Eli took a big breath of air and slowly whistled it out again.” Smell that Bobbie?” he grinned as he took another one for good measure.

“That’s fresh, clean juicy air! ….That you can’t get in the city!” he offered.

Bobbie agreed with him as he picked up a giant pine cone for his collection.”What’s the matter, you’re not into breathing?”.  was Eli’s response.

Eli’s family had built a cabin at the edge of the forest five years ago when he was just six. He could not appreciate it then as much as he did now. He figured by now he knew every inch of that forest, clear to the top of Bull Mountain. There was, of course, no bulls, but there were a lot of other critters; foxes, squirrels, a skunk or two, and beavers up at the lake. And, Bobbie reminded him; that deer that they saw from…