Clarrissa's Climb

“Clarrissa, are you ready to go?” called her mom from downstairs.

“Yes, I’m coming,” grumbled Clarrissa. “Come on, Rudolph. We have to climb Cadillac Mountain.”

Rudolph, the mini poodle, barked as Clarrissa put on her blue cape and fastened his leash. Silently, Clarrissa trudged down the stairs and out the door. She turned around and looked at the house, waiting for her parents, while Rudolph barked at a squirrel up one of the many trees in the front lawn. The house was a small cottage with grey siding with white shutters and door. All of the sudden, the door opened and out popped her father, sporting a hiking hat, sunglasses, so much sunscreen he was almost white, a gigantic hiking backpack, and a knobbly walking stick. Her mother followed him closely; hurriedly stuffing sandwiches into his bag. She then pulled out a sun hat and bug spray.

“We cannot forget about this,” she stated and promptly began to spray Clarrissa, her husband, herself, and even Rudolph. “It’s so the ticks won't get him.”

Clarrissa got into the car and moped all the way to the trailhead and parking lot.

“Where's the mountain,” she asked.

“That’s the mountain,” said her dad, pointing to a large mound of rocks, dirt, and blueberry bushes. “And I heard it was blueberry season,” he added.

“Oh, yum,” replied Clarrissa.

She suddenly felt a tug on the leash and heard Rudolph’s shrill bark. He had found a little green snake. It was leaf green on its back and its head, and lime green on its belly. Further up the mountain, Clarrissa saw a little building with a sign saying “Ice Cream”.

“Can we please get some ice cream mommy, please?” she pleaded.

“Maybe when we come down the mountain,” replied her mother with twinkling eyes.

With a shout, Clarrissa handed her mother the leash and started running up the mountain. Maybe climbing Cadillac Mountain wasn’t too bad after all. Maybe it was a lot of fun.

As she neared the top, she sat down, just to pick one blueberry. Or two. Or twenty. After she ate several, she got up and walked to the cliff. The wind blew her cape back. She looked down.

She saw blue, red, white, and yellow ships in the bay and heard their horns. She saw puffins on rocks in the sea and heard their cries. She saw seemingly endless blue-grey waves and weathered rock. And she saw the sky. It was so blue and cloudless, it seemed bigger than the unending waves.

“Clarrissa, are you ready for ice cream?” her mother asked.

“Yeah, that sounds good. Do you have a plastic bag, Mom?”

“Yes, why?”

“I want fresh blueberries on my ice cream,” Clarrissa told her.

On one of the benches near the shack, her dad asked,

“So, on a scale of one to ten, how awful was it to climb Cadillac Mountain?”

“Negative 1,000,000,000!” she replied.