The Tale of the Trail

           Emerson the dragonfly flew into the clearing near Polliwog Pond searching for his friends.  Instead of seeing his friends, he found a note that read, “We have a huge surprise for everyone.  Please follow the trail of seeds through the tall grass until you find us.”  Signed, The Butterfly Twins.

            “I wonder what they have up their sleeve,” said Emerson to himself.

            He looked around until he found the trail snaking off into the tall grass and started to follow.  He had to fly close to the ground to keep the trail in sight, and Emerson did not like flying close to the ground.

            “Surely I can see the trail from higher if I look hard enough,” he said to himself.  With that, he flew up above the tall grass and started trying to find the trail.  For a few feet he could see it and then he lost it.  He flew this way but did not find it.  He flew the other way and still did not find it.  After searching for nearly 10 minutes, he gave up and flew back to the clearing.  He would have to start over.

            Slightly aggravated that he had to start all over, Emerson set off down the trail again.  For a while he made good progress, but then he spotted something off in the tall grass and strayed off the path to check it out.  It turned out to be a piece of paper that must have been thrown away by the people in the farmhouse.  Emerson turned around and tried to make his way back to the path.  He went the direction he was sure he had come from but after 5 minutes he still had not found the path.  Disgusted, he decided to try to find it from the above the tall grass, but as before he could not find it from up there.  He would have to go back to the clearing and start over again.

            This time when he reached the clearing he was really starting to get aggravated.  “Why did they have to make a stupid trail that we had to follow?” Emerson grumbled to himself.  “They could have just told us where it was on the note.”

            Emerson set out once more on the trail.  Even though he hated flying close to the ground, he made himself stay low so that he could see the trail.  Before long he came upon Hayden the turtle slowly making his way along the trail.

            “Good morning, Hayden,” said Emerson.  “How many times have you got lost trying to find this stupid surprise?’

            Hayden looked at Emerson a little funny and said, “I haven’t gotten lost.  As long as I stick to the trail, I should get there with no trouble, right?”

            “This is the third time I have set off on the trail,” said Emerson giving Hayden a serious look.  “You better be careful.  It is really easy to get lost.”

            “Okay, Emerson,” stated Hayden a little nervously.  “I’ll be careful to watch the trail.”

            With that, Emerson left Hayden behind and continued on the trail at a faster pace.  He really did not want to go at a turtle’s pace.  As he went along, Emerson let his mind begin to drift off on something that had happened a few days ago.  Before he knew it, he looked up and couldn’t see the trail.   Emerson stopped and landed on a piece of grass.  He could not believe that he was lost again.  He was just about to go back to the clearing and start again when he realized he could just fly until he found Hayden.  He might not be able to see the trail from above the tall grass, but he could see Hayden.

            Emerson flew up above the grass and began to search for Hayden.  Sure enough in a few minutes, he spotted his friend slowly making his way up the path.  Emerson flew to where Hayden was and landed on Hayden’s back.

            “I thought you were going on ahead,” said Hayden a little surprised to see Emerson again.

            Emerson did not want Hayden to know that he had gotten lost again so he said, “I just came to check on you and make sure you hadn’t gotten lost.”

            “No, I’m doing fine,” said Hayden.  “It really isn’t a hard path to follow as long as you pay attention.”

            Just then Xavier the frog came up behind Hayden and Emerson.  “Good morning, guys,” said Xavier.  “This is a really cool trail the twins have made through the tall grass.  I hope it stays here for a while.  I think it would be cool to do this again and again.”

            “Sure,” said Emerson not very enthusiastically.

            “Hey, Emerson, want to race me to the finish?” asked Xavier starting to hop faster.

            Emerson thought about how following this trail had gone thus far for him and wondered if he would get lost again if he raced with Xavier.  To tell the truth, he was tired and riding on Hayden’s back was rather nice.

            “No,” said Emerson.  “I think I’ll hang with Hayden and make sure he gets there all right.”

            Xavier hopped off and left Hayden and Emerson lumbering along on the path.  Before long they came into a small clearing that was decorated with flowers.

            “Surprise!” yelled the twins as they came into the clearing.  “We made a party for everyone.  See, we have blackberries, huckleberries, and even some grapes for everyone.  We wanted to celebrate our group.”

            “Wow,” exclaimed Hayden and Emerson continued, “This is really nice, guys.”

            As soon as Emerson saw the surprise, he completely forgot about all the trouble he had finding it.  However, the next time Emerson followed a trail, he made sure to pay strict attention to it until he found the end.