“All right then, team, let’s go!” Charlie energetically clapped his hands and headed toward the road, glancing over his shoulder. “And if you have any snacks, you can leave those here. No need for them to weigh you down. Nature will provide.”
Two hours later, they were trudging through the thickest forest Simon had ever seen. Tree branches spread around them like spiderwebs, and giant ferns covered what available space remained. They walked single file, with Charlie in front and Shanna right behind him. The low whispers drifting down to Simon indicated her constant small talk with the guide, who asked them not to speak too loudly so as to not disturb the forest.
“Can you be sure it’s swinging toward the right area, though?” Charlie asked once Shanna demonstrated tracking with the pendulum over a map.
“I can confirm it with the questions and narrow it down,” she responded.
Fifteen minutes later—
“Which is when I finally realized the book was there, on the table, all along,” Shanna said, and Charlie laughed quietly.
Half an hour later—
“Oh, those are good shoes. Sturdy, I see. I’ll have to check them out, although I probably won’t need them at home …”
“You’re sure you want to stay with this woman for the rest of your life?” Chris’s voice came from behind, as flat as usual, although the tone wasn’t judging.
“Absolutely.”
“Hmm. Your romantic endeavors are too mushy for me, but I support you.”
Simon looked over his shoulder. “Thanks, I guess?”
“If you have a kid, you should name them after me. It’ll work with Shanna’s obsession with crystals.”
He was about to ask what that was supposed to mean when he bumped into Shanna. Charlie had stopped and faced them.
“We’ll stop for lunch here,” he said.
Simon saw no difference in the forest that would indicate this as a preferred stop for lunch.
“There’s an amazing podocarp forest up there on the slope”—Charlie pointed in front, to where no slope could be seen through the thick canopy—“and according to the pendulum, that’s the right direction, too. You see, kea nest in underground burrows, and they love their podocarps for all the insects that are drawn in by the fruits. As for our lunch today, oh, do I have some specialties for you …”
They did find a very small clearing nearby, barely enough for all of them to sit together—Simon and Shanna on a fallen log and Chris on the ground, spreading her waterproof poncho underneath her.
“Do you think your mom foresaw a thieving kea, too?” Simon asked Shanna.
She smiled. “That would be quite the vision.”
“It did send us into a jungle, on a hunt for lost treasure. Exactly like in your movie.”
She leaned closer to him. “We don’t have tents, though.”
“Most unfortunate.” The tents weren’t the real issue, though. If it weren’t for Charlie and Chris, Simon would be ready to give Shanna anothermovie experience.
“Ah, look at these delicious little babies.” Charlie returned, holding something green in his joined hands. Coming closer, what looked like little spirals revealed themselves to be tiny fern fronds. “You boil them up, sprinkle some olive oil onto them, and they’re a real delicacy. Of course, I don’t have olive oil with us, but they’re gonna be delicious regardless …”
After a little snack of the fern fronds—delightfully crunchy and tasting a bit like asparagus—Charlie also brewed some tea from kawakawa leaves and, as the rest were sipping it, walked over to a tree and carefully pried away some bark.
“And for dessert, honeydew.” He sat down, displaying the dark bark. “Insects live inside here, drawing out the sap of the tree. They then excrete these little sugary liquid drops.” The tiny white bead was barely visible as Charlie touched it, then licked it off his finger. “Delicious.”
“Okay, there, Bear Grylls,” Chris said.
“I’ll try,” Shanna said with a wide smile.
“I’ll see if I can find us some horopito, too. Pepper tree. Gives you such a spicy kick …”
As they continued their slow journey uphill, Charlie tore a leaf off a tree here and there and picked up a berry or a mushroom, passing them down the line along with explanations. Every once in a while, Simon would catch Shanna pocketing them.
