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“I don’t want to light a fire,” said Leo, suddenly sheepish.
“It’s okay, Love. If you treat it right and respect it, the fire will be your marshmallow-searing pal. First things first. We need fire food. What does it eat?”
“Wood!”
“Yes!”
“Sticks!”
“Yes!”
“Dried leaves!”
“Yes!”
“Marshmallows!”
“Not at first, Leo, but soon.”
We spent a good hour gathering fire food. We arranged it in a small pile with bigger sticks and firewood leaning in to a point, like a tepee.
“Why a tepee, Mom?”
“It’s about the dry stuff to burn, but it’s also all about the air. It’s a triangle. You need air, food to burn, and heat.”
We were ready. Kai struck the match and ignited the dried grasses. Leo cheered. The two boys wriggled with expectation. Keith leaned over and watched.
“Needs air,” he said, and blew gently. It took! The twigs were engulfed, and finally the small sticks lit up. The boys carefully put small twigs on until the tepee of twigs caught.
“Now add a small piece of firewood.”
Kai gently placed a piece of wood on the fire. It was a good fire.
“FIRE!” Leo shrieked and danced around it, whooping. “My turn to put a piece of wood on it!” He gently placed a small log.
They had risen to the challenge; for hours, they cared for their fire as if it were alive.
The next morning, we weren’t done with fire. Are we ever done with fire? As we sipped our assorted hot beverages around the campfire, Kai piped up. “Mom, we made that fire yesterday on our own.”
“Yeah, we did.”
“But people made the match, right? So we didn’t actually make that fire on our own.”
“Yeah, we cheated,” added Leo.
“Can we do it on our own?” Kai asked.
“I guess so...” I spotted Kai’s backpack with his notebook, crayons…and a magnifying glass.
“Grab your magnifying glass, get some dried grasses, and follow me.”
We went to a sunny spot, made a ring of stones, and put the grass in the middle. I aimed the glass so that the sun shone through and made a small circle of light on the grass. “You guys have the power to change sunlight into fire.”
“How?”
“You’re taking its energy, and kind of smushing it together and focusing the rays in one section. That’s a lot of heat. Hold it steady and see what happens to your dried grass.” It wasn’t done in an instant. It took several stops and starts; but eventually, there was smoke, and then there was fire.
“I like camping.”
“Me too.”
“Can we have s’mores tonight? Pleeeeeeease!”
“If you make the fire, I’ll find the marshmallows.”
From Mama Gone Geek by Lynn Brunelle, © 2014 by Lynn Brunelle. Reprinted by arrangement with Roost Books, an imprint of Shambhala Publications, Inc., Boston, MA. roostbooks.com
