The First Backboat Ride — Before the herons called, Tovi pressed a paw into the cool mud and drew a winding line from his sleeping hollow to the far reeds. Read the full story →
Before the herons called, Tovi pressed a paw into the cool mud and drew a winding line from his sleeping hollow to the far reeds. He had invented a game called Backboat: carry one fallen cattail puff across the marsh without letting it touch the water. The stream smelled of wet leaves and silver fish, and every frog plop made the cattail fluff tremble on his back.
Then two pup twins, Nema and Pip, tumbled out of the grass, yawning. Their reed-school bell, a woodpecker’s tap-tap-tap, had already started across the water. The stepping stones were slick, and the pups’ little feet shivered at the edge. Tovi looked at his cattail puff, then at their round worried eyes. “Climb aboard,” he whispered.
He moved slowly, slower than drifting pollen. Reeds brushed his sides with soft shhh sounds, and the pups warmed his back like sunspots. No one saw him leave the game unfinished; even the herons faced the pink sky. But the pups arrived dry, and from that morning on, whenever young capybaras needed a gentle crossing, a grown capybara became the Backboat. If you spot two small riders tucked high and safe, you’ll know the old game is still being played.
