“I’m marking tortoise burrows for a school project.”
“It’s summertime. Isn’t school out?”
“Yeah, well, it’s extra credit. I’m monitoring all of the burrows that I can find out here. Where are you from anyway? You have a funny accent.”
“I have an accent? Ha!”
“And you are wearing flip-flops. That ain’t too bright.”
“Listen, I wasn’t planning on coming out here. Just point me the way to get back.”
“How bout I walk with you. I have to find more burrows.”
“Fine. You know, you are the one with an accent. Ouch! Those cactus spines hurt!”
“Yeah. Well you aren’t supposed to mess with them. Just pick off the ones you can see. You are gonna have to get the little ones when you get home. Don’t touch your eyes whatever you do. They’ll have to pluck out your eyes if you get the spines in there.”
Olivia leaned over and started pulling out the spines from her shins. Blood dripped down her legs. “What kind of forest is this anyway? It sure is weird. OUCH!”
“It’s called scrub, and there’s no other place in the world like it. It’s what I’m doing my project on.”
“I thought you were doing it on turtles.”
“First of all, they are tortoises, not turtles. And second of all, I’m trying to find as many endangered species as I can out here.”
“Well, Nature Boy, you can have it. There aren’t even any pretty trees. And, the birds . . .” she stopped herself. “Let’s just go.”
They started walking back to her house. Olivia felt safer with Doug there, even if he was a little scrawny.
“So tell me, what are we looking for? Burrows?” she asked.
“Yeah, tortoise burrows. I’m putting a flag on each one and marking it on my map so I can find it later. Look. Here’s one.” He pointed to a large hole slanting down into the sand. It looked like something had been digging at it just a few moments ago. Olivia knelt down and peered inside. She could see a gray, scaly foot just on the edge of the darkness. Then, as if it could feel her eyes looking, it disappeared altogether into the depths.
“I think I saw one!” she said.
“Probably.” Doug said. “All sorts of things live down in those burrows. Rattlesnakes. Gopher frogs. Indigo snakes. Mice. Even owls.”
“Hmm. Did I tell you that twenty-five coral snakes live under my house, I mean, my aunt’s house?”
“Considering we just met a minute ago . . . no. And I doubt that. Coral snakes are solitary.”
“Shows you what you know, Nature Boy. I’ve seen ’em.”
“Are you sure they aren’t king snakes?”
“My aunt said so. Corals. That’s what she called them.”
“Well, they must just be under there hunting mice. They are solitary.”
“You don’t know it all. Hey, there’s another burrow.”
“And there’s the tortoise over there,” Doug pointed across the clearing. “Looks like a really old one.” The tortoise’s shell was a glossy gray color and elegantly sculpted. His head reminded Olivia of an old man. The tortoise was slowly chomping on a cactus.
“They eat those things?” Olivia exclaimed.
The tortoise looked up. Its beak was covered with red berries of some kind.
“Get ’em!” Olivia shouted and took off running.
“No, wait!” Doug shouted back.
Olivia sprinted across the sand, convinced that she had the old tortoise cornered, but it turned and bolted into its burrow with amazing quickness.
“You are never going to catch one that way, dummy. Besides, why can’t you just leave him alone?” Doug continued his lecture. “It’s a little-known fact that no matter how fast you run or how quietly you sneak around, you will never catch a tortoise that way. They are significantly faster than most people believe.”
“That thing is fast,” Olivia was still shouting, ignoring Doug. “I thought they were supposed to be slow. Gimmee a stick!” She peered down into the burrow. The burrow was so big that Olivia figured she could probably squeeze down there herself.
“No way. Just let him be. Besides, I just told you tortoises are fast. Do you have hearing problems?”
As she kneeled there, she could see the tortoise facing her down in the darkness. Olivia looked into his wise eyes. She reached down trying to grab him.
“Eh. I wouldn’t do that. There might be rattlesnakes down there,” Doug warned.
“Get up here, Mr. Gruffle,” Olivia ordered.
“Mr. Gruffle?” Doug asked. Olivia could name anything. She always thought of the perfect name for even the most mundane of things. She is the one, after all, who named Gnat “Gnat” even if their parents refused to spell it with a G.
“Yeah, Mr. Gruffle.” She looked at Doug like she wanted to add, “and do you want to make something of it?”
“Oooookay . . . put a flag on Mr. Gruffle’s house, please.” He handed her a red flag.
“You know, the animals sure are brave in Florida,” Olivia said as they started walking again.
“I dunno,” said Doug. “There are plenty of bears and panthers and rattlers out here and I never see them.”
“And corals. Lots of corals,” she responded with a smile.
“Yeah, for a solitary snake, I guess they are plentiful. You know, you never told me where you were from.”
“That is because you were rude. I’m from Wisconsin.”
“Sorry, I just never heard that accent before.”
“It’s all right,” she said, pulling some leaves off a small tree next to her. “You grow up around here?”
“Yup. Just down the road.”
“How many endangered species do you think are out here?” she asked.
“Well, the books say there are a bunch that haven’t been discovered yet. My plan is to discover a new animal. I have as good a chance out here as anyone. You get to name it yourself when you discover one, you know.”
“What are you going to name it?” Olivia asked.
“I don’t know yet. I suppose it depends on what I discover,” Doug responded. “I have ideas.”
“Well what are your ideas?” Olivia was getting irritated.
Doug turned red. “I dunno. . . .”
“You should have seen those chickens back there. They were definitely weird.”
“Looks like Dougie here has a girlfriend. The new Milligan girl.” Three large boys and a girl stepped out from behind some bushes. Two of the boys were carrying shotguns.
“Oh geez,” Doug said. “Come on, Larry, we are just walking through.”
“How many people are walking around out here in the middle of nowhere?” thought Olivia.
Olivia noticed that Larry was starting to grow facial hair and it was coming in patchy. He was clearly a few years older than anyone else. Later, Doug explained to Olivia that everyone in Lyonia called Larry Mutch and his brother Richard “the twins” even though Richard was born two years later. Their