“It’s a big hole. A really, really, really big hole.”

“Show me later, okay?”

“But what if it’s from a meteorite?”

“It’s not from a meteorite. We’re here for fungi, remember? Let’s look for fungi.”

He soon forgot about the hole. An hour later, he made an effort to stand up straight, but his spine didn’t really want to comply. He pressed his knuckles into the small of his back, massaging the muscles and urging out a few pops and cracks. Above him, in patches glimpsed through the canopy, meteors continued to sketch chalk lines across the blackboard of the sky, but they were fainter now as the horizon brightened with the promise of dawn.

Mia wasn’t scared anymore, but she was tired, slumping her shoulders and dragging her feet and slurring her words and weighting her voice when she said, “Can we go? This is so boring. This is taking forever and ever and ever and ever.”

Jack unzipped his pack and pulled out a Snickers bar and a water bottle. “Here you go, sweetie.” He handed them over and then hoisted the girl onto a stump that marked the edge of the meadow. “Sit on your throne and watch the sun rise. I’ve got another fifteen minutes and then we’ll bolt. Okay?”

Mia tore open the candy, took a bite, and said, around a mouthful of chocolate, “Promise?”

“Fifteen minutes. I promise. I’m going to keep moving,” Jack said. “But you’ll be able to see me and talk to me the whole time. I’ll be right here.” He swept his hand in the direction of the meadow. Channels of mist moved through it like white-water streams.

Mia said, “Can I play a game on your phone?” She held out her hand and made grabby fingers, because she already knew the answer.

Jack dug out his cell and plopped it in her hand and said, “Fifteen minutes.”

It turned out to be thirty. The air was so fecund, so humid, that breathing felt like drinking, and he could barely take a step without another pod of mushrooms popping into view. He snapped photos. He took measurements and plucked samples. He jotted down notes.

He looked back only once. The sky was pinkening, but the forest remained dark. His daughter was seated against the great wall of trees, kicking her feet, her face lowered to the aquatic glow of the screen.