4-11

       "What happened?" asked Cab. And who are you?
       "I'm Tell, I think. I'm your sister," said his sister Tell. "But I don't remember our last name. I think it may be Lodge. And we were out here hunting for the Snipe, which doesn't exist."
       Cab looked around the forest, like he was trying to see it for the first time. There in a shadow of a dogwood, he saw a stand of Indian Pipe. The pearly wet look of the fungus made it look out of place here, like someone had lost it in the woods.
       "Look at this," said Cab. "Wouldn't it be cool if this were the Snipe?"
       "It's just Indian Pipe"
       "Yes, but what if it was the Snipe? It's already fascinating, but if it were the Snipe, we'd never pass it by." Cab got down on the wet leaves covering the trail and looked closely.
        "You can't move it, Cab. Just take a picture if you're so 'fascinated'." In the stillness under the trees, they heard a small rustle from the dirt and debris that had been pushed up by the Indian Pipe in the night.
       "Did you hear that? Of course you did. I think it was a piece of leaf falling away from it. But it didn't move. I was watching it. It's growing, so slowly you can't see it."
        Tell was growing bored with her brother. She walked on ahead. The little wood was only a mile or so deep and about as wide. In its day, the trail would get morning visits from joggers and birdwatchers.

Introduction

The Story of a Conscious Human, told backwards.

        The day was neither stormy or dark. Cabot Truce was walking through one of the last stands of woods left in the Parish. He was looking for a Snipe. His sister, Tell, was with him.
      "There's no such thing as a Snipe," she said for the fifth time.
      "Tell, I'm looking for the idea of a Snipe. I told you this. You didn't have to come. So stop complaining."
       The morning started with Cab dressing in his usual shorts and favorite sandals, but he changed into good hiking shoes when he decided to hunt for a Snipe. At breakfast, his cousins, brothers, sisters, and parents all laughed at him.
       "Snipes don't exist, son," Dad had said. "A snipe is a classic example of a prank kids play on each other when they want to get rid of someone."
       "I know that," said Cab. "But the idea came from somewhere, and that's what I'm going to look for."
      Cousin Tara stared into her device. "There's no mention of any creature even close to the name snipe, but as a proper name it's been used in fiction several times..."
     "I know," snapped Cab. He'd expected ridicule, laughter, but not this annoying rational discussion. Tell, sitting opposite him at the table, offered to help.
     "I'll go with you," she said. "I've never hunted anything. Is it fun? Are you bringing a weapon?"