Into the Woods--Snippet 6--The Final Snippet

* This is a work of fiction.

...They continued to make their way by the slow, brown river. The only noises that the boy heard were the sounds of their feet moving through the underbrush and the constant winding of the hydroelectric plant; the boy's feet were louder than the older man's, but neither minded that. They past the plant and then they turned away from the river and began to follow the power lines as they made their way up the hill towards the gravel road that went towards the house. Both were getting tired of walking, but neither of them wanted it to end. They both felt that they could walk forever like this, but each of them could feel the same heaviness that soon they would be sitting at home wishing to still be out there walking again.

  Out of the corner of his eye, the older man spotted the perfect tree; it even had some of its leaves still. He moved slowly in the direction of the tree, hoping the boy would just follow him and not pick up on their direction change. The older man knew the boy needed to knock down a tree or that is the first thing he would tell everyone or worse, he wouldn't tell anyone and hold it inside. He knew holding something like that inside starts to weigh on a man. He had a lot deep inside and the deeper he pushed it down, the heavier it got. At times, it all got so heavy he could barely move around. He'd seen a tumor once on t.v. that a man had, had surgically removed and it weighed about 40 lbs and the man just kept looking at it while it sat in a jar on a table. The older man knew that all the stuff he kept inside was just like that tumor, but no one was ever going to see it sitting in a jar. Doctors didn't do that kind of cutting on a man. They couldn't and he wouldn't let'em.

   They got nearer to the tree and the older man was happy to see it also still had all its bark. It looked mostly alive and he knew the boy wouldn't know it was dead or see the hundreds of woodpecker holes near the top. When you're young, its hard to see the whole picture because you don't have that type of vision yet. The older man knew that as you aged, you lost your outer vision because your inner vision was growing so much that your body couldn't keep up and support the two. He looked at the tree again and smiled. It was perfect. He knew the boy would make great work outta that tree. It'd make them both happy.

"Whatcha, think about that one, Pokey?"
"Which one?"
"That one right in front of ya'."
"I don't think I'm Okie tough anymore, granddad. Remember the other tree?"
"I don't give a rat's ass about that other tree. It just wasn't willing to fight. Now, get ready and get that tree. Let it know you mean business."
"Ok, I'll give it try."
"You'd better do more than that."

  The young boy tried to conjure up all the evilness and strength he had inside him. He felt it as it rose from his feet and sprang forth like a geyer. His face turned red and he felt the veins sticking out on his head so much that he felt a little light headed. He shook his arms and kicked his feet and screamed at the top of his lungs. He was just sure that that he saw the tree shiver. He stepped back a little and then rushed at the tree, but wasn't sure to know what to expect. He hit the tree with all of his life's power and ripped it out of the ground. Before he knew it, he was twirling it around his head and continuing to scream and shout. He then chucked it to the side. He had proved himself wrong and he didn't care that his granddad was only laughing.

 "Well, I'll be damned again, Pokey. Maybe we better go back to that other tree. I'm sure it is pretty scared of ya' too."
"I did it, I did it."
"I knew ya' could. You just gotta find a tree that is willing ta' fight."
"I just ripped that thing up and gave it a throw."
"By God, you gave us all a fright. I'm sure your granny heard that one. You're Okie tough alright. Just look at that thing. Ya' ripped it out by the roots."

 The boy didn't reply, but began walking away in happiness towards the house. It was true. He hadn't lied to himself and his granddad hadn't lied to him. There was something special about being an Okie. You could summon enough power to rip a tree out of the ground by its roots if you wanted to. It was a special power he had inside himself that he could conjure up. It was the same thing his granddad had and that he had too; just like the brown circle on his right knee. They shared it and only they had it. They were Okies and it was a hell of a lot more than most folks had. He was glad his granddad had said that. He needed that more than he had needed to see himself turn into the woodland beast and deal rightly with the tree.

The End.

Please let me know what you think. Did it end well? Too soon? Was it too predictable? Too simple? Leave a comment, please!

  David