If We Were Giants by Dave Matthews & Clete Barrett Smith

Author:Dave Matthews & Clete Barrett Smith [Matthews, Dave & Smith, Clete Barrett]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Disney Book Group
Published: 2020-03-17T00:00:00+00:00

KIRRA WOKE TO THE SOUND OF BIRDSONG, the soft morning light revealing the forest home around her. Slowly coming back to consciousness in the fresh open air was one of her favorite parts of living here.

Luwan’s hammock hung empty beside her. That was unusual—he liked to sleep late. But as Kirra slowly reached above her head with both hands, working the sleep-sore kinks out of her back, she remembered that he was planning to ask his parents for something today. So he was probably currying favor with them right now by getting an early start on his studies.

The Tree Folk had no community school—no community services of any kind, for that matter—so each family was in charge of teaching its own kids. Maham took this very seriously, drilling them on things like horticulture, the medicinal uses of plants, and food preservation every morning. The afternoons were spent farther afield, hunting and trapping and building and exploring.

But when Kirra finally pulled herself out of the sleep sling and climbed up through the trapdoor, Luwan was all by himself in the hut, slurping leftover stew for breakfast.

“You’re finally up! Good. I was just about to wake you. We have things to do.”

“We do? Where are Loba and Maham?”

“They both went to the swamp. Father needed Mother’s help today. Have you ever tried to carry a crocodile? Those things are heavy.”

“So no studies this morning? Really?”

Luwan shrugged and tried to pull off an innocent expression. “Well…if someone had left a note with parental instructions on it next to a window…I mean, who’s to say that a breeze didn’t come by and, whoosh, snatch that note right off the sill and send it sailing away into the forest, never to be seen again? Things like that happen all the time. The world is a cruel and windy place.”

Kirra rolled her eyes. “You’re going to get us in trouble.”

Luwan waved away her concerns. “Nah. They’ll be so tired when they get back that they will have forgotten all about it.” He grabbed a long, thin pouch from a hook on the wall and looped it over his shoulders. Kirra could hear something rattling around in there. “Let’s go.”

After shoveling in a few mouthfuls of stew, Kirra followed Luwan out of the hut and through several trees. He was working his way toward the ground, which was a little odd. Luwan usually liked to stay as high up as possible. She could tell he was moving more slowly than normal, certainly slower than when he was with his friends. Luwan was polite about letting Kirra go at her own pace. He knew she was doing the best she could.

When they were down to where only a few layers of branches separated them from the forest floor, he stopped. “This looks perfect,” Luwan said. “I tried to pick a spot where the trees were packed pretty closely together. That should make it easier.” He looked down and took a deep breath. “I hope.”

Kirra looked around, wrinkling her brow.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.