2060

"Are they edible?" "Deer eat them", says Kenny.  "And they have been used by First Nations as emergency food and for medicine." "I wonder how they taste?" "Try one." "After you, darling." "Oh, you do know how to set a girl's heart aflutter."  Kenny bends over and breaks off the tip of one of the slender delicate fronds, then tears it in half. handing me a piece.  "Here.  I think they're supposed to be cooked first." We stop midtrail, facing each other, then Kenny says, "Okay, on the count of three...One...Two...Three...."  and we simultaneously pop the little pieces of fern into our mouths.  And now we are simultaneously spitting them out. "You were right.  They should be cooked first...cooked for a very long time." "Hey, here's some more salmonberries to get rid of the taste in our mouths."  And the flavour is, if nothing else,  very bitter...