Jack opened his eyes. He sighed. They werewearing their own clothes again. His leather bag wasa backpack.
Sunlight slanted through the tree house window.
As always, no time at all had passed in Frog Creek.
"Home," said Annie. She held up the pouch of cornseeds. "Proof for Morgan we found a special magic.""The magic of community," said Jack.
Annie placed the pouch on the floor--next, to thescrolls from Shakespeare and the twig from thegorillas of the cloud forest.
"Let's go," she said.
Jack took the research book out of his pack. He leftit under the window. Then they climbed down therope ladder.
As they started through the woods, a warm windblew, rattling the leaves. Jack felt happy. He waslooking forward to visiting their grandmother todayand seeing their cousins and aunts and uncles.
"You know, Pilgrim kids had a really hard life," saidAnnie.
"Yeah. They did as much work as the grown-ups,"said Jack. "Maybe more.""Worst of all, lots of their friends and familymembers died," said Annie.
"Yeah," said Jack.
Both were silent for a moment.
"If they could be so thankful," said Annie, "weshould be really thankful.""No kidding," said Jack. "Really, really thankful."And they were. |