* This is a work of fiction.
...The young boy looked at the trees that surrounded him and tried to pretend that he also knew how to pick out a descent enemy. To his left, a smallish, round tree seemed to be the right type and the boy set his sights on it and tried to make it scared of him. The boy tried to change himself into a woodland beast as the older man had, but he couldn't quite feel any change come over him and he hoped the older man wouldn't know how silly he felt.
He trembled and shook and slowly moved towards the tree. He screamed so loudly it shocked him and he held his breath so that he could feel the veins in his brain beating against his skull. He placed his mercilous hands around the skinny trunk of the tree and pushed and then pulled. Nothing happened. He screamed louder and pulled and violently shook the tree, but nothing happened, except a few dead limbs came down from the top of the tree along with a few leaves. He stopped everything and stared his foe in the eyes and slowly backed up. He then let out a primordial scream and rushed towards the tree with everything inside him, but the tree would have none of it and knocked him to the ground.
He did not try to get up and he heard nothing. Slowly, the boy noticed small noises around him and they grew instantly louder. He heard the leaves crackle beneath him as he moved. Then all of the sounds of the woods came back to him and ended with the sounds of his granddad's quiet laughter.
"Well, I'll be damned, Pokey."
"I guess you were right about me, granddad."
"Right about what?"
"About me not being Okie tough anymore."
"I didn't say anything like that and you know that. Now, listen to me, Pokey. You scared the hell out of that tree and nobody can take being an Okie away from you."
"Even if you live in Florida?"
"It don't matter where ya' live. If you were born in Oklahoma, then you'll always be an Okie and that's a hell of a lot more than most folks."
" But what if I can't ever push down a tree?"
"I betcha' can right now if you really put your mind to it. I think you just tried to fight the wrong one. Let's keep walking a little while and I'll find you a good one. You just gotta learn how to pick the good ones."
So, the older man and the young boy began walking down the hillside in unison....
Let me know what you think and leave a comment!
David
Keep on
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