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Little Digital

presents

Phyllis of the Forest

Based on the memories of
Phyllis Chatham,
‍
in Collaboration with
The Loppet Foundation

Copyright © {YEAR}
Little Digital LLC.
All rights reserved.

In the

summer,

my mother says,

There are so many places to go in the city.

Places I’m not welcome.

Places I don’t know the rules.

Places I feel eyes at staring me.

Sometimes it feels like the world wants me to be someone else.

But I have a

secret.

A special place where I can be whoever I want to be.

A magical world where I stand among

giants.

A place where I am

powerful.

I wrap my arms around an

elm tree

and look down on the world below.

Butterflies

flit between wildflowers like little fairies.

Dragonflies

zip and zoom across the pond.

See that

turtle

warming in the sun?

See how orange her belly is?

Turtles are my favorite.

I spy

a speckled

salamander.

I spy

a

ladybug

with six spots.

I spy

a

deer

watching me through the pines.

Do you see it?

Swimming pools are for the suburbs.

I have

lakes.

I

splash

and

dive

and

backstroke.

I come face to face with a

northern pike.

I am the

wild woman

of the water.

I dry off in the sun.

Puffy white

clouds

become

a

city bus,

a

frog,

a

mallard duck.

Silver fish

flash in the creek.

I stand in the shallows.

Eyes

sharp.

Hands

ready.

Got one!

I let him go, of course.

He is a creature of the

water.

He doesn’t belong to me.

The day fades away.

The

streetlights

come on.

Even with city lights you can see the

constellations.

They wink down at me as I walk home.

Where my mother is waiting,

The world sees what it wants to see when it looks at me.

But I know who I am.

Phyllis

of the

forest.

The End.

about the author

Phyllis Chatham is a mermaid, a fairy, and a longtime North Minneapolis resident. She grew up exploring the natural areas in and around the city’s North Side. She is passionate about connecting kids with the natural world and helping them discover magic in everyday places.

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