Wild in the Woods

  The three boys hung from one of the mid-branches of the elm tree, hidden in the dense forest. With their legs locked over the branch, the trio gazed out over the inverted woods. Peter broke their silent revere, "Y'know guys, we always have such crazy adventures out here, why don't we ever bring a camera? That way we could take pictures of moments like this and save them to show to people?"

   Peter's best friend James didn't say anything. He just kept gazing out, watching a snail's progression two trees over. For an animal that carried its home along everywhere, that little guy sure was inching along at a heck of a pace. James was lost in thought, cheering on the little slimy creature's progression.

  "Peter, I like that idea, I do. We could make whole albums of us hanging like opossums or charging through dragon territory in search of golden goblets!", James's little brother Willy was fully of excitement.

  "Not to mention jumping off the rope swing into the old Greyson Creek."

    "Or taking our bikes off jumps through the overgrown vineyard."

"Or practicing our flips between the trees"

 Peter and Willy swapped ideas adding to their excitement and generally concluding that a camera could only be a good addition to their adventuring supplies.

   James blinked a few times as if waking from a particularly vivid dream. The snail had made it from the base of the tree, winding up the trunk to a half-hidden nook of a knob near the top. James thought to himself that the snail looked happy, if that was possible, like he was glowing with the pride of a marathon runner. For the first time since they had started hanging on the branch James spoke up, "Nah guys, I don't think so."

  "About what James?", his brother asked

"I mean about the whole idea of bringing a camera along for all our adventures.", James flipped himself right side up then launched himself onto a parallel branch a tree over. He stood, a barefoot tight rope walker, ready for his breath-taking act.

  "What don't you like about the camera idea, James?", Peter asked, "We didn't think you were even listening."

  "Its like this: our lives are like rivers. They keep flowing and moving. And right now it seems like the currents not super strong. The school year drags by like molasses." They all agreed that school seemed to go on forever when in session even though summer would disappear the second you stopped looking at it. James continued, "So let's say we brought cameras, right now it'd be like taking a picture of the Mississippi river when we capture our adventures. I bet you that when you take a picture of that giant of a river, well its so big, it'd look like it wasn't moving at all. But underneath that stillness the river's still moving, there's a current driving that beast sure as I'm breathing. If we started taking pictures of all this, our moms and dads and everyone at school would see the stillness of that moment, but not the motion that keeps us going."

   To prove his point, James somersaulted down the branch to the trunk, then grabbed the trunk like an oversize flagpole and slid down to the next foothold.

  "But aren't moments important James? Life's nothing if not a whole series of moments jumbled together. And with photos we could show people our fortress without having to bring them out here", Willy retorted

   "Moments are definitely important. You're right, Willy, but sometimes moments lose power without the context of a story or memory. Not always, but sometimes...I think you're also right that we need a few photos of La Fortaleza de Madera. If we don't photograph it, then no one will sincerely believe we built it twice the height of the Wilson mansion."

  Peter flipped off his branch and tumbled deftly through the air, tucking and rolling in the last instant to soften the landing, "Yeah James, if my mom saw me do something like that...I don't think she'd let me out of the house for a long, long time."

  "Once in awhile then, for unbelievable stuff that needs reporting, like the fort?", Willy asked.

"Yep, the sorta stuff that won't get us in trouble and won't look stale later on. Some stuff needs to be photographed, other stuff maybe not. Like the snail earlier. A picture would have been alright, but it wouldn't have shown his struggle and endurance to get up the tree like I'll remember it."

They decided that was that on cameras, memories, rivers and moments. The rest of the afternoon was spent swinging like monkeys, branch to branch and planning how to stay underwater for ten minutes at the creek.