The Forest, by Ben Greenfield - Chapter 7: "The Powers"

For a long while, river and Terran simply lay there, their minds enchanted and slightly overwhelmed by the odd phenomenon of double moons, but their bodies too exhausted to form words. As Terran fell asleep, he tried to recall planets that had more than one moon. Mars has two small moons. The big gassy planets Jupiter and Saturn have two moons, maybe more. The ice giants Uranus and Neptune have numerous moons too. And then he fell asleep, quickly drifting into dreams of moons, planets, quicksand, darkness, and tiny chickadees. When Terran opened his eyes, river was gone. This wasn't surprising. His early bird brother was likely out exploring the meadow. The sun was shining brightly through the pine fronds and bark. A warm wind was already blowing over the peak and breezing through their giant tree root shelter. The sun seemed high in the sky. Terran wondered how long he had slept. He rolled to his belly and crawled out of the shelter, squinting into the bright sunlight. His sight restored, he could clearly see across nearly the entire meadow, which easily spanned as far as four or five full grown fallen trees. In the distance, he spotted river sitting cross legged in the long grass and staring out over the water. Terran clumsily stumbled across the meadow and stomped to Riverside. Hey. Heard you're coming a mile away, brother. Welcome to my sit spot. Terran smiled. Both brothers had been practicing their sit spot since the age of five. The basic principle of the sit spot was find a place outdoors and sit there every day for at least 10 minutes or longer. Though it's generally traced to ancient Native American practices, the boys had learned the technique from their mother, who used to sneak out after dinner in the early evening near sunset and sit silently atop the hill near their house in the forest, staring off into the distance. She had taught the boys to approach their sit spot with reverence, stillness and peace. And then to sit with heightened awareness while combining their senses of sight, sound, feel and smell. Taryn could hear her voice now. See the details of a clump of dirt, a blade of grass, and the tracings of a spider web. Hear the wind, the birds, the whispering of leaves and the buzz of insects. Feel the moisture in the air, the breeze against the skin, the texture of the earth against sit bones and open palms. Smell the pine bark. Bark. The grass clippings, the flower nectar, the bee pollen, the animal dung, the soil. Become one with your sitspot. River interrupted Terran's thoughts. See the tide, brother. Terran looked down over the meadow at the ocean below. For the first time, he noticed that the rocks, cliffs and crags were almost covered by water. Which had crept up nearly the entire rocky beach to the treeline. He'd never seen an ocean tide wash in towards the land so far. He knew that tides usually happen near the middle of the day and again near midnight, and mentally noted that he must have slept until almost noon. You think it's because of the moons, brother? Maybe more moons would mean more gravity, right? Yeah. Higher tides. Terran studied the whitecaps washing up against the trees and nodded. Let's just make sure we don't get caught down on that beach anytime around midday. That's a huge tide. As they sat looking over the meadow and towards the ocean, Terran thought about what else two moons might mean. The combined light from two moons would certainly make for much brighter nights. Nocturnal animals and nighttime hunters would have an easier time seeing their prey, and those prey would have to develop better camouflage mechanisms. This could mean more cunning and intelligent breeds of nocturnal animals. Their hastily constructed root shelter might need some serious fortification before night set in. More gravitational pull from two moons could also cause more pronounced fluctuations in weather like bigger ocean waves, massive tsunamis, earthquakes, or even volcanoes. Perhaps it could even cause different measurements of time and months. As the boys sat pondering the many potential outcomes of double moons, their stomachs began to rumble. It was time to hunt. Over the next several hours of exploring the peak, the meadow, and the areas of the forest around the trail leading up to their root shelter, the boys realized that their surroundings seemed to primarily consist of a rainforest like environment characterized by big coniferous trees like western hemlock, yellow and red cedar, silver fir, grand fir, spruce, and oak. In addition to the plants they'd already discovered in their first two days on the island, such as plantains, skunk, cabbage and nettles. They also found growths of wild mint, spear thistle, gooseberry, red alder, fern, wild raspberry, and even a few big leaf maple trees. After rolling up and chewing on handfuls of mint leaves and wild raspberries for a makeshift breakfast salad they found near their shelter in the dark corners, under several flat, heavy rocks, colonies of camel crickets huddled together en masse, ripping off the legs and antennas. The boys quickly stuffed the crickets into their mouths and chewed the crunchy protein filled insects to edible bits before swallowing. Each cricket seemed to have just enough moistness and juice inside to give the boys a tiny surge of energy even without water for their dry throats. Soon their search for food led them farther down the trail and nearer to the quicksand where they knew there must be some kind of underground spring or other source of water. They had yet to see a single ground creature or bird, but along the way to the quicksand, after discovering one particularly large fallen red cedar, they made the discovery that the termites inhabiting the rotting wood were amazingly delicious and full of fibrous, easy to chew flesh. They also found chewy beetle larvae and one particularly large banana slug, which Taryn tried then immediately spit out, concluding that slugs were not even remotely palatable. While Terran's strategy was to find an insect, chew on it, then quickly decide whether or not to actually eat it, river had a slightly more refined and less self destructive approach, lightly squeezing the insect between his fingers, then giving the abdomen a slight sniff for any unpleasant stench which could indicate potentially harmful chemicals or toxins. Eventually, after nearly an hour of walking, they reached the quicksand. They both stood staring at the wet section of the trail for a while and then Terran finally voiced what they were thinking. So you think you can do it again? River didn't answer. He was already gazing intently at the damp patch of earth. Brow furrowed, Terran looked at the trail, then back at river, then to the trail, then back to river again. Nothing appeared to be happening. River widened his stance and clenched his fist. He narrowed his eyes. His chest rose and fell rapidly as his breathing deepened and became more rapid. Nothing. Terran sighed and walked away into the bushes while river kept standing and staring at the dirt, mustering up all the energy in his body as he tried to replicate some semblance of what he had done the day before. As river continued to focus on the trail, Terran wandered back out from the bushes with a thick, fat piece of bark. He bent down on the trail and began digging near the quicksand with a sharp end of the bark, Rivers face fell. Thanks for the vote of confidence, brother. Terran didn't look up from his digging. I'm thirsty. Okay. River wandered down by his brother's side and stood watching, his arms folded across his chest. Terran paused and looked up. You gonna help or what? You don't believe me? I saved your life and you don't believe me? Terran stopped digging and stood up. Prove it. River knelt down and put his face close to the wet quicksand, his nose nearly touching the earth. He took one deep breath, held it for a moment, then shouted with all his might. Move. Still nothing. Give me a piece of that bark, brother. For nearly an hour they dug ferociously, trying to unearth whatever underground spring of water was feeding the quicksand under the trail. The earth was soft and Yielding and eventually, as their hole reached several feet deep, they could see water seeping up into the dirt. Terran kept digging as river disappeared into the forest to gather moss. Soon returning with big armfuls full of slabs of dry, stagnant green clumps. They figured they could use the moss to soak up the water, then carry these sponges full of water in their hoodies back up to the root shelter. Taking frequent pauses to sip in the dirty pool, they soon had two hoodies filled with giant piles of soaked moss. Now that they'd unearthed an underground spring, water wouldn't be hard to get. Rather than rebuilding an entirely new shelter closer to the spring, they decided it would be best to fly, fortify their root shelter and stay close to the peak, where they could perhaps see a boat, a helicopter, or some other way of being rescued. When they needed water, they could walk back down the trail to collect it. They put the soaked moss and hoodies on two big flat pieces of bark and headed back up the trail. After arriving back at the root shelter, they collected more bark to put the wet moss into and placed this roughly fashioned water container next to the shelter. They then hung their hoodies up on a branch to dry and spent the next hour fortifying the roof of the shelter with more support limbs, more bark, and more debris. Tucked away on the side of the peak, away from the wind, with a giant fallen tree wall on one side and plenty of warm, tightly packed debris on the inside, they now had a safe place to sleep. In the corner of their shelter, they placed giant snack piles of mint nettles, plantain, cabbage and raspberries. By this time, it was the late afternoon of their second full day on the island. Exhausted from an early morning and a day of gathering food, fortifying the shelter, and carrying water, river curled up in the shelter and fell fast asleep. While river slept, Terran wandered the meadow. He found a large rock and flipped it over. Ants. There weren't many eggs under this rock, but Terran squatted down and flicked a few ants playfully with his finger. He was bored. He traced a path in the tiny ant trails with his thumb that began flicking specks of round, neatly packed dirt at random ants as they marched by. He smiled as he played with the insects, his mind temporarily distracted from the troubles. As he stared at a small golf ball sized mound of dirt near two tiny ants. He frowned and concentrated for a moment on the dirt. He thought of rivers experienced in the cave and at the quicksand. He focused even harder on the dirt with a sudden shift the entire mound of dirt moved and completely covered the ants. Terran jumped back as though a bee had stung him. Landing on his back and staring briefly up at the sky. He scrambled to all fours and crawled back to the dirt. He looked at another, larger mound of dirt, this time concentrating furiously on it and half imagining, half directing it towards another group of ants. This time the earth quickly shifted as if thrown by some unseen force, tossing a cloud of dust into the air and scattering ants everywhere. Terran grinned. He looked at a pebble half buried under the rock. With a nod of his head, he moved the pebble up out of the dirt, then rolled it several inches and into the meadow grass like a bowling ball. Barely noticing the beads of sweat forming on his brow, his quick gasps for breath, and his burning muscles. He now eyed the large rock, which must have weighed at least 5,40 pounds. He focused on it just as he had with the mounds of dirt and the pebble, directing his entire mind towards the rock. Then he shifted his eyes slightly to the left. The rock budged left. River, wake up. Terran poked his brother in the ribs. River groaned quietly, then rolled over, his eyes still closed. Terran grinned mischievously and put his hand up in the air. He clenched his fist, then opened it. A small cloud of dust rose from the debris surrounding River. Terran clenched his fist again and the dust hovered around River's head. Then he opened his hand quickly. The dust exploded like a miniature storm right into his sleeping brother's face. River sat up coughing, his face powdered with dirt. He looked annoyingly at Taran, who was still grinning and hunched in the debris beside him.

Dirt at me. I have to show you something, brother. River wiped the dirt and debris off his face with the back of his arm. Something important enough to do that. Terran crawled out of the shelter. You better believe it. Follow me. River slid out behind Terran, stood up and folded his arms across his chest. Okay. What? Terran stood several feet away from their fallen tree shelter, facing river from the meadow. He said nothing. River tapped his foot impatiently. What?

Still silent, Terran slowly raised his hands up to the level of his shoulders. A small cloud of dust began to form behind him. At first, the cloud was barely noticeable above the long grass of the meadow. For a few moments, it simply hovered a few inches above the grass, then began to grow more thick as Terran raised his hands even higher towards the sky. As a dark brown cloud began to fill the air behind his brother, river raised an eyebrow. Terran, there's kind of a little dust tornado behind You. Terran smiled and raised his arms even higher. The dust grew thicker, rising like a pillar nearly 10ft above the ground and then slowly beginning to spin and swirl. Then he quickly shifted both arms to the right. The cloud moved right. Then he shifted his arms to the left. The cloud moved left. As river watched his brother's movements, his face turned from a look of annoyance to curiosity. His folded arms now hung by his side. He opened his mouth to say something, then closed it as the enormous pillar of dust rose even higher above Terran. Terran violently forced both his hands to the right, directly towards the trees along the edge of the meadow. The pillar hovered briefly, then moved like a giant swarm of bees towards the trees, collecting speed as it soared above the grass. Terran, are you doing that? Terran continued to remain silent. His face was now red and full of blood with the veins popping out on his forehead. His shoulder and arm muscles were visibly shaking and his knees were knocking together as though he was about to collapse to the ground. And he pulled his hands in towards his bare chest, then abruptly shoved them out again. And the entire pillar of dust forcefully slammed into the side of the forest, causing giant trunks on the wall of trees to creak and making the branches, limbs and leaves sway and shake as if hit by a hurricane like gust of wind. Terran fell to his knees, exhausted, but with a satisfied smile on his face. He looked at river from across the meadow. Yeah, I did that. After Terran had taken a few minutes to recover his strength and river had overcome his shocked disbelief, both boys rushed shirtless down the trail towards the quicksand, with Terran half jogging and half running in front while talking excitedly. It's not hard, River. I'll show you. You can do this with water. I know you can. River theorized aloud as they quickly moved down the trail. You're Earth, Terran. Your name. Get it? Dust. Dirt. You have some kind of power over Earth. Terran nodded and finished his brother's thoughts as he jumped over root in the trail. Yep, I know. I think you're Water, brother. But we're gonna find out. They quickly made it to the wet area of the trail and the source of the underground spring. There were still piles of dirt and a puddle of water from their digging earlier that morning. As before, they both stood looking at the quicksand, but this time, Terran spoke clear instructions to his brother. Okay, first, concentrate very, very hard on the water. Try to block everything out of your field of vision. Except that river shook his head. I tried this before, remember? But it's not hard, see? And you have to move your hands. Terran looked intently at one of the piles of dirt, then raised one hand. The top of the pile magically crumbled and a few small clumps of dirt fell back into the hole they'd dug earlier. He put his hand down and shook it by his side. It makes your muscles burn a little bit, like you're exercising. River was quiet. He looked at the puddle of water, then straightened his spine, pulled his shoulder back and stood straight up. After a minute of intense concentration, he suddenly thrust both his hands forward, then backwards, then side to side. The water didn't do anything. His hands fell in disappointed dismay. I can't make it do anything. Yes you can. I know you can. Terran moved to riverside, effortlessly put out his own hand and this time even more quickly crumbled the top of another pile of dirt into the hole. River put out his hand and pulled down Terran's arm. Stop it. You're filling up our hole. Terran ignored river and grinned wildly, raising his other arm. Another pile of dirt fell again into the water. Stop it, Terran. Terran shook out the fatigue from his arm, then raised it again, still smiling. Terran, I said stop it. Suddenly, a mist of water seemed to appear from nowhere and struck Terran's face with a violent splash. Both boys were quiet for a moment. Terran turned slowly towards river, dirty water dripping from his face. River's face was drained of color. The muscles in his neck seemed to be shaking. He glared at Terran and snarled, don't fill up our hole. He slightly twitched his head to the right. Another stream of water hit Terran's face, this time faster and more violent. Terran winced as the sharp stream of water struck him. For a moment he closed his eyes from the pain, then opened them and shook his head to throw beads of water from his hair. Then he grinned. You did it, River. River looked at the muddy pool, then back at Terran. Yeah, because you made me mad. That's it, brother. You just have to get riled up. Terran took both his hands and shoved hard into River's chest, knocking his brother backward several feet. River dropped to the ground in a lunge, then with a sly smirk, rolled his head in a giant circle. This time a swirling vortex of water began to rise from the pool. River St stared up at the sky, then slowly brought his head down, looking directly at Terran's chest, his blue pupils nearly twice their normal size. The water shook violently for a moment, then sped like lightning towards Terran Terran whirled around and brought both arms up to his shoulders. A wall of dirt materialized from the ground in front of him and the cannon of water hit it with a loud crack, resulting in a massive explosion of mud. Terran spun back towards river, laughing wildly, and flung his palms up. This time several pebbles bulleted up from the trail towards R, who jumped to dodge them, landing acrobatically on the ground on his stomach. He barrel rolled to the side, threw his head to the right again and sent a small sharp stream of water hitting Terran in the calf. Ooh. Terran crumbled to the ground, holding the back of his leg and still laughing, pushed forward with both arms, sending a pulsing wave of earth bulldozing towards River. The pile of dirt hit river in the face and he rolled over to his back, coughing and trying to catch his breath. Then they both stood, Terran gasping for breath and river hacking dirt out of his mouth. River turned and mischievously looked towards his brother. Well, watch this. As he whipped his head around in one giant circle, a pillar of water rose out of the pool, then shot with fire hose like intensity into the tree behind Terran. Terran spun around as strips of bark and chips of wood shattered from the tree where the water had struck like a spear. River looked surprised. River, stop. That would have killed me. River paused and looked at Terran. His lips were blue and through the streaks of dirt, his face was white. Goosebumps covered his neck and arms. His teeth were chattering. Terran's face was red. Beads of sweat poured down his wet face. Visible veins were streaking down his arms and hands like giant snakes. Their eyes met and they both began laughing. The next two days were dreamlike and for two 10 year old boys, surreal and magical. River discovered that by concentrating to keep water as still as possible, he could lower the temperature to make a nearly frozen liquid. By swirling and vibrating the water within an enclosed space, like a hole in the ground, he was able to heat it to a hot but not quite boiling temperature. Although there were still no sign of animals and the ocean front was slightly too treacherous to reach for finding fish, the boys were now able to heat their plants and insects in hot water, allowing for much more pleasant textures and the peace of mind that perhaps they were killing at least a few dangerous germs. After growing tired of drinking water that tasted like mud, they discovered that Terran was able to manipulate more than dirt and rocks, and that he could also move and apply forces to wood. He could crack open roots and smaller trees for sources of clean Water that river could then heat. Using this strategy, they soon quit hiking down the trail to the quicksand and were instead able to rely upon the trees near the meadow shelter as an instant source of clean water. The next two mornings, Terran would crack open giant roots of trees around the perimeter of the meadow, and river would send a mist of warm water into the air, resulting in a hot shower of evergreen scented water for each boy. River soon perfected his ability to aim with the jets of water he could produce from the pools and practice for hours hitting targets such as rocks and sticks that Terran would hurl into the air. In case a bird or other source of moving food presented itself, he would be ready to aim and fire with a sharp bullet like stream of water. Using Terran's earth moving abilities, they also created a series of deep holes surrounding the perimeter of the meadows. They covered each hole with pine fronds and bark, and then checked the next two mornings for any small game unlucky enough to fall into any of their animal traps. Using the earth from each hole, Terran fortified their shelter on all sides with a densely packed dirt wall, along with plenty of large rocks at the base of the wall. If a nocturnal predator attacked them during the night, it would at least have to launch itself over a dense wall of earth and rocks before digging into their debris hut. But there was still one crucial component missing from the boy's ability to survive. Something they'd ultimately need. If they ever wanted to cook or send up a bright signal or last through a cold night, they still needed fire. Making friction based fire is not for the faint of heart. There are a variety of techniques one can use to make a fire with friction, but each method has two common a fireboard and a spindle. The spindle is a stick that, when spun, creates friction between it and the fireboard. If enough friction is created between the spindle and the fireboard, the result is an ember that can be used to create a fire as long as the wood is bone dry. Cottonwood, juniper, aspen, willow, cedar, cypress and walnut can all be used to make spindles and boards. A basic hand drill method is the most primitive and primal way to make fire and can be the most difficult to do. But in the absence of match, flint or knife, one of the only options for making fire. The only requirements are dry wood, tireless hands, grit and determination. River and Teren had read about the hand drill method before, but never had actually tried it. Back home, they'd always camped with waterproof matches and a Ziploc bag or flint and steel, or a knife for making a bow drill or even a cigarette lighter. But they knew the basic concepts, and on the evening of their fifth day on the island in the middle of the meadow, they began their attempts to make fire by building a tinderness out of dry grass, leaves and bark. Once they created a spark, they could use it to ignite this nest. They then took a flat, thin piece of cedar to use as their fireboard and used a sharp, flat rock to wear away a depression and carve a V shaped notch into this board. They placed the fireboard on the ground, then put bark underneath the notch in the board to catch any embers or sparks they could create from friction. For a spindle to spin on the fire board, they used a small oak branch about as long as a forearm, which they leveraged into the depression on the board. As Terran maintained pressure on the fireboard and the piece of bark to keep them from moving, river began rolling the spindle in between his hands, running them quickly back and forth down the spindle. They waited for the ember. River spun harder. Beads of sweat began to form on his brow. Harder, river, harder. Terran struggled to hold the fire board in place as river continued to spin. After nearly two minutes, river fell back, defeated by the spindle. Shaking out his burning hands and breathing heavily, Terran grabbed the spindle. Here, hold this down and let me try. River hunched down and put a foot on the fireboard and a hand on the bark under the board and held them down tightly as Terran spun the spindle. As Terran vigorously worked the oak back and forth, they stared at the notch, waiting anxiously for a wisp of smoke or an ember.

But Terran's luck was no better. After another two minutes, he stopped and began shaking out his tired fingers and hands. Okay, your turn. For the next frustrating hour, they continued to trade positions. Spin the spindle, hold the board, wait for the smoke. Nothing. Rest, recover, spin again, shake out the hands, hope for an ember. Nothing. With each attempt, they grew more and more frustrated, finally exhausted and covered in sweat, the skin on their hands and fingers rubbed raw from turning the spindle. Both boys fell onto their backs in the long grass of the meadow, gazing up into the bright blue afternoon sky. River sighed heavily. It's not this hard on tv. Taron grunted. My hands are killing me. Chunka, chunka, chunka, chunka. A faint helicopter like sound rang across the meadow. Both boys sat straight up. Chunka, chunka, chunka, chunka. Terran excitedly scanned the sky where the clattering noise seemed to be coming from Riv. Is that a helicopter? Chunka chunka, chunka chunka. Look. River pointed across the meadow and to the horizon just above the water. There, no more than a few hundred feet above the ground, and gliding through the air towards them, was a bizarre bird like apparatus with two enormous wings, a front mounted propeller, and most surprisingly, in the center of this flying machine, a man standing upright and turning what appeared to be two bicycle pedals with his feet. And at an astonishingly high speed, the man and his flying machine were headed straight for the meadow.