Rain Forest Relay

by Kristin Earhart

  It took only a few minutes of throwing in fish and peering into the cloudy water before a pale pink beak poked out. The dolphin turned to look at the boat. “Quick, Dev!” Russell said.

  Sage threw a fish in the air, and the dolphin snapped its long, skinny jaw shut.

  “Got it!” Dev cried.

  “They have a brain capacity forty percent larger than humans,” Mari said, almost absentmindedly.

  Russell looked at the dolphin again—its pink head freckled with gray, its tiny round eyes and open grin. He thought how amazing it would be to swim with them. For a moment, he wished it wasn’t a race.

  “I’ve got the next clue,” Dev said.

  Pass where the waters meet,

  Then you’ll find flags that greet.

  Follow the path marked for you,

  And LEARN the Amazon’s final clue.

  “That’s horrible,” Dev said. “My little brother can rhyme better than that.”

  “I believe you,” Sage responded. “But let’s make a decision. Do we keep going downstream?” The team nodded.

  “Hang on,” the captain said, shifting the tiller. The motor strained and the boat pitched forward.

  It wasn’t long before the sound of the motor was drowned out.

  Russell turned to see a larger boat approaching, its nose lifted high. The boat revved by, the noisy motor churning up waves. Russell gripped the side of their smaller boat as it lurched in the rough water. The word that came to his mind was rude.

  “No way!” Russell heard Dev cry, his voice carrying over the thrum of the engines.

  “How’d they get that boat?” Sage asked.

  Russell didn’t want to look. When he did, he saw what he already knew: It was the green team.

  “I don’t know,” Javier answered, shaking his head. “Maybe that boat showed up after we left. It definitely wasn’t one of the ones at the dock.”

  Russell watched as the other boat disappeared around one of the Amazon’s many turns. It was clear that the red team’s tiny boat was already going at top speed. The only thing to do was watch and wait.

  Except Russell did have something to do. Trying not to be obvious, he examined his backpack. He had wanted to do it ever since the green team showed up at the giant tree.

  He soon found what he was looking for. It looked like a merit badge—a fabric patch with a four-leaf clover on it. It was stuck there with some kind of glue. It blended into the backpack’s original design.

  When he ripped off the patch, he found a tiny chip underneath. Now he had proof. His friends had been tracking him. Dallas had probably snagged some kind of GPS device from his mom’s office. No wonder the green team had gone upstream to find the capybara. Russell’s gut knotted when he realized that they were still tracking him. They must have noticed that the red team’s boat had stopped in the river, just long enough to snap a photo of a friendly Amazon river dolphin. Russell would bet anything that the green team had followed them to that point, stopped their big motorboat, and photographed the same one.

  At first, Russell was going to just drop the chip in the river. He wanted to be rid of it. Then he thought again. It wasn’t safe to drop an electronic device in the water. What if a fish ate it? So he pocketed the chip. He’d decide what to do later.

  He glanced over at Javier, whose expression was as serious as his teammates’. Javier seemed to realize Russell was watching him. “I don’t know how they got that faster boat,” he said.

  Russell shrugged. “It’s always something,” he offered. Russell had heard his dad say that tons of times when another team had made a good play. It was Dad’s way of reminding him that nothing’s ever easy, but you have to keep trying. Russell had to remind himself of that now.

  “Hey, Javier,” Russell said, trying to think of something else. “I saw some kind of stone monument from the zip line. It was all carved. It looked like people made it a long time ago.”

  “Yes, I know it,” Javier said. “It is a symbol for the kapok, or the world tree. The people of this region believe the tree is sacred. It reaches up to the heavens with its limbs, and down into the earth with its roots. The kapok tree represents how all life is connected.”

  Russell nodded, his hand still resting on the chip in his pocket. He liked that idea.

  “What is that?” Dev yelled, loud enough for everyone to hear.

  Russell looked toward the middle of the river, where Dev was staring.

  Dev put his hand on Mari’s shoulder for balance and stood up. “That water is a totally different color,” he said.

  “Dev, that’s it! I know why the river changes color like that,” Sage exclaimed. “This is where the waters meet!”

  LIFE IN THE FOREST

  Today, hundreds of thousands of people live in the Amazon rain forest. There are over 400 tribes, and the people speak at least 180 different languages. Some of these people follow traditional customs that are hundreds of years old. They make their own tools, hunt and gather in the forest, and carve canoes from the giant kapok tree. But the influence of the outside world has changed life in many villages.

  Archaeologists have found evidence that there were once many well-organized civilizations in the Amazon that were far larger than those of today. There were up to seven million people making their life in the rain forest around 500 hundred years ago. However, when explorers arrived from overseas in the 1500s, they brought diseases with them. Many of these diseases, like smallpox, were foreign to the Amazonian people, and great numbers of them died.

  The people who live in the rain forest today are still resourceful. They know which plants to eat, which to use as medicine, and which to avoid because they are poisonous … or not tasty. For hundreds of years, they have sustained their lives and the livelihood of the forest.

  “This has to be it!” Sage yelled again. “The river we are on now is the Amazon, and that must be the River Negro,” she explained. “See how that river is darker than the Amazon? For a while, the waters don’t mix. They flow separately, side by side.”

  Russell’s eyebrows tightened. How did Sage know something like that? Mari must have wondered the same thing, because she asked.

  “It’s all my sister,” Sage confessed. “She did a whole science fair project on erosion in American rivers. Don’t ask. She’s a whiz.”

  “Whenever it rains, which is a lot, the rain-water carries soil and nutrients into the water,” Javier said. “That’s where the color comes from. It’s the same with the Amazon River, but it’s greener.”

  As if on cue, it started to drizzle. It had been so muggy, the rain felt good.

  “So?” Dev said, looking at their guide. “Is this it?”

  “I can’t tell you. Maybe you should reread the clue.”

  Dev did just that, cringing again at the bad rhymes. Then everyone started looking for the “flags that greet.” Sage and Dev searched on one side. Mari and Russell searched the other. Russell soon noticed several pennant-shaped flags with the Wild Life logo. The flags marked a path, leading up from the muddy beach. The larger, faster motorboat was already there.

  “At least there’s only one boat,” Dev pointed out. “We’re probably in second place.” They hadn’t seen any of the other teams since the start of the race, so they hadn’t had any idea what place they were in.

  “It’s not over yet,” Sage said, splashing her rubber boot into the river before the boat had reached the shore. Russell sprang out next, landing in the muck. Dev and Mari followed.

  “Good luck!” Javier called out.

  The four kids turned and waved before charging up the stone-lined path. When they reached the crest of the hill, they found that the ground dropped again immediately. A deep gulley cut through the land, with a ribbon of water the color of chocolate milk at the very bottom.

  “How are we supposed to cross this?” Mari wondered out loud.

  “There’s another pennant over there.” Dev pointed downstream, and the group jogged along the narrow
ridge, forcing their way through the lush growth.

  Sage crouched down as soon as she reached the point across from the flag. “No way,” she hissed.

  The rest of the team gathered around. Russell couldn’t believe it either.

  “The green team cut the rope bridge, so no one else could cross?” Dev said as he looked at the far side of the gulley. “That hardly seems sportsmanlike.”

  Russell could see the frayed stubs of thick, grayed rope, dangling down the far side of the ditch.

  “That’s the only explanation I can think of,” Sage answered, lifting up the other end of the bridge. The wooden slats clacked against the dirt wall when she let go.

  Russell still didn’t believe it. Would his friends seriously pull something like that? This was all his fault. If he hadn’t been foolish enough to let them track him, they’d never have been in the lead in the first place. Now it was up to him to find another way to get his team across. “It’s steep, but we could slide down, wade through the water, and climb up the other side,” he suggested.

  “That is not an option,” Mari said, with uncommon certainty. “There are piranhas down there. I know they aren’t usually that dangerous to humans, but that’s a shallow streambed where there are not a lot of food options. That’s a desperate scenario for piranhas—and us.”

  Russell gulped, then glanced around. His gaze traveled up the trees and across to the other side. “The vines,” he said. “We can swing across.”

  “Seriously?” Sage said. “You’ve seen too many adventure movies.”

  “You got a better idea?” Russell had already looked up and down the gulley. It didn’t seem to have a beginning or end. “We don’t want to get off the path with the flags. Come on,” he said, tugging on one of the thick vines that twisted itself around a high branch.

  “Not that one,” Dev insisted, his gaze assessing the vine, the ditch, and the far bank. “It’s set too far back. With that angle, it’ll drop us in the middle of the stream. We need one closer to the edge.” He took several paces, his eyes focused high in the branches. “One like this.” Dev flung the vine across the expanse. The vine’s tail dragged briefly on the other side.

  Russell, Sage, and Mari stared as the vine traveled back.

  “It’s the best we’ll get,” Dev said, his voice confident. “I’ll go first.”

  Russell held the lower part of the vine as Dev found his grip. “Ready?”

  Mari shielded her eyes.

  “Set,” Dev said, and Russell grabbed Dev at the hips.

  Russell took a step back and then ran forward and gave a firm shove. When he let go, Russell swore part of him kept going across that open gulley, still on the vine with Dev.

  As if he had timed it perfectly, Dev released at the exact moment the vine reached the height of its swing. He landed in a heap, but he didn’t look hurt.

  “Eeeeeeehhhhh!” squealed Sage. “Dev, are you okay?” She was jumping up and down for joy.

  “It’s kind of fun,” Dev declared, pushing himself off the ground.

  Mari had just managed to open her eyes. “He made it?” she asked.

  “He made it,” Sage said. “And you’re going next.”

  CREATURE FEATURE

  PIRANHA

  SCIENTIFIC NAME: multiple species, family Characidae

  TYPE: fish

  RANGE: South American streams and rivers

  FOOD: mostly fish, snails, and insects, but also plants and seeds, or sometimes birds or mammals

  There are many species of piranhas, but they all have one thing in common: their sharp, triangular teeth. With its powerful jaws, the piranha can chomp a mouthful of meat with ease. The fish usually hunt alone. Group attacks are more likely in the dry season when water levels and food options are low. Despite their reputation, deadly piranha attacks on humans are rare.

  Dev had to practically pull Mari off the vine, but she made it across in one piece. Sage was next, and Russell wasn’t surprised when she landed on the other bank with a graceful release. Just as she whipped the vine back his way, he heard the puttering of a motor nearby. Then the motor stopped.

  “It’s another team!” he yelled. “They just docked. You guys have to move. I’ll catch up.”

  He was surprised when they didn’t need convincing. The rest of his team took off on a narrow path through ferns and palms.

  The raindrops had increased to jungle size. Russell had never been this wet with his clothes on. He wiped his eyes and looked at the gulley ahead. Russell had given everyone else a push. Now he had to get himself across. He needed a running start. He stepped back, and then took off. His feet thudded against the ground, and his upper arms tensed as he pulled himself onto the vine, his blistered hands throbbing. There wasn’t time to feel the wind in his hair. The vine was swinging back before he knew it. Russell let go and skidded down the far side of the gulley, dropping closer and closer to the piranha pool. His fingers grasped a loose root, then another, and he scrambled up to high ground. He lay on his back for a moment, savoring the taste of dirt in his mouth. He wasn’t just wet now, he was caked in mud.

  It took the calls of unfamiliar voices to remind him that he wasn’t on the football field. No, he was on the first leg of The Wild Life, just steps from the day’s final clue! He crawled to his knees, to his feet, picking up pace as he passed the first flag on the far side of the gulley. The piranhas hadn’t gotten a piece of him, and he wasn’t going to let the other racers either. He had to meet up with his team.

  He could still taste the dirt as he ran up a steep flight of stone stairs. When he reached the top, he realized he was standing on an overhang that looked out on a waterfall. There was a wooden railing only feet from the gushing water. At first, Russell just wanted to marvel at the sight. But Bull Gordon stood right in front of the waterfall. Off to his right was the green team. The other members of the red team were off to his left.

  “Russell,” Bull announced, “welcome. Now that the entire red team is here, I can announce that you are the second to arrive.” Russell felt his teeth grit with a smile, but his teammates were serious. Bull continued, “The green team was first, but they have failed to answer the final clue. I will now give it to you. We’ll see if your team can answer it.”

  As soon as Bull Gordon handed Russell the envelope, his three teammates huddled close. With trembling fingers, he ripped it open. “Hurry, hurry, hurry,” Sage chanted nervously. At the top of the card was the same logo that had been on the flags. Directly below was the clue.

  Straight toward the heavens,

  An umbrella of green,

  Almost an entire ecosystem

  Alive in one tree.

  Russell blinked and thought about the last two lines. An ecosystem meant that it was a community of living things that all work together. A healthy ecosystem is balanced.

  Mari looked at him, hopeful. “You know it, don’t you?”

  “Yeah,” Russell said. “I think I do.” He told his teammates what he remembered. He remembered the tree they saw in the leafy canopy with the bromeliad that was a frog nursery. It grew hundreds of feet tall and held eagle nests in its top branches. It was also the kind of tree where he and Mari had hid, among the thousands of insects, when the green team had followed them.

  The four kids approached Bull Gordon together.

  Russell looked at each teammate in turn. They all nodded. “Is it the kapok tree?” he asked, his voice lifting on the last word.

  Bull Gordon raised his scarred chin. “Indeed it is,” he said. “Team Red, you are the first to complete this leg of the race. You will have a head start on the next leg.”

  Russell felt chills start in his shoulders and branch out in every direction. The red team didn’t yelp or cheer, but they all exchanged hugs. They had done it.

  “That’s not fair,” Jayden said, loud enough for everyone to hear. “The answer was a kind of tree, not an animal. This is supposed to be about wildlife.”

  The red team paused
their small celebration. Everyone looked to the host.

  “I tend to think an animal’s habitat is very important,” Bull Gordon said to the entire group, his thumbs punching through his belt loops. “The kapok tree provides food and homes to countless rain forest creatures. It is the perfect example of how all the organisms in an ecosystem are connected and rely on one another.”

  Russell let out a sigh and noticed Sage studying him.

  “I figured it out,” she said.

  “What?” Russell asked.

  “What I asked you earlier, what you have to offer.”

  Russell thought back to the day before. It seemed so long ago.

  “You know what it means to be on a team,” Sage said. “And that’s all we could ask for. Thanks.”

  “Thanks to you, too,” Russell replied, laughing it off. But he meant it. It mattered.

  One by one, the members of the green team came up to congratulate him. “At least one of us came in first,” Damien said with a friendly high five. “We’re all in this together after all, man.” Russell gave an uncertain nod.

  When Dallas approached, he wore his typical post-game grin. He patted Russell on the shoulder. “Glad your team is solid,” he said. “Maybe we can work together on the next leg.”

  “Maybe,” replied Russell, but he didn’t look his old friend in the eye. Dallas had cheated, and Russell didn’t know what to do about it. It wasn’t right. They shouldn’t get away with it, but Russell didn’t want the green team to be kicked out of the race either. He’d been friends with them for a long time, and he didn’t want the race to change that.

  Instead, his gaze turned to Mari, Dev, and Sage—his new team. His new friends. He hoped that if they ever found out what he knew, they wouldn’t be too disappointed in him.

  He could hear the yells of another group approaching. Who knew, maybe that team would be their real competition on the next leg. Together, the red team had survived and succeeded in the rain forest, and Russell was already looking forward to what would come next.