The Boy of the Florida Scrub

I was the only one of Ma's babies to survive. I had brothers and sisters before me, but they all died when they were little. Ma doesn't talk about it much, but sometimes I catch her looking at me real strange, like she's afraid I might disappear too. Pa says that's why Ma frets so much. She's scared of losing what's left.

I love the outdoors more than anything. I know the names of all the trees longleaf pine, cabbage palm, scrub oak. I can track a deer through the sand, find bee trees by watching where the bees fly, and tell you which critters have been passin' through just by lookin' at their tracks. Pa says I've got the gift of noticing. Ma says I've got the gift of avoiding chores. Maybe we're both right.

My best friend is Fodder-wing Forrester. He lives down the road with his rowdy brothers, but he's different from them. He's got a crooked back and can't walk so good, but he understands animals like nobody I ever met. He keeps all sorts of critters raccoons, squirrels, a crow. He even had a wounded fox once that he nursed back to health. Pa says Fodder-wing has a gift. I say he's just the best friend a boy could ask for.

When I grow up, I want to be just like Pa honest, hardworking, and wise about the ways of the woods. But for now, I'm happy just exploring and learning all the secrets the scrub has to teach me.

Ma says I'm shiftless and need to focus on my chores. But Pa told me once: 'Your Ma's right about work, Jody. But she's wrong about the woods. A man who don't know the land is a man who won't survive it. So you keep learnin'. Just do your chores first.'

That's good advice, I reckon.

So that's me. Jody Baxter. Welcome to my world.