Cradled in a bowl of the roots of an ancient tree, the child waited until she was sure that her mother had noticed before saying, "Look - I am asleep!", as she unconvincingly screwed her eyes tight to feign unconsciousness.
She did not know what danger she was in. It was lucky for her that the tree liked her. Some people never wake up.
Amen to that.
ReplyDeleteI saw a little girl do just that last Sunday. She was also practicing falling over on the grass - repeatedly.
ReplyDeleteI used to do that !!! XXXX
ReplyDeleteI still do! Practice makes perfect.
DeleteI'm going to copy this and bring it to the writing workshop that I lead. We've been talking about cutting word count in half (because people write too much blather) and writing sentences that can do what I call "heavy lifting" -- sentences that get to the point and are packed with information and might be rather pretty as well. In this story, every word counts, and those last three sentences ...oh my. Perfection. They don't only lift the story into an unexpected direction, they transport the reader into a whole other realm of narrative. Nicely done. Magical.
ReplyDeleteWhen do I get the royalty cheque?
DeleteHave a care for those of us who scare easily
ReplyDeletewhatever our age.
Glad to know you took your walk in the woods.
ReplyDeleteSorry, it was a park in town.
Deletetrees care for us...we must care for them
ReplyDeleteTrees may care for us, but not deliberately. They - like God - do not care one way or the other about us.
DeleteTrees! The Oprah of real life.
ReplyDeleteYou mean the ones with the huge girths?
DeleteSomething to think twice about, that falling asleep under trees or fairy rings.
ReplyDeleteNever sleep under yews. One way to the underworld. I know. I did.
DeleteWhy do you think that old yews abound in English graveyards? Not for archers.
Delete