Crystal's Seed
Chapter 1 - Little Girl Squirrel
Crystal was a little girl squirrel who liked to bound around the woods in crunchy leaves to sound like a big mama bear, then flash up a trunk and dart among branches high in the trees, dancing and leaping - and hiding behind leaves to peek at others who happened along.
A high above bird liked similar things, keeping watchful eye over happenings in the woods, even playful little girl squirrels.
One carefree day she crossed the small stream
and ran down the sandy banks to play in the
trees, and she spotted a bright fruit
in the branches above,
and caught the strong scent whose aroma smelled sweet.
The bird high above had a similar thought; that fruit just hanging there looked so very good to eat.
She remembered her Daddy who warned her each time - it's dangerous to eat the fruit, so don't even try; but she never really understood why. So playful, now hungry, she scampered out to the tiny branch that yummy smelling fruit was dangling beneath. And the watchful bird above wanting the fruit too then dove down to try to get it for itself.
Startled, Crystal jumped down into the soft green grass below and landed near a large pinecone she saw, with seeds she could reach right in front of her. So she sampled a few, and they tasted very good to a little girl squirrel. A puff of wind and a creak of branches turned her attention to the stream, and another pinecone was floating in newly forming waves and drifting downstream with the water and the wind.
She saw the clouds moving toward her, the bright reflection of the low sun in the blue sky off the flowing waters, and felt a drop of rain. "Uh oh," she thought. "Soon it will be too rainy and windy to cross the river," the gentle stream of the morning now looking more dangerous to a little girl squirrel.
A little hungry, Crystal wondered about a bite of the mushroom, but her Dad also told her to be careful about that and she remembered about not trying to eat the fruit of the tree, and the bird, and the good tasting seed from the pinecone.
And her next jump landed her on a leaf, sticky with sap from the tree,
with a few more pinecones strewn about. So she thought, "I'll use some
strong grasses and sticky leaves and sap with the pinecones, and a few
tiny branches from the tree to make a little raft to cross the little river."
And she did.
And as she was on top of the raft and floating across and down the stream,
some of the seeds spilled from the pinecones of the raft, and a big fish to a
little girl squirrel caught a shimmer in a glance, and smelled of a little seed
that tasted good - and saw another, and one more, and eating each one
followed the trail of seeds to the cone, and then just a little crunch to get
that one it saw right inside the cone.
And the cone crumbled, and the raft tilted, and Crystal hung on and kept
kicking to take the raft to the little beach on the other side.
She didn't think she'd make it, and she was getting tired and hungry, like
an active little girl squirrel will, so she ate a few more of the little seeds
of the cone that had been by the roots of the tree. And that filled her
stomach and gave her some strength - and something touched her foot -
but somehow she got across into the rippling sand by the water in the wind,
where her Dad and Mom squirrels were eagerly waiting for her to get home before the storm. And they hugged and danced and hid in the branches among the leaves in the sturdy trees, beneath which a little tree sprout was growing from the nut her Mom had planted and forgotten, while the mushroom saw and smiled inside.
"Dad," she asked. "Why shouldn't I eat the fruit from the tree?"
"Because, baby girl," he told Crystal, "other animals and even the
birds like to eat of that fruit, and they might not like you
getting it instead of them if they're hungry."
"Oh," Crystal understood now. This was a day she would never forget.
Chapter 2 - Tween Squirrel Girl
One day, a long time later in the life of a little girl squirrel, Crystal was having breakfast of nuts and seeds with her mom and dad squirrel, and she noticed the little tree growing near them that she took for granted by now. "Mom," Crystal said, "I don't remember that tiny tree being there when I was a little girl squirrel. Has it always been there?"
"No, baby, it's just growing there now," her mom assured her.
"But Dad," Crystal asked, "How did it get there?"
"From what you're eating for breakfast, tween girl squirrel: the nuts and seeds grow into the trees that make the same kinds of nuts and seeds."
"So, Daddy - the seeds make the trees that make the seeds, and the nuts make the trees that make the nuts?"
"Yes, that's right, Crystal. You do understand!" her dad encouraged her.
"May I go and play for a while?" Crystal asked her parents.
"Yes, baby." her dad said, "Be careful of the fruit and don't talk to strangers."
The seeds and the trees and the memory of green grass and pinecones made Crystal curious - enough to go back to that older tree and remember all that had happened on her previous adventure. She ran along the beach and leapt over ripples in the sand and felt the grains blowing into her face and felt the warmth of the air, and, tween girl squirrel toes in the wet, the cool of the stream as she played in tiny ripples of wind-blown waves on the water, sun glinting in her eyes as she looked back across the river.
She saw another bird - or the same one - high overhead, and she saw the circles it was making above in blue skies amid fluffy clouds. The she heard a bird cry and saw it slip to the side. She stopped and froze, listening intently, looking around - and heard heavy footsteps to a tween girl squirrel in the woods. Crystal dashed behind the nearest tree, and crunched a leaf along the way - a dead giveaway she feared.
So she thought about her play, and what she could do, and jumped high in the air into a pile of dry leaves, then up again to come crashing down and thrash about in the fallen piles. And the footsteps she heard suddenly quickened their pace and faded into the distance, and she was safely alone again, with the bird watching overhead. She had made it to the flat top of the slope down to the stream, and on it were puddles she splashed merrily in, mosquitos emerging in the warm sunny day, and lots of weeds growing around - but no trees. She headed back home through the woods and saw lots of trees and roots and then she saw - a mushroom was growing from the root of the tree! "I have to ask Daddy!" she thought as she bounded on home.
She stopped for a quick rest in a soft pile of sand and saw some mosquitos that looked like they were dancing on top of the water in the setting sunlight. Suddenly a fish jumped up and snatched one right out of the air. Startled, she hurried on home, seeing another and another fish - or the same one - jump out and eat the mosquitos. The fish were following their food, she realized. And now I have to go home for lunch and tell Daddy what I saw.
Arriving home she dashed by her mom with a wave of her tween girl squirrel tail and excitedly chattered at her daddy, "Daddy, I saw a mushroom growing on a root! And I saw weeds on top with puddles of mosquitos! And I saw fish eating the mosquitos!"
"Yes, Crystal, that is what happens. The main part of the Mushroom looks like white strings hidden below the ground, and under the grass and leaves, and it connects all the roots of all the trees and helps them share the nutrients and water in exchange for some of the energy of the tree."
"But Dad," she wanted to know, "How can it connect all the roots of all those trees? How does it run between them?"
"Good question, tween girl squirrel! The mushrooms have zillions of very tiny spores, like seeds made of dust, and these spread around and grow and connect with each other and with the hidden white threads, so the mushroom to the mycelium is like the fruit of the tree, and its spores are like the seeds we eat, only for the mushrooms."
"So they move around by growing all over, not going from place to place. But why are there weeds on top and trees on the hill?"
"Because the water of the rain flows down the slope of the hill and brings new soil and water, and carries away the old soil and water down into the river that flows below. And the puddles on the flat top are still, and the eggs of the mosquitos like the seeds of the pinecones grow new mosquitos on the puddles. And the fish eat the mosquitos that lay the eggs in the puddles."
Crystal got a little quiet, and her Dad asked in a kindly manner, "Any other questions, sweet girl squirrel?"
Crystal thought for a moment, then looked up and asked, "Daddy, why is the grass green?"
Her Dad thought for a second, then explained, "The plants use the sunlight to give them energy, like we eat our food to give us our energy. But of all the colors, the green in sunlight gives plants the least amount of energy, so that color reflects away. That's why we see green while the plant uses the rest to grow."
"Crystal had to think about these things for a while. And she often though back to these adventurous days as she continued to grow up, and watched the tiny tree grow faster than she did.
Chapter 3 - Teen Squirrel Girl
One morning Crystal came to breakfast with her Mom and Dad squirrel, and there was a piece of sweet-smelling fruit on her plate. Her Mom hopped over and said, "Happy Birthday teenage girl squirrel! Enjoy the special fruit on your special day."
Crystal took a little bite, then looked thoughtfully at her dad and pointed out, "Daddy, this fruit has a little seed inside it!"
"Yes, birthday girl squirrel, that's right. Fruit has its seed on the inside, but in pinecones they're on the outside."
"But why, Daddy?" Crystal wanted to know.
"Well," her dad tried to explain, "When the fruit falls from the tree that fruit feeds its seed until it can grow by itself in the ground. When the seed falls from the pinecone it lands on the ground that the mushrooms and mycelium have prepared in the grass and the leaves, and the seed of the cone grows in the ground they prepared for it."
Crystal was amazed by all this unseen cooperation, and curious to go back and explore again, having more understanding about her experiences and what she remembered from her previous adventures. So she got permission to go out and play, and reminders to be careful and safe, and ran down to the stream, exploring all around, up tree and down, up hill and down to the water, and when she came to her familiar old tree there was another fruit hanging there, and she remembered it has seeds inside, like the many cones always scattered about in the woods of the squirrels, and remembering the bird glanced up - and there was another bird, or maybe the same one, circling high above as if keeping watch.
Then Crystal saw the bird suddenly slide sideways out of its glide, and the shadow of the bird fell upon her from the bright sunlight through the clouds, and she remembered the footsteps from before, and scampered quietly behind the big tree, where she peeked around to watch and listen. And she heard two voices of people, one deep and one high, and she saw a man and a boy walking by the stream carrying long poles, one each. And she saw them stop, and the big one point at the pole and gesture toward the small one, who tried to copy what he was being shown. The one with the deep voice said something and pointed at the water, and the teen girl squirrel saw a fish jump up and catch a mosquito, as she remembered from before.
Then the tall one flicked his pole and she saw a long thread like the white mycelium only longer and thinner dart across the water, and she saw what looked like some kind of mosquito on the end of the string that also danced upon the water. Then the short one flicked his pole too, and the long line with the mosquito attached danced above the water, and a fish jumped up to eat the mosquito, but suddenly crashed back into the water and slowly came toward the shore as the crooked thread became straight and taught.
Crystal knew she was quick and clever and could escape these slow people among the branches in the trees, so she was more curious than afraid as she looked back around the other side of the tree to see what might happen next. She saw the man help the boy take the fish from the line, and they hid it in some kind of box, and the boy began to head her way. So she scurried up into the tree with the fruit, an eye on the bird, and hid behind some leaves to watch.
And the short one picked up some little twigs and sticks, and the tall one picked up some bigger sticks and branches, and they put them in a pile, first those from the little one, next the ones from the big one. And the small one stepped back and the tall one stepped forward and pulled something from some pocket in his clothes, and flicked a stick like he flipped the pole and a spark flew off and a bright yellow-orange light burst forth, and he leaned over and held the light on the littlest of the sticks, and the light flickered and got brighter and began to slowly spread. She watched in amazement as the light followed the twigs and the sticks and then faster up into the branches, and the smell was strong and bitter, and a fog rose from the sticks like it did off the cool water in the early morning sun, but that didn't stink or sting her eyes.
The teen girl squirrel watched as they held the fish upon a stick and turned it over and over on the bright light coming from the lit up branches. Then the tall one walked over to her tree, so she held very still behind her leaves as he reached up and twisted on the fruit hanging on the branch so it fell into his hand. And he took it back to the short one and broke it apart and gave some to him. And the short one ran over playfully, looking for some more fruit - but finding none he spied the mushroom and gave it kick and knocked it out of the ground, then quickly ran straight back to the tall one. She saw them eat of the fish and of the fruit. And she saw the little one spit out a seed from the inside of the fruit, where she knew they were. And she was amazed and puzzled and curious, and the bird swooped a little toward the fish on the stick and the tall one waved it a way with a loud noise, and looked up into the tree where the teen girl squirrel was watching, instead of hiding. And he saw her.
The big one stopped what he was doing, and got very still. Then after a moment he slowly peeled off some of the fruit with the seed, and very slowly and quietly moved over to the tree with the teen squirrel girl high above in the branches. And on getting to the tree he put the piece of fruit on the ground by the roots of her tree, then slowly backed away, turned, and went back to sit by the glowing light with the stinky fog by the pile of sticks where the small one waited, nibbling on the fruit. And soon she saw they had forgotten about her, so the scampered down the tree and eyed the fruit and smelled the sweet aroma, and had another piece of fruit for her birthday. She had many things to share with her mom and dad, and wondered about all that she had witnessed that day. She made sure not to forget her piece of fruit before taking off.
She headed straight home, without climbing up and down trees or frolicking to and fro among them, following the stream to her favorite crossing place. And just about there, she caught a whiff and a sudden movement as a teen boy squirrel seem to effortlessly float down from some branches and athletically land softly in the grass below, waving his tail at Crystal in the friendly greeting squirrel way.
"Hello!" chattered the teen boy squirrel enthusiastically. "My name is Stone, what's yours?"
Crystal looked at Stone and saw that he was as gray as the rocks he was named after, which she thought complimented her tree-color brown in the nicest way. "Hello, Stone," Crystal returned the greeting, "I'm Crystal."
"What are you doing around here, Crystal. Do you play here often?" Stone asked pleasantly.
"Sometimes I come here to visit a favorite place, but now I'm going home just across the stream," explained the teen girl squirrel. She suddenly remembered the fruit she had, and offered it to Stone. "Try some of this, Stone. It's really good," she offered, extending the piece of fruit, which Stone slowly accepted.
"Thanks, Crystal. What a special treat! Where did you get it?"
"A man with a pole gave it to me," she explained. "It's very sweet and yummy!"
"I can smell that it is!" agreed Stone, eagerly taking a bite. "Oh, it is very good!" Stone agreed, handing back half of what hadn't been eaten, which Crystal took and they shared together.
"Nice to meet you, Stone," Crystal told him, remembering her Dad's instructions about strangers. "But I have to get home now. See you later!" she flicked her teen girl squirrel tail goodbye and bounded away.
"Bye, Crystal," Stone called behind her. "I'm always around here.." he let trail off as she crossed the stream and made it home to her parents near the young tree with the mushroom beneath.