Race for the Ruby Turtle by Stephen Bramucci

Author:Stephen Bramucci
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781547607037
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Published: 2023-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

24

The Mushroom Hunt

Once they had rain slickers on, Jake and Mia ran to the back of the property to find thirty people at the trailhead. Myron stood facing everyone, standing on a clover-covered stump. Beyond him, the forest looked dark and ominous. Long tendrils of moss dripped off the branches.

Jake didn’t know most of the people, but he recognized Keona Choi beaming up at Myron. Her son, Yu-Jun, was next to her—though he didn’t seem particularly thrilled about it. As the Magnussons, Edna, and Stick crowded toward the front of the group, Jake, Mia, and Singer drifted to the back.

“Well,” said Mia, pulling on the hood of her slicker, “we wanted to get them away from your aunt’s house, so . . . ​I guess congratulations to us?”

Jake started to respond when Myron held up his hand to speak. A hush fell over the crowd.

“I love mushrooms,” he said, in that booming voice. A few people giggled. “In fact, I love all fungi. And trust me, my daughter reminds me how weird that sounds almost every day!”

His deep laugh was contagious, and the whole group giggled along. Myron looked at a few of the younger kids near the front of the group.

“Has anyone ever heard of a fairy circle?”

Jake’s attention had been wandering a little. He’d been gazing around at the faces of some of the other people gathered for the hike, trying to figure out which people were interested in mushrooms, which were just tourists, and which hoped Myron might have a secret that would help them find the Ruby-Backed Turtle. But the mention of a fairy circle made his focus snap into place.

The phrase was a lot like “faerie garden”—the words Gustav’s wife, Hildy, used to describe the spot where they’d seen the turtle.

“Anyone?” Myron asked.

A kindergarten-aged girl in the front raised her hand. Myron called on her, but her voice was too quiet to hear from where Jake and Mia stood. Myron leaned close to listen to her answer, then grinned. A few people near him chuckled.

“She said it’s ‘a ring of mushrooms where fairies live and dance and play!’ ” Myron repeated. “I can’t speak to the last part, but she’s right about the first bit. It’s a perfect ring of mushrooms—and those mushrooms are all connected in ways you can’t see, under the ground, working together. Thanks to a network of . . . ​well, they’re sort of like veins in your body, called mycelium.”

Someone’s cell phone rang, and a boy just a few years younger than Jake whined, “I’m getting wet!” loud enough for everyone to hear.

“We’re getting moving right now,” Myron said. “I just want to say: that’s why I love fungi—because of the unseen connections it makes throughout these forests. In fact, there’s mycelium under all of you right now. And I just want to say, before we set off, I wish humans honored our unseen connections to the forest—and to one another—a little more.”

There was a smattering of applause, but mostly the group seemed antsy to walk.

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