Your Backyard Is Wild (5 page)

“Armadillos?” Gabe replied.

“Crabs and lobsters,” Benjamin said, chuckling. “Crustaceans. It looks like an insect, but the pill bug is actually the only crustacean that lives entirely on land. It doesn’t need to be in water; but it likes dark, wet places, like the leaf pile.”

“Unbelievable!” Gabe said.

For a moment, Benjamin thought he saw Gabe’s attention wander, and suddenly he wondered if his cousin was overwhelmed. He knew what it felt like when his parents tried to show him everything at once. When they did that, he always wished they could take a break. And that was when he hadn’t had a bad accident on a playground!

“I think we’ve explored enough for now,” Benjamin said to Gabe and Lucy. “Let’s go inside for a snack!”

T
he minute they got inside, Gabe wanted to go back out again! Benjamin realized he was all wrong about his cousin needing a break. In fact, Gabe couldn’t get enough of exploring the yard! “It’s like
they’re
showing
me
around,” he heard him say to Aunt Lily. “It’s a part of New York I never even knew was there!”

They couldn’t go back out yet, though, because Uncle Peter had made dinner. “My famous lasagna,” he said, putting a piece on every plate.

As they ate, Gabe asked the Baxters about the exploring trips they’d taken. Benjamin’s parents didn’t even know where to start. “Well, we went to Yellowstone last summer,” said Mrs. Baxter. “At home, we’d been studying the endangered species of the Everglades. Out west, though, different species are threatened. We did some research on wolves while we were there.”

“For a long time there were almost no wolves left,” Benjamin added. “But now scientists and conservationists are working to bring them back.”

“I think that was my favorite trip ever,” Lucy said. “I mean, besides this one. We got to see the wolves up close—they acted just like dogs! Plus we spent a whole week camping!”

“I’ve never been camping,” Gabe said.

“We’ll have to take you sometime,” replied Benjamin. “Maybe when you come to Florida.” It was another thing he could show his cousin!

But Gabe had another idea. “How about we camp out in the backyard tonight?” he asked.

His mother frowned. “I don’t think so, Gabe,” she said. “It’s not safe. . . . And we don’t even have a tent.”

“But could we go out there after dark?” Benjamin asked. “Just for a little while? If a grown-up is watching us? We can see all kinds of other animals then.”

Gabe’s mom hesitated for a minute. Then Benjamin’s dad said, “I’ll go with them, Lily. I’ll make sure they’re all right.”

Aunt Lily smiled. “It’s fine by me, then.”

“Hooray!” shouted Gabe. He sounded as excited as Benjamin had felt the morning they left home.

 

The summer was almost over, and the days were getting shorter. Still, it was after 9:00 before the sky was completely dark. The kids followed Mr. Baxter out the basement door. They still had Benjamin’s backpack with them, full of collecting jars and tools for digging. And this time each kid had a flashlight, too.

The yard looked different in the dark, Benjamin thought. It was full of mysterious shadows and patterns now. Even the sounds were different.

Benjamin walked down the brick path and knocked over a flowerpot by mistake. His dad put his finger to his lips, reminding him to be quiet. Benjamin put up his hands—his way of saying, It was an accident!

He swept his flashlight over a small patch of ground in front of him. There was some movement between the bricks—it was hard to see, but he was pretty sure there was a beetle down there. And what was that, hidden in the tall grass? Benjamin bent to pick it up, then brought it to his cousin so they could examine it together.

“What is it? It looks like a bunch of sticks,” Gabe whispered. It had a rounded shape, and it was just the right size to carry something small and delicate.

“It’s a bird’s nest,” Benjamin replied. “It probably blew out of a tree!” It was amazing to think of the tiny eggs that had been in there once—or of the baby birds that had since flown away.

“Wait a minute!” Gabe said. “There’s something else in the grass, too.” He took a few steps and shone his flashlight near where Benjamin had found the nest. He picked up something and stared at it, mystified. It was a small fleck of something, like a seashell or a thin piece of soap.

This time Gabe was the one who realized what they were looking at. “That’s a shell from a hatched egg!” he cried. His voice was low, but Benjamin could tell Gabe was excited and proud.

“Nice going, Gabe!” he said. Then he called his dad over, softly. “Dad, look at this eggshell we found. Any idea what kind of bird laid the egg?” he asked.

Mr. Baxter shone his flashlight on it and examined it carefully. “See that pale blue color that’s almost faded away?” he said. “That’s the trademark color of a robin’s egg.”

A little while later, a shadow slinked into the yard from around the neighbor’s fence. At first Benjamin thought it was a black-and-white cat . . . until he realized it was a skunk!

“Don’t worry,” he told Gabe, who was looking worried enough for both of them. “Skunks don’t like to use their spray—it’s sort of a last resort for them. They don’t want to use it all up, since they only carry enough for five or six sprays and it takes a while for their bodies to build it up again. If we don’t bother him, he won’t bother us.”

Benjamin knew that what he said was true, but he was still glad when the skunk slipped under the same fence as the garter snake. There was no telling what other animals might do to rile the skunk, and he didn’t want to be anywhere near it if it sprayed!

“Hey, where’s Lucy?” he asked all of a sudden. The yard wasn’t very big. So where could she be?

A soft whisper came from around the corner of the house. “Over here!”

“I’ll be right back,” Benjamin said to Gabe and his father. He followed the sound to a small wooden enclosure where there were several trash cans. It looked like there were enough for Gabe’s whole building there.

“What are you doing?” Benjamin asked his sister. It was just like her to leave the main action and focus in on some sideshow.

“Waiting,” she said.

“For what?”

“Just watch,” Lucy replied. “You’ll see.”

Benjamin sat quietly for a few moments. He looked up at the sky, but he could see only a handful of stars—even on a clear night, the bright lights of the city blocked them out. Then he heard some rustling and saw a couple of bushy tails. More squirrels, he thought. Or skunks.

But as he kept watching, he realized it was a pair of raccoons! Their eyes shone brightly through the dark masks on their faces. They looked like a couple of bandits from the Wild West, but Benjamin knew that scientists thought the dark fur served a real purpose, such as blocking glare and enhancing the raccoons’ night vision.

The raccoons hopped into the trash enclosure and onto the rows of cans. Then, one by one, they tried to take off the tops. Most of the tops were securely fastened . . . but one of them was not.

The larger raccoon pried it off with its nose and tossed it aside. Then it began to rip into a trash bag with its paws! Soon somebody’s leftovers were all over the ground, and the raccoons were having a feast.

Benjamin went back to get their dad, who walked over in the dark with Gabe.

“I thought they ate, you know, fish,” Gabe said. “So why do they bother with people’s garbage?”

“Raccoons are extremely clever animals,” said Mr. Baxter. “More than most mammals, they have totally adapted to life in the city. They eat fish—or crawfish, really—when they can. But they are just as happy with somebody’s leftover fish dinner! They will eat frogs or insects, too—raccoons change to fit whatever environment they’re in. It’s not good for them to eat humans’ trash, though,” he added. “It’s dangerous for them to become too domesticated and lose their wild instincts.”

“What if that’s our trash?” Gabe said. “My mom won’t be too happy if she knows I watched this happen!”

His words startled the raccoons, and they were gone as quickly as they’d come.

“Let’s clean it up,” said Mr. Baxter in his normal voice. “I think it’s about time we went in anyway. Just put everything back in the cans—I’ll come out and rebag it all later. It’s the first rule of being outdoors: leave everything just as you found it.”

Gabe nodded, taking it all in.

But Lucy joked, “Why don’t you tell that to the raccoons?”

T
wo days later, Aunt Lily and Uncle Peter decided they could stop worrying about Gabe. He had followed doctor’s orders and stayed close to home, exploring the backyard and playing games and watching movies inside. But now they thought it was safe for him to get back to showing his cousins around town.

Benjamin was ready to get back to it, too. He and the other kids had collected plants and rocks. They had observed countless creatures in Gabe’s backyard. But there was still a big city out there that he wanted to see!

Today they were going to visit the American Museum of Natural History. The two families crammed into Aunt Lily’s minivan—this time they were driving instead of taking the subway. Once they crossed the bridge again, Uncle Peter said, “How about we take a detour through Times Square?”

Benjamin had seen Times Square once on TV, when his parents let him stay up late on New Year’s Eve. He remembered its dizzying bright lights, its happy crowds, and the clouds of confetti they tossed into the air at midnight. When they drove through Times Square, Benjamin couldn’t believe this was a “normal” day! The lights and the crowds were still there—all that was missing was the confetti. It was like every day was a celebration in New York.

Uncle Peter drove up the west side of Central Park, past a majestic building with tall columns and another crowd out front. “That’s the museum! There are dinosaur bones and models of huge ocean creatures and a planetarium in there. You guys will love it!” Gabe told Benjamin and Lucy as Uncle Peter parked the car.