A smiling boy, six or so, in khaki shorts and a bright shirt, was hiking up to King Philip's Overlook when Suzi and Charlie ran up to him. He was alone, (an only child?) with his mother and father - they were smiling too.

Charlie, who had been swamping, stood cheerfully by the boy and shook the wetness off his fur. Suzi, (who is naturally polite), the boy told me, was his friend.

This morning, I was a stranger in the woods a boy was happy to meet. He asked me if I had crossed the trestle bridge, and I said, yes, I had, but very carefully.

"Would you like to see my cut?" he asked.

"Are you kidding? Of course!" I waited, expectantly, for the big reveal. Then he showed me the tiny cut on his finger which he must have acquired in a very dramatic way.

We soon parted, and I walked home, thinking about how much his hike in the enchanting and colorful October woods with his mother and father must mean to him today, and how the sense memory of it will return to him, October after October, for years to come.

All text and photos by Kelly DuMar 2017