A girl younger than Wren raised her hand.
“Go ahead,” Delaney prompted.
“First, don’t freak out,” the girl said. The other kids laughed, but her expression stayed serious. “You’re supposed to wash your hands with soap and water. Cold water,” she clarified.
“What happens if you don’t have soap and water?” I asked.
“Get a wipe from the first aid kit,” she said.
That was an easy one. We’d been drilling that information into their heads since they were old enough to run around the trails. “How about what to do if someone twists their ankle and there’s no adult around?”
Wren rolled her eyes like she knew it was a test, but Eli raised his hand. I ignored him and called on a kid I didn’t recognize.
The kid glanced at Delaney. I expected her to give him a hint, but she just smiled and nodded.
He stood up and ticked the steps off on his fingers. “First, we make them sit down. Miss Delaney said to follow the rice list. R is for rest. I is for ice. C is for,”—his lips screwed up as he tried to remember—“compression. And E is for lifting up their leg.”
“Elevation,” Eli said.
“Right. Elevation.” The boy nodded. “Then we send two people back to find an adult.”
“What do you do if that means leaving the injured person behind?” Delaney prompted.
“You never leave a camper alone,” the kid said. “Then you’d blow a whistle and wait until someone comes to you.”
Well, damn. That was exactly what I would have told them to do, but it didn’t seem possible that she’d managed to cover all the first aid info in just two days.
“Do you have any other questions, or should we get back to talking about miniature ecosystems?” She crossed her arms over her chest and gave me a look like she knew I’d been testing her.
“By all means, go ahead.” I took a seat on a nearby log, both impressed that she’d covered so much and curious about what else she was telling the kids.
Her eyes went wide like she hadn’t expected me to stick around, but she quickly recovered. “Like I was saying, even the tiniest patch of forest can hold its own little world. Everyone come close, I want to show you something.”
The kids got up and crowded around her. I had to stand to see over their heads.
Delaney waited until everyone got settled, then she lifted a medium-sized rock. “Tell me, what do you see?”
“Dirt,” Eli said, making the other kids laugh.
“Look harder,” Delaney said.
Wren studied the exposed earth. “I see moss. Some ants too. They’re carrying little pieces of something.”
Delaney nodded. “Moss holds moisture like a sponge, and the ants might be cleaning up and carrying things away that don’t belong there. What else?”
“A worm,” a boy shouted as he reached for a wriggly earthworm trying to dig back down into the dirt.
“Look, but don’t touch. The worm is like a construction worker who’s turning dead leaves into rich, new soil. Everything you see plays a part in the ecosystem and keeps things running smoothly, just like in a town. Some are helpers, some are builders, but every single one of them is important.”
“Which one of them is like the mailman?” one of the kids asked.
Delaney’s grin widened. She had a way with the kids that made them curious and eager to learn more. Hell, she even had me peering into the spot of darkened earth to see what I could discover. “See those roots there? They carry messages to the plants and trees.”
The forest was quiet with the kids absorbed in nature.
“Everything works together,” Delaney said. “The moss holds in moisture, the bugs break down old leaves, and the fungi feed the trees. Take one part away, and the rest feel it. It’s the same with people. We all keep the system running, even if we don’t always see it.”
Wren rocked back on her heels while the ghost of a smile played over her lips. She flipped open her sketchbook and her pencil flew over the page.
