The New Territory

It was a midsummer morning at my cabin when I woke up to the usual sounds of my family eating breakfast. I knew they were gobbling up my mom’s delicious pancakes because that’s what she always makes at our cabin. I really wanted to eat a pancake soon so I quickly got on my clothes and climbed down the ladder that leads to the downstairs of my cabin. I got downstairs just in time to seize the last pancake from my dad and say, “You’ve already had yours.”

When I finished devouring the last pancake, I asked my sister if she would go to Birch Point with me. She said, “I’ll come right now,” so we put on our coats and walked down to our dock where we keep our boats. Christina wanted me to row so I got into the rower-seat of our forest green rowboat and she got into the bow. I rapidly started rowing to Birch Point, the peninsula where my sister and I collect witch’s hair.

I had started rowing so rapidly that when the boat hit the landing it made a terrifying “Bump.” I got out of the boat very cautiously to make sure my sister wouldn’t end up swimming. After I tied the boat onto some nearby brush, my sister climbed onto Birch Point. We started to collect a stringy fungus that grows off trees that I call witch’s hair.

After I had gathered a handful of compacted witch’s hair the supply was getting scarce and I was getting bored. I had a feeling that made me want to explore a new place. I asked my sister if she would come on an expedition with me to explore the island at the far end of the lake. She said, “I’ll go after I put my witch’s hair away,” and she emptied it into a nearby log. We walked down the path that led to our boat and we got into our rowboat. Christina started rowing to a place that would later be called “Indian Territory.”

When our boat got near enough to the island to see the plants on its shore I spotted a perfect landing place. It was four feet wide and had brush on both sides of it that could be used for tying to the boat’s ropes. I showed my sister the landing place and we were there before you could say “Row.” My sister and I climbed out of the boat and started to explore.

While I was exploring, I made three important discoveries. My first one was that blueberry patches blanketed the island. There were also lingonberry bushes randomly spaced in between them. My second and favorite discovery was that unlike the trees on Birch Point the trees on this island were very spaced out. That was very convenient because you could walk around without getting stabbed in the back by tree branches. My third and final discovery was that nobody had been there before. That made me feel like Christopher Columbus.

After I made that discovery it was getting near to lunchtime and I was getting hungry. I asked my sister if we could go back for lunch. She said, “I’ll go back,” so we got into the boat and started rowing back to our cabin. Christina said, “I think we should call this place Indian Territory.”