The Adventures of Harley and Harper

“Pickles! Wait up!” Harley called after their dog. Harper was not too far behind, but Mom and Dad were no longer in sight. Their family dog had caught sight of a squirrel or some other small animal on the wooded path and made a beeline for it, sending his leash on a flight straight out of Harley’s hand.

“Harley, try and say ‘treat’, maybe he will turn around!” Harper suggested, half out of breath as she tried to keep up with the pace.

“Pickles! Treat! Car Ride! Come!” Harley repeated every known word that Pickle’s knew, but it did not help. The twins could barely see him now as they struggled to keep up.

The family had decided to go for an afternoon hike at one of their local trails. They frequented this location a lot, so the twins were decently familiar with the path. However, Pickles decided to go off the trail in his pursuit.

Without thinking of anything other than securing their dog, Harley and Harper followed into the thick brush, calling after him repeatedly.

What seemed like only seconds later, but was much longer, they came to a stop defeated and out of breath.

“I need a break, let’s stop for a second,” Harper said.

“I can’t believe Pickles! Surely, he hears us calling for him,” Harley vented.

After a moment of catching their breath, Harper realized something and slowly lifted her head, “Harley…”

“Yeah?”

“Do you know where we are?” She looked around in uncertainty.

Harley swiveled his head back and forth and just then realized how far they had come off the path, “Um…I think we came from that way.” He pointed behind them.

“Are you sure?” Harper was not convinced.

Harley grew nervous and did not lie, “No…”

“What are we going to do?” Harper spun about, “We are lost!”

“Hold on, it’s going to be okay. Pickles!” He called again.

“How far back were Mom and Dad?”

“Not too far, they should see where we left the path.”

They each took a moment to silently evaluate their predicament, growing increasingly more scared as suddenly all the sounds of nature surrounded them. They heard a twig snap and grabbed for each other, not knowing what made the sound. Next came leaves rustling and more twigs…something big was coming straight for them. They squeezed each other tight and closed their eyes when suddenly Pickles emerged with a happy bounce and sat down in front of them, panting away.

“Oh, Pickles!” Harper wrapped her arms around him.

“Bad Dog! You can’t run off like that!” Harley scolded him but was secretly relieved that they had gotten him back. He wrapped the leash around his hand securely.

“What do we do now?” Harper looked up to her twin, still hugging Pickles.

Harley looked around, thinking, when an idea struck him, “Do you remember when that Park Ranger visited our classroom?”

“Kind of…”

“Didn’t he talk about what to do if you get lost in the woods? Something like ‘3 S’s’?”

The twins scrunched their brows, trying to recall what they had learned. Eventually, Harper remembered, “Stop. Stay Calm. Stay Put.”

“That’s it! So, let’s not move from this spot. We have each other and we have Pickles; we will be okay until Mom and Dad find us.

“Should we try and yell for help?”

“Yes, but let’s take turns so we have energy.”

After a few moments, they thought that they heard voices calling back, so they stood up and yelled together. Pickles joined in with a loud bark, and before long, Mom and Dad could be seen through the trees.

“There!” They yelled at the kids.

“Mom, Dad!” The twins shouted back and ran to meet them.

The family hugged each other with relief and gave Pickles many pets.

“I knew you would find us!” Harley said with a smile.

“We saw where you left the trail and followed.” Mom pointed behind them.

“We remembered what we had learned about Staying Put and didn’t move from this spot.”

“That was the correct thing to do; if you had begun to wander, it would have made it much harder to find you.”

As they walked back to the trail and to their car, the twins retold their story. They were thankful that they had each other to help keep one another safe and that they didn’t get hurt before Pickles reunited with them. Once back in their vehicle, Harley grabbed Harper's hand and squeezed it, thankful to be back with their whole family