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Speaker 1: Hey, thanks for being a part of the conversation. Welcome

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to Forest Stories, a series of short winded adventures within

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a collection of skyscraping trees stuck feet first in Georgia

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Clay right here in Carolina. It's been a huge part

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of my daily journey for over thirty three years. I

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Am the Poet in the Forest, a children's series written

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and recorded in the nineteen nineties. It's grown into multiple

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podcasts that now reach around the world, and none of

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it would be possible without this forest. Right here in

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South Charlotte, North Carolina, at the base of Heartbreak Hills,

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sits a sign that reads Rainbow Forest. Well, it's time

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you get to meet what's inspired several generations. Long before

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the paved paths decorated with colorful homes colonized around this

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beautiful lake, slow moving stream, flatland swamps and array of

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natural animals, there were families and business owners who are

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said to have raced into this area for the beauty

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of the land, wild roses, migratory birds, and wild grapevines.

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Those before me either forgot to write about it or

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it's buried somewhere inside their family tree. Hey, thanks for

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being a part of the Conversation. This week, the Writer's

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Tale unveils the story of the missing mysterious gloves. Welcome

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back to the forest. Interesting, I have found a pair

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of working gloves on this forested floor. How is it

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that you can lose two gloves in a single moment,

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only two or three feet apart? Did it fall off

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a truck? Did it fall off a tractor? And atv?

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Speaker 2: How is it these two gloves are found nearly in

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the same spot. It's almost like finding a dead body. Ooh,

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this close to Halloween, and you think about stuff like that.

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What would happen if I found something this close to me?

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And I stopped and I began to look around to

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see that other connections that had been cut off or

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dropped off are in other locations. What do you do

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in a situation like that? Do you run? Do you

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make up a story? Do you prepare yourself to become

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the inner armchair quarterback journalist? This isn't the only time

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that I've spotted a pair of workmen's gloves on this

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forested floor. I don't see workmen in here? Is it

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other dog owners that stuff it inside their warmer jackets?

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Because the cool fall breeze is starting to cut through

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the skin and get directly into the southern bone. Why

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would somebody and how could somebody not take note of

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losing their thick gloves. And we're talking about the type

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of gloves that are used when working on trees, working

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in a garden, working on outdoor things, so that you

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don't get the blisters on your fingers. But there it

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is barely covered up, and the leaves that have fallen

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freshly from the tree inside this breeze that is chilling

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the bones of your southern body. Where do you go

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from here? Do you think about who do these belong to?

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Do I take them home and I use them for myself?

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Was this a gift from the person who was careless

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enough to drop the gloves onto the forested floor. No,

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I'm not taking it home because they may be looking

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later on. They might be walking with their dog, they

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could be searching the tops of trees that need to

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be prune, and all of a sudden they look and

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there's their gloves. Because you know, these gloves, even though

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they could be anywhere between sixteen and thirty dollars, it's

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still money that we don't have, just to throw away

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especially when it comes to working on other things. You

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need those gloves. Sometimes they're the only words you have

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because everything else is you have to shut up and

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do your job. Put on that new roof, look for

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things that are exciting to do or or very boring

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to do. But it needs to get done because if

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you don't do it, then it can lead to other problems.

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But this morning, just one glove, but two, and my

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creative imagination wants to turn it into a true crime

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podcast to figure out where are the hands that go

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into these gloves, Where is the body that controls the

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hands that somehow, some way drop these along the way?

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Who is the owner of this pair of gloves? And

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will they come back? Because I was nice enough to

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set it aside, I don't know that acorn that just

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fell very close to me, almost hitting me in the head.

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Maybe it's them watching me. Maybe I know too much

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information about this forest. Hey, thanks for listening to the conversation.