“Don’t eat that.”

Emilia’s voice was so sharp, sudden, and very unlike her nearly melodic usual tone that Daryl dropped the red berries he’d gathered without thinking. “What, why?”

“Toxic.” She relaxed into her usual cadence. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to snap.”

Daryl smiled down at his foraging partner. “No, feel free to snap at me if I’m about to eat something deadly."

“Holly berries won’t kill you, but the saponin in them will give you cramps and make you puke.”

“Bright red’s just not a good color, is it?"

Emilia chuckled. “No, not in nature. Means hands off.”

The pair of them - Emilia Cruz and Daryl Botwright - were teachers at Anderson Middle School. The outing in the woods was totally not a date, they’d agreed. It was simply a weekend excursion to collect samples to kick off the new year with a bang, and show off the local resources. Ms. Cruz taught science, of course, and Mr. Botwright taught English, though he had an interest in amateur geology.

“Well, thanks either way,” Daryl said. “I’ll warn you if you’re about to put any cinnabar in your mouth.”

“Is that toxic?” Emilia didn’t address the question of why she’d be putting rocks in her mouth.

“Well, it’s bright red. And a form of mercury sulphide. So… yes.”

Emilia laughed. “Here.” She handed him a handful of different berries. “Red sumac. These you can eat.”

“Isn’t sumac poisonous?”

“Not this kind. Staghorn sumac. See how the berries are clustered like a horn?”

Daryl turned the berries sideways. “Sort of?”

“Try them.”

Still a little skeptical, Daryl popped one of the clusters into his mouth. To his surprise they were more tart that he was expecting, almost citrus in flavor. “That’s good! Lemony. But not as sour.”

“Yeah, a lot of middle eastern countries use this kind of sumac as a spice. My abuela used to make lemonade out of them.”

“How do I tell the difference between these and the poison sumac?”

“Poison sumac is white.”

He ate another berry. “I thought red was the danger color.”

Emilia picked another sumac berry off of the tree next to her. “It usually is. What can I say? Nature is complicated.”