Carving Lessons

[Claudius Aston]

WC: 307
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[/html] Claudius followed the direction of Hadley's outstretched arm as the dog pointed toward a nearby cluster of coniferous trees. Claudius was alright in determining the types of trees, so he figured it wouldn't be too difficult a task to pick out a spruce tree. He began to walk toward it and then gestured for Hadley to follow. Although he assumed that Hadley would come along of his own accord, Claudius knew from his own personal experience, that sometimes when someone explicitly included you in an activity, it was more difficult to be shy about it. If Hadley had assumed Claudius would have followed a year ago, Claudius would have likely lingered, wondering if he really should follow or not. Although Claudius had not conquered his anxiety, he had gotten much better at dealing with it. He just hoped he could use this knowledge to help others like him.

He trotted over to a nearby grouping of trees and scanned them quickly, trying to find the tell-tale sign of a spruce. Nothing.

"None he-e-ere," he said. He twisted his head first and then his entire body around to find Hadley. "Bu-u-u-t near...by... I think," he added. He smiled hesitantly and scanned the surrounding area. He then noticed that he hadn't quite made it to the group of trees Hadley had been pointing at. He set off again at a comfortable jog. This time, the group of trees Hadley had originally pointed out, bore fruit – or rather, sap. He glanced over his shoulder and grinned. There were a few spruce trees here, so it looked like they were in luck! Unfortunately, Claudius didn’t have any tools for drilling into the tree, so they’d have to scrape the sap off the bark where they could. Of course, the crack was quite small, so he didn’t think they’d need a lot. [html]

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