Vale Makes the Quiet Game — Under the ferns, where wet leaves smelled like tea, Vale pressed one paw to the ground and invented a game called Quiet-Quiet-Cross. Read the full story →
Under the ferns, where wet leaves smelled like tea, Vale pressed one paw to the ground and invented a game called Quiet-Quiet-Cross. To win, he had to reach the old hollow log without waking the acorn counters, the twig beetles, or the bird with the silver morning song. One step went hush. The next went crunch. Vale froze so hard his whiskers tickled his own nose.
A small voice chirped, “Try the colors.” Above the moss, a pale rainbow bent between two clouds like a handle. Vale put his paw under the red stripe, then orange, then yellow, and each color softened one forest sound: snap became tap, rustle became sigh, crunch became crumb. His courage stayed small, but it kept going.
When Vale curled inside the log, the rainbow settled over the hollow and held the quiet in place. Ever since, forest rainbows make little roofs for brave first naps; next time you find the sleeping fox, see if you can spot who is keeping score in the log.
