Sam and Ellie stepped out of the car at the trailhead and into the tall, sun-scorched grass. Ellie, always thinking of ticks, asked, "Don't they ever mow here?"
"Guess not," Sam replied, slipping his phone out of a pocket and checking it. "Weather looks good for a little while." Clouds had moved in rapidly on their drive out.
The woods were a thicket of scrappy birches, each no bigger around than Ellie's thigh. Their roots sank deep into an emerald sea of moss. Hidden things under the moss—maybe old stumps, fallen logs, boulders—pushed it up in humps. Some of the birches straddled them, their exposed roots twisted.
An apparition of bright yellow flashed before her, vanishing like an arrow into the ever-thickening screen of branches and leaves. "Goldfinch," she said.
"Hm," said Sam, looking at his phone.
They walked for several minutes. Balsam fir began to mix in with the birches. "Smells like Christmas," she said.
"Yes," he said. His finger flicked rapidly across his phone's screen. "Hey, here's someone on Facebook selling an old TV set. Who'd want that today?"
A cry came from the treetops, a shrill, chattering call. Ellie stopped for a moment to listen; Sam nearly bumped into her as he followed behind, head bent down to his phone. "Hear that?" she said. "It's a merlin. It's nesting. I scared it up last time I hiked here."
"They're selling an old analog set—aren't all TVs digital these days? Oh, I heard from Tim just now, and he wanted to know…." Sam's voice trailed off into a whisper then silence. His thumbs massaged the phone, typed a response.
Ellie turned to look at him. His eyes were locked on the phone, now it was his index finger pecking at the screen. The woods went silent, almost as if they, too, were waiting for him to finish his sentence. But Sam's mind was wandering through a dense village, the main street of which was littered with bright and shiny things.
Ellie, who had left her phone at home on purpose, walked on. The woods closed in behind her. The trail split here and there, but she knew the way and looped her way back to the car. The weather had held, but now the first drops began to spatter down. She was sorry to lose Sam, and he would get wet, but maybe he would find his way home.
She didn’t really care.
Put the cell phone up and enjoy nature. Laugh out LOUD!!!!
Yup. Everybody is so filled with FOMO that they really are MO.