»
Main Forums
»
Passions in Prose
»
As If There Were a Chair
| Passions in Prose |
|
As If There Were a Chair |
|
|
Ben Pike Junior Member
since 1999-11-14
Posts 20Southwestern Virginia |
A boy walking through a forest eventually got hungry so he sat down to eat. An excited squirrel ran the trees trunk beside him and said, "Don't sit there, look, we have built a chair for you." The boy looked where the squirrel pointed and sure enough, off in the woods stood an elaborate seat carved out of a tree stump. It had arm rests and a step leading up to a cushion of feathers. In all of his hikes the boy had seen nothing like it, but to the squirrel he said, "That can't be for me. I always eat my lunch right here, beside the trail." The squirrel got even jumpier and insisted, "But it is yours: we built it for you. If you won't sit there all of our work will be wasted." The boy could not doubt squirrel's sincerity, but he had become accustomed to his ways, so he said, "You are certainly the kindest squirrel I have ever met, but I'm going to eat right here. I have an entire sack of pecans. Would you like some?" Some of the squirrel's disappointment evaporated as the two of them ate together and chattered about the trees overhead and the light that sometimes broke through. When the boy was ready to continue his hike the squirrel got quiet again, but then he looked right into the boys eyes and he could tell the kid was just being himself. So they shook paws and the boy continued on the path alone. Now, he had a lot to think about, but soon he recalled that this was not the first unusual thing he had ever seen, while it could easily be the strangest. Soon, his feet found their familiar rhythm, and his head followed, and he thought to himself, "The next time I see something like that, I am going to sit where he tells me to." This thought brought so much anticipation that the boy forgot his feet, and stumbled, and fell down. When he stood up the trail was blocked by the largest animal he had ever even heard of. The elk's shoulders stood three times his own height, each eye was as big as both of his clenched fists, and it seemed like antlers rose from the top of its brown head forever. The elk lowered his skull until his breath warmed the boy's toes and then said in a voice that shook the ground, "Get on." "What?" The boy said, stepping backwards. "I prefer to walk." "Yes," the elk said, "we know that you walk. You've been walking for years. Are you going to go on saying, `Isn't this all green and wonderful' forever? While you watch trees grow good people crumble. Now let's move." "But...but, I don't know how to ride an elk," the boy insisted. "Well, have you ever spoken with an elk before?" the elk asked. "No." the boy admitted. "And neither with a squirrel." "So, it is obvious that you learn quickly," the elk reasoned. And then, with the impatient look of one who is tired of talking, the elk flipped the boy onto his back and took off through the woods at an incredible pace, following no trail at all. For his part the boy hung on in stunned amazement and tried to pay attention to which way they were going. As they hurled by a pond he looked for their reflection in the water but instead of a boy riding the antlers of an elk he saw a man flying through the air on a cushion of nothing at all. And behind him on a tree limb sat the most gleefully laughing squirrel he'd ever imagined. ------------------ "Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?" John 10:34 |
||
| © Copyright 1999 Ben Pike - All Rights Reserved | |||
|
Deep Blue Me Member
since 1999-11-04
Posts 396By a big lake |
Is there not more? I only wish it to continue. DB |
||
|
JennyLee Senior Member
since 1999-09-01
Posts 1461Northwestern, NJ. |
Gleefully laughing squirrel...how delightful Ben  Jenny ------------------ Love is an attempt at penetrating another being,But it can only succeed if the surrender is mutual. |
||
|
Maverick Wolf Member
since 1999-11-13
Posts 94Scandia, MN |
Very interesting writing. I love the ending. |
||
|
Christopher
Moderator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-08-02
Posts 8296Purgatorial Incarceration |
Delightful indeed Ben, read almost like a fable... I must admit, to my chagrin, that I feel there is a deeper meaning here that I am missing. Care to enlighten me? |
||
|
Martie
Moderator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-09-21
Posts 28049California |
Ben, I liked this so much. I am riding on the back of my own imagination. This is great adult reading but I can picture it as a children's book. Good work! |
||
|
Ben Pike Junior Member
since 1999-11-14
Posts 20Southwestern Virginia |
Thanks for all your comments. This is the end though, I can't find anymore to the story. It is the transportation methaphor transfered to the woods and involves the passing on from one sort of living into a higher, at the behest of the beasts in the forest, which of course represent the spiritual world. As far as a deeper meaning, I don't think there is one at all. ------------------ "Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?" John 10:34 |
||
|
Nan
Administrator
Member Seraphic
since 1999-05-20
Posts 21191Cape Cod Massachusetts USA |
Very nice, Ben - and so - if there's no "deeper" meaning - Can we look for a more "transcendental" one???? |
||
|
|
⇧ top of page ⇧ |
|
| All times are ET (US). All dates are in Year-Month-Day format. | ||