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Adventure 1
A SURPRISING SPARK
The sun was beginning to set over the campground. Roscoe hurried down the trail, his red hoodie bouncing as he ran. He wanted to get back to camp before dark. Suddenly—THUMP! Roscoe bumped right into something or someone. Both tumbled into the grass. "Oh no!" Roscoe exclaimed. Then he noticed the raccoon sitting beside him and she was giggling. A little embarrassed that he hadn’t been paying attention, he shyly laughed too.
"My name is Roscoe," he said, brushing dirt from his sleeve. "I'm Poppy," she replied. Roscoe noticed flowers scattered around her. “What are you doing with all these flowers.” "I'm collecting flowers for my scrapbook. Some of these are too pretty to leave behind,” Poppy replied." Roscoe looked around. "You sure have a lot of flowers." Poppy smiled. "You can never have too many flowers."
Just then, the first colors of sunset painted the sky. Poppy pointed toward the horizon. "I'm excited for the fireworks." "Fireworks?" asked Roscoe. "Of course!" said Poppy. "This year is America's 250th Anniversary. People all over the country are celebrating." Roscoe's eyes grew wide. "The campground is putting on fireworks every night in July,” Poppy began to explain. “This year is really special. It was 250 years ago.” “Wait...250 years, “ Roscoe asked. "That's right," Poppy smiled. "That's older than my Papa!" Poppy giggled. "Much older." She continued on explaining that on July 4, 1776, five men were appointed by Congress to draft a document called The Declaration of Independence. It was actually written by Thomas Jefferson. This document freed the 13 states, called colonies then, from being ruled by Great Britain. It gave those colonies the right of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. “Wow,” exclaimed Roscoe. “No wonder we set off all those fireworks every 4th of July.” Poppy continued, “It will be greater than ever this year and with lots of celebrations. It’s actually called the semiquincentennial.” “Semiq—that’s a tough one to say. How do you know all this,” asked Roscoe. “We learned all about it in history class. It’s one of my favorite subjects, next to art that is,” she giggled.
Roscoe thought for a moment. "Would you like to watch them together?" "I'd love to." "We could build a campfire." Poppy smiled. "And make cocoa and S'mores?" Roscoe grinned. "Now you're speaking my language. Meet me at the campfire," he exclaimed.
The two new friends gathered wood and carefully built a campfire ring. Roscoe proudly stacked the wood. "I've learned a lot about campfires." "Really?" asked Poppy. "Sure! Long ago people didn't have lighters or matches. Some learned to make fire by rubbing sticks together." Poppy's eyes widened. "That sounds difficult." "It is." Roscoe searched his pockets. Then searched again. Then again. His smile disappeared. "I forgot the matches." Poppy blinked; “You forgot the matches?" Roscoe nodded. Poppy giggled, and Roscoe couldn’t help but join in. "Looks like we're doing this the old-fashioned way. No worries; I snuck into the Boy Scouts’ camp one night when the counselor was teaching them how to start fires without matches," he proudly proclaimed. After many tries, a tiny curl of smoke appeared. Then a spark. Then a flame. "We did it!" shouted Roscoe. Poppy clapped her paws in excitement. Soon the campfire crackled brightly beneath the stars.
The fireworks began overhead. Red, White, Blue. Boom! Crackle! Pop! The sky exploded with color. Roscoe roasted a marshmallow, but being his usual impatient self, he got it too close to the fire and WHOOSH! It burst into flames. Poppy gave that crazy, silly little laugh. She, on the other hand, slowly turned her marshmallow until it was perfectly golden brown. "Patience," she said. Something Roscoe needed more practice on. When the S'mores were ready, Roscoe gobbled his down in three bites. Poppy enjoyed hers one bite at a time. When she finished, she politely wiped her mouth with a napkin while Roscoe used his convenient sleeve.
Roscoe took a big sip of his cocoa. "Hmm." "What?" asked Poppy. "This tastes different." “Good different or bad different?” Roscoe took another sip. “It tastes really good." This pleased Poppy immensely. Roscoe studied his mug. "What did you put in here?" Poppy simply shrugged. “A secret ingredient. Maybe you'll figure it out someday."
The fireworks faded. The campfire burned low. Together they carefully poured water on the fire until every ember was cool. "A campfire is only safe when it's completely out," Roscoe explained.
Then they picked up every scrap of trash. "I know some raccoons who leave a mess behind," Roscoe said. "But not us," said Poppy. "Never us," they said in unison.
As they prepared to leave, something small slipped from Poppy's scrapbook. Neither of them noticed. A single flower rested beside the campfire stones. Poppy waved. "This was fun." "It sure was," said Roscoe. "See you around?" Poppy nodded. As Roscoe headed home, he couldn't stop thinking about the strange flavor in his cocoa. And what secret ingredient had Poppy added to the cocoa? Maybe Roscoe would discover the answer the next time they met OR would they ever meet again...
What do you think Poppy put in Roscoe’s cocoa? Will they meet up again? Did you learn anything new? Learning can be fun when told in a story. What else do you know about the 250th Anniversary? Join us in Episode 2 for more adventures and to help solve the mystery.
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