Justine and Safdar found a fallen log near the edge of the swamp. It was a comfortable place to sit in the shadows of the tall trees.
“Michael and Jimmy have the easy job,” Safdar said. “They’ve even got an app for what they are doing. All they need to do is take photos of flower and tree buds.”
“It sure helps scientists,” Justine said. “They need to know when and where plants are flowering so they can have a better idea of climate change. It’s great if they can get thousands of observations from all across the country.”
“I know, I know,” Safdar said. “Same with spiders. But f lowers are so easy to find. Spiders can just disappear.”
“Well,” Justine answered, “if it helps, when you are outside, there is always a spider within six feet of you. Indoors, there’s always a spider hidden within ten feet.”
Safdar stood and dusted off his pants. “Really?”
“Just look around. Your iPod is a perfect camera. Take photos and count. We’ll sort out the report in the classroom before we pass it along to the scientists.”
Safdar got on his knees and carefully looked under the log. Then he pushed aside some branches of a nearby bush.
“You are being very quiet,” he said to Justine.
“I am listening for frogs.”
“No,” Safdar said. “Quiet like upset. I understand. Savannah really is the Queen of Mean. And it seems like she’s trying to make you look bad.”
“My grammy said sometimes when people are mean, it’s because they aren’t getting enough attention,” Justine said. “They really just want someone to be a friend. So if she ever lets me, I’ll try to be a friend.”
“Oh,” Safdar said. “That’s why you haven’t tried to fight back.”
“Eating deer poop didn’t seem like a good plan, I can tell you that,” she answered.
Safdar was lifting another branch. He stopped. “Michael will get over being mad at me, right?”
“We are in the woods,” Justine said. “Anybody could have made the same mistake and put the chocolate-covered raisins in the wrong spot.”
“Plus,” Safdar said, “you’d think he would have looked more closely before putting them in his mouth. Right?”
Justine didn’t answer. She stared ahead as though she was thinking about something else.
“Right?” Safdar said. “Right?”
“What if Savannah is right?” Justine said. “What if I’m the Queen of Green for the same reason that she’s the Queen of Mean? So that I can tell myself I’m more special than other people. Because it makes me feel good about myself.”
“What’s wrong with that?” Safdar asked. “People should feel good about themselves.”
“But I couldn’t even give a good reason why we should care about the environment,” Justine said. She peered into a bush as she spoke. “Savannah could be right. In our daily lives, being green doesn’t seem to make a difference. So why should we care?”
Justine waited for Safdar to answer.
“Safdar?” she said. “Safdar?”
She looked over. Safdar had crawled halfway into another bush.
“Take a look at this,” Safdar said from inside the bush. “Have you ever watched a spider spin a web? It is so cool.”
Justine knelt beside him as he took a closeup video of the spider with his iPod. The beginning of the web stretched from the tip of one branch to another.
“Wow,” Justine said. “That is really cool.”
Both of them forgot all about Savannah as they spent the next twenty minutes watching the spider.