The forest floor was rocky, with occasional yellow flowers and some kind of ground cover with tiny blue flowers. Disentangling a thorny bush from her jeans, she pushed on until she spotted a bush with dark blue berries. Plucking one from the bush, she rolled the berry in her hand, removing the powdery haze from its surface. It looked a little like a blueberry, but it was too small.
A little further on, strange fuzzy green pods protruded from the straight branches of another bush. Overhead she finally saw something she recognized...grapes. She reached up and plucked a reddish colored grape from the cluster and wiped it on her shirt. She popped it into her mouth and bit down on it. Instead of the sweet taste she expected, it was bitter - like alum. She spit it out and wiped her mouth. Was it actually a grape, or some poisonous berry? It was stupid to eat something from the woods without having someone to advise her. It was unwise to be in the forest knowing so little about it. She turned to go back and stopped, catching her breath. The cabin was no longer in sight.
"Don't panic." She said aloud. She glanced around and spotted a familiar tree. Wasn't that where she had seen the tiny blue flowers? When she reached the tree, she could see the cabin. She let out a long breath. That was close. A vine hung across the trail and when she reached to push it away, it fell on her arm. She screamed and frantically clawed the slender green snake from her arm. It dropped to the ground and slid into the underbrush. She shuddered, glancing anxiously at the canopy of branches overhead. There could be a dozen of them up there, but she wouldn't be able to see them.
She hurried from the forest, vowing she would never go back. How many other reptiles lurked in the trees and brush, ready to waylay anyone bold enough to enter their territory?
By the time she reached the house, her legs were itching. What now - poison ivy? She pulled her pants leg up to reveal an army of tiny brown insects. She tried to brush them off, but they clung desperately to her skin. Rushing to the bathroom, she stripped and showered, washing the bugs off with soap and hot water.
Refreshed and clean, she made herself a sandwich of lunch meat and scratched her way through half of a novel before she gave up and went to the bathroom to search for some kind of ointment. Little red bumps were coming up around her waistline and on her ankles. She didn't bring any calamine lotion because she had never broken out with poison ivy before. She had thought she was immune, but maybe she was susceptible to the Arkansas species.