Shadows of Caesar's Creek Read online

  “So who was it named for, Noni?” asked Jerome.

  “Listen” she began. The bus had slowed to a stop. “Caesar’s Creek really was named for a man named Caesar. And this Caesar was a mighty, mighty man.” She paused for a moment.

  Ziggy had moved several seats closer so he could hear Noni better. He loved stories about heroes.

  Noni continued, the excitement building in her voice as she watched the faces of the children on the bus. “Caesar was a black man—an African American, an ex-slave, an explorer, and an Indian chief. And this was his valley, land given to him by the Shawnee Indians”

  She waved her arms and pointed toward the thick greenery all around them. At that, the door of the bus opened.

  “Awesome, mon” whispered Ziggy as he jumped from the top step of the bus to the gravel-covered parking lot. “Awesome”

  THE BUS WAS FINALLY UNLOADED AND EVERYONE stood blinking in the bright sunlight, quiet for a moment, looking up at the tall trees and into the shadows of the deep green forest in the distance. Birds chirped, the trees swayed in the soft breeze, and squirrels chased each other on the thin branches. Fifty feet from where they stood, a small pond rippled slightly in the morning sunshine.

  “Looks like a postcard” whispered Mimi. “It’s so quiet and pretty”

  “And all of this belonged to this dude named Caesar?” asked Rashawn in amazement. “How did he get here? Where did he come from? And why did the Shawnees give it to him?”

  “I’ll answer all of your questions tonight at the campfire,” Noni promised. “But first we have to get settled at our campsite.”

  “Where’s our cabins, Noni?” asked Brandy. “It’s pretty out here, but all I see is forest”

  “Sorry, Brandy,” Noni answered, “no cabins for this trip. We’re going to pitch our tents and sleep in the open air”

  “Cool” she replied. “Maybe I’ll write a poem about the ‘murky midnight air’”

  “Open air” gasped Jerome. “You mean where bugs can crawl on you at night?”

  “Bugs gotta sleep too, mon” Ziggy offered. “Not to worry”

  Noni decided it was time to show them a little nature up close. “Come over here,” she said as she walked to the pond. They followed as she walked to the edge of the pond, near the tall, reedy plants that grew in the water. “I want you to tell me what you see.”

  “I see water,” said Tiana. “And look I can see your reflection, Rico. Yours, too, Rashawn,” she added shyly.

  “I see bushes growing in the water,” added Brandy.

  “And leaves floating on the water—almost like they were growing there” observed Mimi.

  “You’re right,” said Noni, smiling. “Those are water lilies. Keep looking.”

  “I see bugs flying real close to the water—they look like little dive-bombers” said Jerome as he watched them. “They don’t look so bad.”

  “There’s a little fish in the water too” cried Rico. “Look There’s a whole bunch of them”

  “I don’t see anything, mon” moaned Ziggy. Suddenly he jumped up and cried, “I see a frog It’s green and fat and I bet I can catch it” Just as he lunged for the frog, Noni caught him by the tail of his purple coat.

  “Not so fast, Ziggy” she warned. “What are you going to do if you catch it?”

  “Uh, I’ll put it in a jar—or a cage—or, I don’t know, just keep it, mon”

  “And then what?” Noni asked gently.

  “I’ll feed it” Ziggy replied.

  “What do frogs eat?” Noni continued.

  “Worms, I guess—and bugs Hundreds of them” Ziggy said firmly.

  “And you’re going to catch hundreds of bugs and worms for your frog every day?” The other kids were beginning to smile.

  “Hundreds?”

  “Frogs get very hungry,” Noni explained with a grin.

  “Well, maybe I’ll just let this little frog catch his own dinner tonight, mon,” admitted Ziggy. “But I could have caught him if I wanted to” Everyone laughed as the frog jumped with a huge splash into the water just at that moment.

  “Okay, everyone,” called Noni, “grab your gear and let’s head for the campsite. We’ve got a long walk, then we have to set up our tents.” The campers all groaned, but they gathered their packs and bags and followed Noni down a path into the woods.

  “How far is it?” asked Rashawn after only a few minutes. “It seems so different from when we’re at home and walking around the neighborhood.”

  “Just a couple of miles,” replied Noni cheerfully. “Don’t worry about the distance—just look around you as we walk and check out my neighborhood”

  The woods were much cooler and darker than the bright, sunny pond they had just left. Above them the sky was sometimes completely hidden by dark green leaves. Crunchy pine needles and old, fallen leaves covered the path they followed.

  Jerome took off his sunglasses and tucked them into his backpack. He, Rico, and Rashawn all wore hiking boots. But Ziggy wore his bright green tennis shoes. The soles were soft, and along with the sounds of the birds and the crickets Ziggy’s “OUCH, MON” echoed through the forest.

  Liza was the only one who really seemed to enjoy the hike. She kept up with Noni and breathed deeply the fresh outdoor air. Brandy seemed to enjoy it too, but she was looking at the woods and birds for ideas, not for exercise. She gobbled jelly beans as they walked, dropping a few every now and then. Tiana stayed either just in front of or just behind Rashawn, but he pretended to ignore her.

  Noni walked slowly, pointing out the names of trees as they followed—oak, maple, birch, elm, and more. She showed them owl and deer droppings and told them how they could tell the difference and what they could learn about an animal from their droppings.

  “Yuck” squealed Tiana. “That’s disgusting”

  “Everything’s gotta poop, mon” Ziggy explained cheerfully. “What’s the big deal?”

  “You’re gross, Ziggy” Brandy accused. He just laughed, ran off the path, and bumped into a tree. His long purple coat had gotten too warm, so he tied it around his waist by the sleeves. He spotted a leafy green plant next to him, so he broke off a piece and offered it to Brandy.

  “Here” he teased. He bowed like he had seen men do in movies and offered her the plant as if it were a beautiful bouquet. “Write something beautiful about my green gift”

  Noni turned around and yelled, “Ziggy Throw that down It’s poison ivy”

  Ziggy tossed the plant into the trees and screamed. “I touched it I’m gonna die, mon” He fell to the ground, rolled on his back, and kicked his arms and legs.

  Noni laughed and shook her head. “Is he always like this?” she asked the rest of the kids.

  “He’s usually worse” Rico replied as he grinned at Ziggy.

  Noni got Ziggy up, brushed the leaves off his clothes, and washed his hands off with an alcohol wipe. “You might get a rash, Ziggy, but there’s a chance you won’t have any reaction at all.”

  “How do we know if it’s poison ivy?” asked Jerome. “All this stuff looks the same to me.”

  “Poison ivy has clusters of three leaves. Try to remember this little rhyme: ‘Leaves of three, watch out for me.’”

  Ziggy was much quieter now. He stayed on the path right behind Noni. He kept looking at his hands.

  “Whatcha doin’?” asked Rico.

  “I’m checking to see if my hands are gonna fall off, mon”

  Noni gave Ziggy a hug. “You’ll be fine. ‘Not to worry’ Isn’t that what you said?”

  Ziggy grinned and relaxed a little. But he still checked his hands when Noni wasn’t looking.

  “What’s that plant, Noni?” Mimi asked, pointing to a large, leafy plant growing close to the ground. “There sure is a lot of it.”

  “That’s called a mayapple, Mimi. See this fruit growing underneath the leaves? It can be eaten, but the leaves are poisonous.”

  “Poisonous?” Tiana repeated.

  “If
you touch the leaves, like poison ivy?” asked Rico.

  “No, you have to chew the leaves. I’m told they are very bitter. You’d never eat them by accident.”

  “Who would want to do that?” Brandy asked. She had started on her second bag of jelly beans.

  “The stories say that the Indians around here would chew the leaves of the mayapple if they got captured by the settlers,” Noni explained.

  “I would hate to be captured” Rashawn ex-claimed. “To be tied up or locked up would be awful”

  “Kinda like Ziggy’s frog, huh?” Tiana replied.

  “Right.”

  “Can you imagine what it was like a long time ago when the Indians lived here?” Tiana spoke softly, looking at the quiet beauty around her. “It’s so pretty”

  “And a little scary, too” Mimi added.

  “I can almost feel the shadows of the Indians who walked here a long time ago,” Brandy said dramatically.

  “I would love to have been an Indian boy” Rico said strongly. “Just hunting and fishing and playing in the woods all day”

  “I wonder if Indian boys ever got poison ivy, mon,” Ziggy said quietly. He had started to scratch his left arm.

  THEY WALKED THROUGH THE WOODS SLOWLY, LOOKING at birds and flowers that Noni pointed out, laughing and shouting at one another.

  “You’d never make it as young Indians,” Noni told them with a laugh. “You’re much too noisy A young Shawnee boy could walk through the deepest part of these woods and never even snap a twig”

  “Well, Shawnee boys didn’t wear hiking boots like Jerome,” Mimi answered.

  “Or bright green tennis shoes like Ziggy” added Brandy.

  “I’m gonna pretend I’m an Indian brave,” declared Jerome.

  “Well, you better go catch that squirrel for dinner, mon” teased Ziggy.

  “I’m getting hungry, Noni,” complained Rico. “When can we eat? Are we almost there?”

  “Look” Noni pointed with pride.

  The path had widened, and the trees disappeared behind them. The children stopped suddenly, amazed and silenced by what they saw. They stood at the edge of a huge meadow. The bright sun, after the dim shadows of the woods, made the meadow shine with a golden glow. A path had been broken through the tall grasses. At the end of the path on the other side of the meadow lay a large blue lake.

  “Wow” exclaimed Rashawn. “Cool”

  “It’s beautiful,” Tiana remarked with a smile.

  Brandy stopped eating her jelly beans long enough to pull out her notebook. She scribbled a few words, then stood silently, breathing deeply of the sweet, crisp air.

  Ziggy didn’t have time for poetic moments. He rushed past the rest of them and ran down the path toward the lake. “Whoopee” he cried. “Let’s go fishing”

  “You probably scared away every fish for a hundred miles,” called Noni. “Let’s get these tents up first. We’ll set them up in this clearing—girls’ tent over here, boys’ tent over there. We’ll make our campfire in the middle.”

  Noni had been carrying the two tents on her pack. She showed them how easy it was to change the small folded objects into tents. Rashawn and Jerome helped her with the stakes, while Mimi and Tiana pulled and wrapped the rope. Rico and Ziggy went to collect twigs for the fire, while Brandy and Liza unrolled the sleeping bags and unpacked the food.

  “Where are you gonna sleep, Noni?” Liza asked.

  “Since this is the larger tent, I’ll sleep with the girls, of course,” she replied.

  “Well, who’s gonna protect us?” Jerome inquired. “Suppose a bear comes and kidnaps us while you’re sleeping?”

  “You’ve got Ziggy,” Noni replied with a laugh. “No bear would dare bother you”

  Ziggy and Rico returned just then. Each carried an armload of sticks. “What’s so funny, mon?” Ziggy asked with a grin.

  “Oh, nothing,” said Mimi, giggling. “Just thinking about what Ziggybear soup might taste like”

  “Yummy, of course, mon” Ziggy laughed as he dumped the pile of sticks right near Mimi’s foot.

  “Sorry, no Ziggybear soup today,” said Noni, “but let’s eat lunch. You all have worked very hard this morning.”

  “All right” cheered Rashawn. He pulled a large, overstuffed brown paper lunch bag out of his backpack. He dumped the contents on the grass in front of him—a bag of potato chips, three cheese sandwiches, an apple, an orange, a large plastic bottle of juice, and six chocolate cookies.

  “How many did you pack for, Rashawn?” asked Rico. “You got enough there for an army.”

  “It will take an army to get it from me,” mumbled Rashawn as he bit into the apple. “I’m hungry”

  “Do you want to trade one of those cheese sandwiches for my ham sandwich?” Tiana asked Rashawn.

  Rashawn shook his head. His mouth was too full to reply. Jerome told her, “Naw, you keep it. He won’t trade. Rashawn doesn’t eat meat.”

  “Oh, yeah, I forgot,” Tiana muttered. She felt a little embarrassed.

  Rashawn grinned at her. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll take one of your cupcakes for a chocolate cookie, though,” he said, offering it to her.

  Rico and Ziggy giggled. They knew that Rashawn didn’t give up his chocolate cookies for just anybody. Tiana smiled as she nibbled at the cookie.

  Ziggy’s lunch was a sight to behold. Each of the pockets of the purplecoat held something different. First he pulled out his peanut-butter-and-pickle sandwich and set it in front of him. From another pocket he pulled a grapefruit. From a pocket with a zippercame a bottle of juice—prune juice. In a large, buttoned pocket, wrapped in foil, he had hidden four large pancakes. Two were covered with jelly; two were covered with ketchup. Finally, he pulled what looked like the largest piece of fried chicken ever seen out of the final pocket.

  “What is that?” hooted Liza. “Fried chicken for a giant?”

  “No, mon,” replied Ziggy with fake dignity as he bit into it. “It’s fried turkey. Doesn’t everybody eat at Kentucky Fried Turkey?”

  Ziggy kept them all laughing as they finished their lunches and watched him gobble his amazing meal. Rico, Rashawn, and Jerome were used to Ziggy’s unusual eating habits, but the girls couldn’t believe it as Ziggy bit into the grapefruit, skin and all.

  After the quick lunch cleanup, the girls wandered down to the lake. Liza took off her shoes and socks and squealed as the chilly water touched her feet. Brandy sat on the rocky beach, snacking on jelly beans and writing in her notebook. Mimi tossed stones into the water, trying to count the ripples and circles as they wobbled on the water. Tiana glanced over at the four boys to see what Rashawn was doing, but he was busy wrestling with Ziggy in the tall grass. She noticed a small canoe hidden under some bushes near the water’s edge.

  Tiana wandered over and helped Noni tidy up the campsite, and the two of them sat down and watched the rest of the kids.

  “You’ve got a cool job, Noni,” Tiana said as she looked for four-leaf clovers in the grass.

  “I love my job,” Noni replied with enthusiasm. “Every weekend I get to take small groups of children to the woods and let them explore and discover the beauty of nature. I get to take young people like you away from the other side of the park, where it’s so crowded with motor homes and portable televisions. This is the real deal.”

  They chuckled at the four boys, who were pretending to be Indian braves on a hunt. They shot imaginary arrows from invisible bows, running through the tall grasses of the meadow, darting into the shadows of the trees to hide.

  “I got that moose, mon” shouted Ziggy.

  “Moose?” asked Jerome. “Why not a squirrel or a rabbit?”

  “When Ziggy hunts, he hunts moose, mon”

  Rico was on his knees, digging in the soft soil of the meadow. “Look at this funny rock, Rashawn. It’s pointed, and it’s such an odd color.”

  Rashawn looked up from where he had been sitting under a tall pine tree, pretending not to watch Tia
na, who had joined the other girls by the water. “Let me see it.” The rock was dirty, but was very light in color. “Let’s take it down to the water and rinse it off.”

  “I’ll race you” yelled Rico as he sprinted across the meadow. Rashawn’s long legs soon caught and passed Rico. Jerome and Ziggy raced also, but Jerome won easily because Ziggy’s purple coat got wrapped around his legs and slowed him down.

  Rico took the rock down to the water’s edge and carefully washed it off. He rubbed the dirt with his fingers and with a soft stick he’d found. His heart began to beat faster. “I think I’ve found something really cool,” he whispered.

  No one heard him, because Rashawn had dumped a handful of cold lake water down Tiana’s back, and she screamed and ran down the small, rocky beach. Mimi and Brandy had grabbed Jerome and were trying to pull him into the water. He was strong enough to shake them off, but when Liza headed over to join them, he broke free of the girls and ran laughing in the other direction.

  Rico called to Ziggy, who was running toward the girls. “Look, Ziggy—what do you think this is?”

  Ziggy took the small, clean stone from Rico’s hand. But it wasn’t a rock. It was clear like a crystal—he could see the palm of his hand beneath it. It was shaped like a small pine tree, sharply pointed, with sharp edges on each side.

  “Hey, mon,” whispered Ziggy with respect. “I think you have found a real live Indian arrowhead”

  “LET’S GO SEE IF WE CAN FIND SOME MORE ARROW-heads” Rico shouted. He and Ziggy ran over to the spot where Rico had been digging. They dug furiously with their fingers and hands in the soft, black dirt, but all they found were dirty old rocks and worms.

  “Who do you think it belonged to?” Rico asked as he wiped the dirt off his hands and looked down at the clear, shining arrowhead.

  “I think it’s pretty special, mon,” Ziggy replied. “Most arrowheads are made of stone or some sort of rock. This one almost looks like a crystal.”

  “Should we show Noni?” Rico asked.

  “Let’s wait, mon,” Ziggy suggested. “Let’s just wait a bit.”