Chapter 15               It was starting to get late, and dusk would be coming soon. Me was now hiking on a path that cut through the thick forest foliage of great bushes that surrounded the tall trees. He was heading up a slight hill on the narrow path that was twisting and turning here and there through the forest, as if the path’s purpose was to ensure you have faced all the possible 360 degrees on a compass at least twice. He began to worry that maybe following the suggestions of trees might have led him on a fool’s journey. As he turned the last turn, the path finally came to a small clearing, where the roots of an ancient tree stuck high into the air. And there, sitting with a smile on her face, next to the old roots, was StellaLuna waiting.        “Hello” barked StellaLuna at Me and then ran up to him with a very excited butt and tail wag.       “StellaLuna,” said Me with much glee. “I’m so happy to see you. I was worried I’d never find you, but then I think the forest helped me find you. I could swear that the trees were trying to talk to me.”        “Trees can talk,” said StellaLuna.        “StellaLuna - did - you - just - talk?” said Me.        “It’s more like you started to listen,” said StellaLuna        As Me stood there mouth a gap, looking at his talking dog, he noticed Locasta’s face in the tree root sticking in the air. “StellaLuna, there seems to be a face in the tree root behind you,” said Me.        “Yes,”said StellaLuna. “This is Locasta, the witch of the woods. She asked the forest to help guide you to us, while I waited for you, instead of both us moving about and missing each other. While we waited for you she told me stories”        “Wow,” said Me. “You can talk … and you say trees can talk?”        “Yes, I can hear their words,” said StellaLuna. ‘Maybe if you try to listen, you can hear them too”.        “I’ll give it a try,” said Me. “Why don’t you two have a conversation, and I'll try to listen to it. And so, Locasta and StellaLuna started talking about nothing much, and Me tried to listen, but all he heard was StellaLuna bark talking intermittently to Locasta. The only reason he was able to follow the conversation was because he could hear what StellaLuna was saying. He thought he heard some strange sounds when Locasta should have been talking, but he wasn’t quite able to make them out, at least as words. After several minutes of trying to listen to the conversation, Me said, ”All I can hear is you StellaLuna, and unfortunately it will be dark soon. We should try and get back to the Crittercar before that happens. We can always come back, and I can try again.”        “Do you know how to get back to the car from here?” said StellaLuna.        “It's been a long time since I've been in this part of the forest,” said Me. “But if I remember correctly, behind Locasta is an old path she is lying across, and that path leads to a dead-end road. Once we get to the road, it's a fairly short walk with a lot less twists and bends, back to the car.         They said goodbye for now to Locasta and started walking toward the dead-end road. As they were walking, StellaLuna said to Me, “I have been calling you Me for a long time … and you have always responded to that name when I barked it you. Is that your name?”        “Well it does end with me,” said Me, ‘but it’s spelled my. But if that’s what you decided to name me, then Me it is.”   The End