When twelve, I spent two weeks of summer in Mexico with botanists—a grad student, Dad, maternal grandparents—a collecting trip of mosses, with an earthworm dissertation sideline. I was on earthworm duty. We clambered out of the dusty, once-white van to side-step down a mountainside in Oaxaca. I chose a spot, moved leaves, carefully dug in, uncovered, with surprise, the longest worm I had ever seen. Dad brought me a vial of alcohol (not for drinking) to put the eight-inch-plus wriggler into. Collected, the worm died. Childish scrawl, I documented where and when. After all, this was science.
Julia Clebsch (she/her) writes CNF memoir exploring place, family, and nature. The lesbian writer’s work is published in Five Minutes, HOOT Review, Mouthful of Salt, and elsewhere