Nature Girl Read Online Free Page B

nasty diseases.
    Nothing is worth all that torture. So why would anyone want to go in there? It’s not like there’s anything fun to do in the Woods. How come Arp and I are the only ones who know that?
    Ginia and Sam are almost to Dad’s beloved stone wall. But Arp and I have only just started walking in the field. I’m dragging my feet. Actually we can’t walk very fast because the grass is taller than Arp. Walking through it is like wading through water. The sun feels warm on my head. The meadow smells nice—not like Ginia’s perfume, but clean and good. A yellow butterfly floats above the little blue flowers.
    “How about stopping here? This is a good place for lunch.”
    They ignore me—of course. Ginia is babbling, What’s that flower, what’s that bird, what’s that rock, what’s that buzzing, biting insect, like she’s going to write a report about this hike. I slow down even more so I won’t have to hear her icky little voice say, “Oh, Samster, you know so much about the world.” Besides, Arp is pulling me in the other direction. He already took hisdump by Mom’s precious raspberry bush. He doesn’t understand why he can’t go back to the farmhouse and have a nap.
    Up ahead, the trees look so dark that I start thinking about all the stories I ever read where something goes terribly wrong in the Woods. Kids get lost; witches eat them; trees attack them. You know, people didn’t just make that stuff up. They had their reasons. You probably think I’m being ridiculous. Those were old-fashioned times and we live in the twenty-first century. Maybe we do, but the Woods are back in the Dark Ages.
    “Oh, Samster, what kind of rocks are those?” Ginia says.
    “Heavy ones,” Sam says.
    What a funny guy.
    They’re at the stone wall. Dad is sitting beside it on his little camp stool, sketching the rocks so he can paint a different part of the wall. The wall is the boundary between the field and the Woods. But I don’t get the point of it. I mean, the wall is only about three feet tall—not nearly high enough to keep any wild animals in the Woods from coming out.
    “Bye, Dad,” Ginia says.
    “Bye, Ginia. Bye, Sam. Be sure to thank your mom for letting my girls spend the night and see your cider mill,” Dad says.
    “No problem. She loves showing people what real cider’s like,” Sam says.
    “The girls are in for a treat,” Dad says.
    I can hardly wait. I think the last time I had apple juice was from my sippy cup.
    Sam scrambles over the wall and holds out his hand to help Ginia, like it was some huge obstacle or something. Give me a break. If he tries to help me over, I’ll slap his hand away. But he doesn’t wait. He and Ginia just continue on into the shadowy forest. Her white shorts turn gray. Then Sam and Ginia disappear completely.
    I start to yell, “Wait up!” Then I think, What am I doing? Ginia and Sam can rush into the Woods if they want. But if I walk slowly enough, I might never make it to the wall. So I balance on one leg for as long as I can before putting my other foot down. Almost five minutes go by and I’ve only taken three steps. This is a great plan—until Dad looks up from his sketch.
    “Megan, what are you doing?” Dad says.
    “Ginia didn’t wait and I’m not going in there by myself.”
    “Ginia, wait for Megan!” Dad yells.
    Ginia shouts back, “We’ll never get to the beaver dam if we wait for that lazybones!”
    “I don’t have lazy bones!” I shout.
    “That’s right. You’re nothing but flab!” Ginia yells.
    Sam laughs.
    “Dad!” I say.
    “Your sister’s teasing you. Where’s your sense of humor?” Dad says.
    “Back in New York.”
    Dad strokes his beard for a moment. “Megan, one of life’s many lessons …”
    At first I think, Oh great. Like I need a lecture right now? Then I think, Oh great! All the time Dad’s talking, I’m staying OUT of the Woods.
    “Yes, Dad?”
    “We don’t always have control over our situations. But