When the Sun Goes Down

Polly meant to sleep, but the forest had other plans. As the last light left the canopy, the rainforest did not grow quiet. It woke up. A second forest, the night forest, was opening its eyes. Polly decided to stay awake and meet it. She sat still in a fork of a branch and kept her bright green body quiet while the dark came down.

First came the sound. Frogs began to call from every pool and leaf. Then insects joined, thousands of them, until the air was one wall of noise. It rose and fell like breathing. In the rainforest, the night is louder than the day. Animals that hide in the sun come out to feed in the dark.

Then came the eyes. Small points of light shone and moved in the dark, the eyes of animals catching the little light there was. Polly stayed very still. Below her, a pair of large eyes passed slowly and did not look up. This was its hour, not hers. The wisest thing a small bird could do was watch.

Late in the night the rain came, warm and heavy, falling through the leaves. The forest drank it in the dark. Polly pressed close under a broad leaf. She listened to the rain, the frogs, and the singing insects, and at last she fell asleep.