Waves of Destiny (Twisted Wonderland)

Chapter 13

Chapter 13

"HEY, JAMIIIL!" Grim shouted, running full speed toward the guy. "I got your mushroom!"

"Quit zigzaggin' and lemme catch you!" Floyd said. Finally, he managed to move in front of him and grab him. "Gotcha! One sealie snagged."

"MRAAAH! I was THIS close to Jamil!"

"Are you guys playing tag while the rest of us are working?" Jamil said, not sounding amused. "Must be nice having time to goof off."

"Ain't nothin' nice about it!" Floyd said. "This guy here..."

"Argh, it just ain't fair!" said Grim. "I want my curry!"

"Uh, Grim?" said Jamil. "Do you realize you're holding a poisonous mushroom?"

"What?! It's not a shiitake?"

"Sure ain't," said Floyd, looking at him with an annoyed expression.

"I told you to listen to him," I said.

"Lemme lay out some sweet 'shroom facts for ya. The shiitake, or lentinula edodes, is an edible mushroom of the lentinula genus, tricholomataceae family, and agaricales order. They grow on the decaying wood of deciduous trees but can sometimes be found on cedars and other conifers. They have a broad stem with a brown cap and white gills. Their earthy flavor and meaty texture make them a popular food item. Now, that mushroom you've got in your paws? Totally different. See, this mushroom possess similar visual markers to a shiitake. But it's highly toxic, and consuming it can cause poisoning symptoms, including acute stomach pain. Unlike the shiitake, there's a firm ring on its stem. You can also identify it by the red spots on the stem's interior. ...tl;dr, that 'shroom's bad news."

"Nice," I said, unable to hide my grin. "Thanks for the info." Everyone else appeared completed dumbfounded.

"Whoa, you sounded like a nature documentary," said a basketball club member. "Were you reading off a script?"

"You coulda just told me it was poisonous and saved us a whole lotta trouble!" Grim exclaimed.

"I literally said it was inedible," said Floyd.

"Wait, that wasn't just 'cause you don't like 'em? Why didn't you say so?!"

"What's this? Little Sealie's blamin' someone else for his mistakes?" Floyd smiled in a teasing manner. "If you didn't want to listen to me, you shoulda listened to Lil' Shrimpy."

"Exactly," I said. "And I should make you apologize for doubting him - and me." Grim muttered under his breath - something about never apologizing for any reason.

"Okay, all of you just cut it out," Jamil said. "I have to admit, Floyd, I'm impressed. You've really done your homework on this. I make it a point to research toxins, but even I would have trouble identifying that mushroom at first glance."

"Homework?" said Floyd. "Nah. You know studying's not my thing. I just recited an entry from this guidebook I glanced at the other day."

"All that from a glance...? Care to elaborate?"

"Jade gave me this book called Hiking Made Easy before I left for camp. Practically shoved it into my hands. He was all like, 'I assure you this will come in handy!' He wouldn't get off my case about it, so I flipped through it real quick. That's where I saw the mushroom facts."

"Ah, so I should thank Jade for saving our lives," I said.

"You memorized all that just from glancing at the page?!" Jamil said in shock. "Did you memorize the entire book that way...?"