by Rob Cardwell (Author)
On one of their many trips into the forest behind their childhood home a boy and his sister discover a golden mushroom growing next to a giant oak in a clearing. They remove it from its forest dwelling and place it in a pot under a bell jar in their basement. The mushroom has magical properties and its visitors benefit in wonderful ways from its glow. The boy and his sister decide that they, too, would like to benefit--but in a monetary way. They begin charging their visitors a fee. They increase the fee--a few times. Then a little more. In time the mushroom begins to decay and they carry it back into the forest. Years later the boy, now a man accompanied by his own children, revisits the forest. Lo and behold, he comes upon a clearing with a giant oak and another golden mushroom (or is it the same mushroom resurrected?). What should he do?