Girl (9) Thought She Found A Lizard In Forest - When Vet Sees It, He Screams: "Stand Back!" @boredpanda/Pinterest
Do you remember playing in the woods as a kid? Running through the green trees alight with sunlight, birds and little animals flitting about you. The warm summer air had a certain smell, one you’ll never forget.
This story is about nine-year-old Danielle, who finds something in the forest she can’t help but keep. Despite the odds, she and her new friend try to stick together, proving that love and friendship stand a chance at overcoming all.
Even the scary stuff.
June was always a tough time for Danielle O’Leary.
Well, the first week of June, anyway.
School was about to be out on June 7th, but that meant that, for all the antsy kids at Windsor Elementary, the week beforehand seemed to trudge along as slowly as possible. The hands on the analog clock moved so slowly, they were practically going backwards.
Finally, June 7th rolled around.
Danielle and her friends showed up that morning with nothing in their backpacks, ready to hear and forget whatever lecture about behaving during the summer their teachers had for them. The air outside was fresh and warm, and nine-year-old Danielle had a plan for the rest of her day that didn’t involve any math, reading, or social studies.
Danielle was going on an adventure.
It was noon, just a few minutes before the school year officially ended, when Danielle’s teacher said, “I’ll see you next year. You can all get going a little early. Have a good summer!”
She didn’t need to tell Dani and her friends twice. Dani and her best friend, Sheila, ran outside, practically flinging themselves into Sheila’s mom’s car. Dani’s mom had to work, but she told her daughter she could go home that day with Sheila.
The day couldn’t have been going any better for Dani.
Now, technically, Dani and Sheila weren’t really allowed to go into the woods by themselves. They could stay near the edge of the forest, before the green trees, dark woods, and moss-covered ground put them out of sight.
“Stay where I can see you,” was Sheila’s mom’s rule. But, of course, the girls rarely listened. They always tried to push that boundary, playing innocent on the rare occasion they got caught.
Especially today, as June 7th would mark a new step in their outdoors exploration.
The girls’ plan was hatched over lunch and recess at Windsor. While swinging on the swings day after day, Dani and Sheila came up with the perfect plan to kick off the end of the school year.
They were nine, after all—they felt they were old enough to explore the famous Hollow Hill. The walk to the rumored-haunted location was around half a mile into the forest from Sheila’s house.
They’d have to take their bikes to ensure they weren’t gone too long.
Luckily, at 1 P.M. every day, Sheila’s mom sat down to watch a full two, sometimes three, hours of E.R. She didn’t work, and Sheila sometimes joked that soap operas were her job.
Usually, Sheila’s mom fell asleep around an hour into George Clooney and the gang.
So, as long as the girls moved as quickly as they could, they’d be able to check out Hollow Hill to see what the fuss was about.
“We can take our bikes pretty far, I think,” Sheila said, “Mike said it’s a straight shot back. He might be there, just so you know.”
Mike, her ten-year-old neighbor and enemy-slash-crush, was Sheila’s neighbor. Dani liked him too, though not like that. Sometimes he could be a real jerk.
Mike was always a bit of a daredevil, and he and his friends got up to stuff that Dani’s mom would have grounded her for life for.
Normally, Dani wouldn’t want to go to Hollow Hill. She wasn’t much for breaking the rules (not serious ones, anyway), and she had always been a bit spooked by the woods behind Sheila’s house.
The forest went from light and green to shadowed and emerald, almost in an instant. Once you got too far past the tree-line, you were on another planet in the blink of an eye. It was dark back there, even in the daytime, and so quiet.
Too quiet.
But, what was a girl to do? Mike had dared her and Sheila, saying that they were too chicken to make it out to Hollow Hill, which he described as a “weird hill that comes out of nowhere, like a giant butt.”
Real mature.
“I’ll bet he hasn’t even gone out there,” Dani said to Sheila a few days ago. But, from the look in her friend’s eyes, she knew that Sheila couldn’t back down from the challenge.
June 7th was Sheila and Dani’s D-Day.
A chance to prove Mike wrong. To show him that girls could be brave and tough and make it out to the hill. Once they got there, the girls would act like Hollow Hill was no big deal. They’d act like Mike was a big baby for turning it into some big feat. What a dork.
Still, Dani couldn’t deny, as she rode back to Sheila’s house in her mom’s Sienna, that she was anxious about the whole thing.
The rest of Windsor, Maine passed by in a blur on the ride back to Sheila’s house.
Windsor was a quaint town with an even-quainter town square. It was the place to go if you loved seafood, New England, and Patriots football bars. Dani’s dad once called Windsor a “tourist trap no one knew about.” Whatever that meant.
Finally, they were back at the house. Sheila’s mom headed inside to make lunch (PB&J, chips, and an apple) while the girls ran up to Sheila’s bedroom.
Dani threw herself onto Sheila’s Justin-Bieber-comforter-covered bed as her BFF began to talk.
“Okay, so here’s the plan,” Sheila said, “The boys are probably already there, cause Mike’s school got out yesterday. So, we’re going to surprise them.
“He thinks we can’t make it, but he’s wrong. I have all we need.” Sheila motioned to a brown cross-body purse, one that she got for Christmas. It was stuffed with snacks and water.
“And we’re not sharing any of that with them either,” Dani added. She was impressed by her friend’s planning. It made her feel more confident, as though the trek to Hollow Hill was no big deal. It was so close to Sheila’s house; it was about time they went out there.
Sure, it involved a bit of rule-breaking, but who cared? This was important. This was, like, feminism. Or whatever it was called.
“Girls, lunch!” Sheila’s mom called. The girls ran downstairs, ate lunch, and then, it was time.
Once Dani and Sheila heard the armchair in the living room creak and groan, they waited until they the E.R. theme music sounded. Once that tinny noise filled the air, the girls were out like a shot.
Sheila had her own bike, while Dani was borrowing a spare the family had. It used to belong to Sheila’s sister, Maggie, who was in high school and was nice to them half of the time.
“Are you ready?” Sheila asked Dani, excitement in her eyes.
