Chapter 14        Me had been looking for StellaLuna for only a short time, but to him, it seemed like forever. In actual time it had only been 1,884,954 milliseconds, which is a large number if you think of it that way. The forest seemed quite empty of hikers, or at least this part of the forest. The only other people he had seen so far were two hikers he passed when he first entered the forest, as they were leaving the forest. They said they saw a German shepherd earlier barking and making other noises at a tree, but that was several path crossings ago. Me went down the path they pointed to and followed the two lefts and one right they told him to take. But, once again, he had come to another crossing. “Would she have gone this way … or that way? “ he thought to himself, and then a silly thought came into his head, “Maybe if I ask the forest, I can get some help? What do I have to lose?” Me then chanted the tree chant, “Olly olly eyes in tree … pop out … say hello to me”. As Me looked about to see if anyone had popped out, he spied a face near the base of a tree. “Hello,” said Me to the tree, “I have a question to ask, and I know it's silly to talk to a tree. But, I'm going to ask anyway.” And so he asked the tree the question that meant the most to him at that time.        “I’m looking for my dog StellaLuna,” said Me. “Do you know where she might be?” Now, there had been times when Me thought he saw a face in a tree, but when he looked again it was gone … and there had been times when Me would turn around he would see a face that he was pretty sure wasn’t there before, like what just happened. But never before had a face just popped out while he was looking at the tree, which now just happened. While Me was looking at the first face in the tree, a second one popped out right below the face that was already there.        "We know which direction," said Clemens and Verne together. Me heard sounds from the tree, but to him, they just sounded like the creaking of an old wood floor, not words. "Like most humans, I don't think he can understand us," said Verne. "How about we shake the leaves on the right side to show him the right direction?" said Clemens. "That might work," answered Verne. And that's what they did. As Me looked at the faces in the tree, still dazed and amazed that one popped out in front of his own eyes as he watched ... suddenly the leaves near the end of the branches on just the right side of the tree started to really shake, like a very strong wind was moving them, and then they just stopped. Now, even more dazed and amazed, Me took a second (possibly 33 or more) and said, "StellaLuna is down that way?" said Me. Once again, Verne and Clemens shook the leaves on the right side as they yelled, “YES, THIS WAY!” Me thought he heard the word “yes,” but his brain had enough shock and awe for now, and it wasn't quite sure what it heard.        Hoping he was going the right way, Me followed the path the way the tree’s leaves had waved to. Every time Me came to a crossing in the path he would once again say the tree chant and then ask the tree, the question that meant the most to him at that time when he found a face … and once again the tree would shake its branches and leaves because the trees knew he at least understood that. They also said, "THIS WAY" each time even though they knew he probably didn't understand it, but it was worth a try.         It probably took Me a little longer to finally get to where StellaLuna was because even though trees do have an incredible sense of direction, as you know, they have little use for paths, and therefore little knowledge of how they work. They don’t know that sometimes a path might start you in the right direction … but before you know it, you're now going the wrong direction, and had you waited for the next path, you would have gotten there quicker. Most trees avoid living near paths anyway. But it really didn't matter since Me didn't know he was taking the long way there, he was just happy he was getting help … and Help will eventually help you find your way.