"Eeewwww," I said.

"Yeah, don't want to touch that," Peg said. "That's the Mother."

We were in the Crystal Cave, and there were lumps of that white marble oozing out of the cave walls, just like I saw at that spooky promontory on the way.

"You should only take the crystal that's fully birthed. Otherwise she gets... touchy."

Yeah I wasn't touching that, that's for sure.

Peg took me to a grotto that was full of big crystals, fully formed. I noticed a lot of animal prints in the sand.

"Yeah, all the forest creatures have rights to it, I figure. Sometime I shew them out. Guess they like shiny stuff as much as we do."

And I assume they've known what to do with it a lot longer than we have.

"Ah, here. For you," she said, cracking off a bouquet-sized crystal blossom with her little pick. It had a array of different colors, but all branching out like a little slow motion crystal explosion.

"I feel this is just what you need for what's coming up," she said.

Peg and I flitted through the treetops, Yellow Birch School style. All the way to the other side of the mountain.

"Watch your head," Peg said.

"Oooof!"

Peg's treehouse was exceptionally well camouflaged.

Once we were inside, she made me a cup of smoked pine tea.

"What is going ON?" I asked.

"Rangers in suits came to kick me out," Peg said. "Or thought they were kicking me out." She had that crystal twinkle in her eyes.

"Said they had the mineral rights to the Crystal Cave," she said. "But they didn't know exactly where it was. So I showed them to the old mine."

"That stinky hole? It's noxious."

"They spent a lot on ventilation. Once they figured out the mine was tapped, they made it a tourist attraction. I got a job managing the gift shop. On account of my 'sperience," she said, laughing. "Lets me keep an eye on them. But what I don't get is why they were up here in the first place. How'd people like that find out about the crystals? That's always been--"

"Timberjack talk," I said.

"FOREST talk," Peg said.

It was the kind of talk you wouldn't know unless you lived here. Things the Weasel Creek Kids learned from the Timberjacks. But we weren't the only creatures in the woods who could talk, given the right mood.

"What would people like that do with the crystals?" I asked.

"I don't even wanna think about it," Peg said. "Which is why I've kept my treehouse and the entrance to the cave hidden. And hidden good."

We sipped our smoked pine tea.

"Wanna take a look?" she asked.

"Psssst! Sam!"

I was standing in a line with my cavern tour group waiting for the cavern tour to start.

"Up here!"

It was Peg Matite, way up high in a pine above the line.

"C'mon!!" she stage whispered. 

Nobody else in line was paying me any attention. So I leaped to the top of the tree from a standing position, Mountain Pine School style.

"Welcome to the Crystal Caverns gift shop. Please check your backpacks or shopping bags from other gift shops at the door. Thank you."

Crystal Cave had gotten a lot more developed since the last time I was here.

"Crystal CAVERNS" says the person at the cash register.

Even the name had gotten an upgrade.

I poked around in the gift shop but was uninspired. There was Amethyst and Aquamarine and Rose Quartz and Jasper, and fudge and salt water taffy and ashtrays and coffee mugs and shirts with bigfoot, but nothing of the crystals that were native and exclusive to Crystal Cave.

"Do you know Peg?" I asked the person at the cash register.

She looked at me blankly.

"Uh, Margret mabye? Marge Matite?"

"Oh!" she said, lighting up. "Ms. Matite is off today. Would you like to make an appointment?"

Last I knew, Peg lived in a treefort near the mouth of the cave. Sometimes she'd sleep inside the cave. What had happened to this place?

"Can I call her?" I asked.

"I can take your number, and give her a message," she said.

I gave her my number, bought a ticket for a caverns tour, and wandered out.

The way to Peg's place is hard to find. I've been there before, but those forest logging roads look different every time. So when I found a little promontory I didn't recognize, it didn't seem out of the ordinary.

It was a cute little spot with shards of shale shoving themselves straight out of the ground, making a kind of altar. And a big smooth boulder with a curious white crystal oozing out of it like a mole or a big pimple.

Upon closer examination, the crystal was more like lumpy soft marble. And it had its own little mini meadow of clover or growing right in front of it.

Touch it!

DON'T TOUCH IT

Usually I'm real open and curious to stuff, but... yeah. This seemed like somebody else's story and I had an overwhelming desire to leave it alone AND GET THE HECK OUT OF THERE.

Oh look, a little place where people had campfires and... I don't know what.

Yeah I hightailed it out of there. I was still pretty lost, but it seemed like the right dirt road toward Peg's.

My treehouse is in pretty good shape, considering its age. Thick polished planks, tight seal around the spiral roof, and of course my beautiful gothic windows to the south. The Timberjacks built things to last, but I've learned a lot about basic treehouse maintenance along the way and things are in ship shape.

But since home improvement is in the air I'm thinking about maybe a nice crystal. Time to visit my friend Peg Matite up at Crystal Cave!

Today I was on one of my forest walks and saw a group of Ranger Rotten's Roadkill Ring shaking down some grade school kids for lunch money. Any kid's bound to be scared when a half rotted raccoon corpse with a tire track across its back and one eye hanging out snarls at you and demands your lunch money!

We can not forget that we Weasel Creek Kids inherited our treehouses from the Timberjacks who went to this school before we did, and those Timberjacks had a moral code. If we want to live up to the principles of the Timberjacks, and forest keepers of all stripes, we can no longer turn a blind eye to Ranger Rotten and all of the corruption he stands for. And that includes whatever Docor Greejeans is up to.

It's time the Weasel Creek Kids made a stand! Who is with me?