve, with one eye squinted up.
            “Let’s go, “ said Ralph.
            Hanging from the same little branch was a cluster of things which Maeve had described well. We know what they are, but Ralph and Maeve had never seen such things before. They studied them, Ralph poked them, like maybe they were alive. But nothing happened.
            So, they removed the strange fruits from the tree and took them to Ramona for a consult.
            “I don’t know,” that lady said. Then she squeezed one and it popped open. There was a pulpy whiteish substance inside. She carefully tasted the pulp, then smiled. “It’s sweet. You have to take the skin off of them. I bet Thaga knows what they are,” she said.
            “I don’t know who is leaving us these nice gifts, but maybe we should put something there to say thanks,” said Ramona. “I wonder what to leave though. It’s kind of like a game! Let me think.”
            So, Maeve and the family thought and thought about what to hang on the tree for the mysterious generous person. Ralph suggested a fresh turkey. Ramona vetoed that. “That’s like giving them work to do,” she said.
            “How about…,” said Maeve, but just then Cherry spoke up.
            “I could make one my crowns for them,” she said. “I would make a really good one!”
            “That’s just right,” said Ramona! “It would show intention and it would be the only one in the world!”
            Ramona and Cherry went out to gather materials for the crown. They concentrated on plants that keep well, such as Salal and Oregon Grape, though that one is prickly and she would have to be careful with it. They picked some long grass stems, and a few immature alder cones, little green ones.
            Cherry spent the rest of the day working on the green crown until it was just perfect. She didn’t put flowers in it because they wouldn’t last long.
            That evening Ralph and Cherry went out to the alder sapling and hung the green crown on the branch that had held the basket of apples. Then, they went on back to the Home Clearing hoping that the right person would find it there.
            It was fun, like being part of a mystery. They couldn’t wait to find out what would happen next.
            Most of a week went by. There were no further developments, except that the green crown disappeared from the sapling.
            Cherry was pleased and excited, wondering who had her gift.
            One morning Ralph decided to drop in on Ranger Rick, just to check in on camp news and have coffee and maybe some cookies or something. He was always very careful to be sure that none of the campers could see him. He didn’t want to cause any trouble for Rick.
            As he was standing still and silent among the fir trunks by the path behind Rick’s station dumpster, someone walked through the parking lot. Ralph didn’t move a hair or a muscle.
            The person strolling through the station parking lot was Hannah, the campground host. On her head, worn proudly, was Cherry’s green crown of leaves.
            “Well!” Ralph thought to himself, “that solves one mystery!”
            He smiled, there in the dim light among the trees. “But it sure opens up another one!”

🍃🍁🍃