this morning

Hi Henry,

Erik says it's time for me to be heading home! I think he'll feel really lonely when I'm gone, but he says he's sending me back where I'm loved by my friends.

Because the postman doesn't come around to his office until mid-afternoon, we had time this morning to go for a walk along Aliso Creek.


It's a narrow little waterway that travels toward the ocean all the way across Orange County. The Spanish explorers used to stop here for a drink, and Erik says they would cut the skin and needles off the cactus and cook the "meat" inside.


At the beginning of our walk, I noticed we weren't far from the street. Since so many people live here, there isn't very much room for nature. Erik explained Orange County isn't rural like it used to be, even though it's so far from the big city. We're in the middle of what he calls "suburban sprawl."

When we stopped beside the creek, I said, "What kind of rocks are those?" and he said, "That's cement."


It turns out that the creek doesn't follow the path it used to at all! The county engineers built a concrete channel for it to follow, and let plants grow around it. Erik says developers wanted to prevent flooding, and there's hardly a place in Southern California or any city in America that hasn't been altered by mankind.


I guess he's right, but it still made me feel bad, and then I started to notice all the trash that people had thrown into the creek.



Even though it was depressing, I tried to play, but Erik said, "Come out of there! You can't go in the water! It's polluted."


We walked another mile or so under bridges and through tunnels under the freeway. The creek isn't allowed to go on its own, and I saw so much litter. "Why would people throw their garbage on the ground in such a beautiful place?" I asked Erik. "California is so nice."

He said, "I don't know. California isn't all flowers and pretty trees."

Then I had to sit down because I started to feel really sad.


"Oh, Flat Stanley," Erik said. "It's OK. You know why? Because you don't have to do what everybody else does. When you have something to throw away, you can hold onto it and put it in a trash can where it belongs. Or you can recycle the bottles and cans so they can be made into other things later. It's not all terrible."

"Can we do that now?" I asked.

He said, "Sure."


So I found a cup someone threw on the ground beside a big old eucalyptus tree, and Erik lifted me up and we threw it away.


I felt so much better. I still don't like the way people litter all over the place. It makes me so angry! But at least I can be proud that I was a good guest when I visited California.


And guess what! When we got back to the office, just before he was about to fold me up and mail me back, Erik found out he forgot to bring any stamps! So he couldn't mail me back today!

Erik said, "Well, I guess we'll have to have one more adventure before you go home."

It made me so happy! I started to cry!

Your friend,

Flat Stanley