A Lesson in the Forest

By Carrie Hetzel

“Stay on the path. Stick with your brother! You got that!” said Mom as she zipped up Jane’s jacket. She handed her an orange plastic whistle and a small water bottle.

“Mom, do I have to take Jane? She goes so slowly. I want to explore on my own,” whined Tim.

“Just go for a few minutes or so. That will give Dad and me time to set up the tent.”

“Okay. Come on, Jane.” Tim motioned to Jane, and they walked down the path.

Jane put the whistle in her pants pocket. She was sad. Tim never wanted to play with her. She followed Tim down the path.

As they walked into the forest, it got darker. The trees were blocking the sun. Jane looked up. “Wow!” The trees were so tall.

“Look, Tim!” Jane pointed up to the top of the trees. There were rays of sunshine coming down. It looked magical.

Tim looked up and smiled. “Let’s pretend we are in an enchanted forest!” He picked up a stick. “This is my sword!” I am Prince Tim!” He gave Jane a smaller stick. “You are Princess Jane!”

Jane was so pleased. She saw a patch of little flowers that looked like bells. They were a bluish-purple colour. Tim saw her looking at them, said they were bluebells, and then laughed, “Maybe those are fairies! Those big rocks over there can be our gnome friends.”

Tim left the path. He scrambled over to the rocks. Jane followed him, laughing at her brother. There was moss growing on one side of them.

“Oh, look, they have hair!” giggled Jane.

“Green hair!” said Tim.

They were having fun exploring. Tim forgot to watch the time. He forgot about his parents putting up the tent. Jane was so happy to be with her brother that she forgot what Mom had said about staying on the path.

She sat down near a pine tree. As she turned to look at a beetle, she smelled cookies. She called Tim over. “Smell this tree, Tim. It smells like cookies!”

Tim smelled the bark on the tree. “That is a Ponderosa pine tree! I learned about that on a school field trip. It has a vanilla scent. Come on! Let’s go back. I am getting hungry.”

Every direction looked the same. There were tall trees and little bushes everywhere. They were lost.

“What are we going to do, Tim?” Jane’s eyes welled with tears.

Tim sat her down near the cookie-smelling tree and hugged her. He was also getting worried. As their stomachs began to growl for food, Jane felt something in her pocket. She stopped crying and pulled it out. The whistle!

She began blowing and blowing. It was loud. Tim took a turn after a while. Tweet! Tweet! It seemed like they couldn’t blow anymore when they heard shouting.

“Tim! Jane! Tim! Jane!”

It was Mom and Dad! They jumped up and down and yelled, “Over here!”

Dad picked up Jane and twirled her around. Mom hugged Tim. She looked them over, making sure they were ok.

Later, as Mom passed out the hotdogs, she asked, “Did you two learn anything about being in the forest today?”

“The forest is magical,” said Tim.

Jane took a bite of her hotdog, swallowed, and said, “Stay on the path!”

- Total nr. of readings: 2,290 Copyright © The author [2020] All Rights Reserved. This story may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the author except for personal use.