32

Summer 1990



Sometimes I liked going driving with my brother, and sometimes I just wanted to fade away and pretend I was somewhere else. It wasn’t because of him, I loved my brother. I really don’t know what the reason was.

I saw that strange man for the first time.  I could see him dancing between the trees as I watched from the car window. As pines flew by, he flitted between them and smiled. Then I saw him leap into the sky and back down again. I could have sworn he was racing us. He had dark hair and fair skin…that is all I could see. My breath come out in short gasps as I stared in wonder. There was no reason to think as I did, but I knew he was from the future and that I would meet him someday. I would turn smiling to my brother as he sang to the song on the radio.



”I saw him again!” I would exclaim and bite my lip. My brother would scrunch up his face and after a short break of his voice, he would continue to sing.



August 1990



I found another trail that branches off from the main one. It was worn only by cows and various animals which traveled back and forth for different reasons. This path I loved because it had a drop off on one side and the woods on the other. I went further and further until I thought I would get lost…then I found another fence. I climbed through the fence and further on into a clearing. To the left of the clearing, the path continued on. I stared into its dark opening. shadows gathered there in the bright day reminding the sun that darkness was still hiding somewhere.



I crossed the open field and into the mouth of the trail. It was immediately cool and I could hear frogs and crickets chirping about the end of the day. Apparently, they loved the time just before sunset because their talk was cheerful.



Around a corner and then another and I came to another fence. Its barbs glistened in thedappled remaining sunlight. I carefully pulled two sections apart and slipped through and into another clearing. Across the field stood a cluster of pines and another fence. I walked toward the pines and shoved my hands in my pockets. The pines grew taller the further away they were. It was the mound.



At the foot of the mound, I looked up. Such fear yet such admiration greeted me. I held my breath taking in the natural beauty of my surroundings. Each tree growing stood guarding its home. Warriors, strong beings which warned the curious in songs of rustling leaves and creaking wooden insides. Before stepping onto the foot of the ‘hill’, I prayed a prayer of mercy and respect. My words came from somewhere outside of me…syllables alien but so strangely familiar.



Then my eyes open and the tear fell down my cheek. I felt disoriented but oddly content. I climbed…climbing with reason but none. Up from the security of the known into something much more than me…or you…or anything. I reached what I supposed was the top of the mound and took my hands from my pockets. The urge to touch the nearest of nature’s warriors was overwhelming. My hand ran down the bark and stopped just short of a worn rubbing from sometime recently.



I exhaled slowly…”I am so sorry.”



As the words escaped my lips, I looked down at my feet. A hole…no larger than 4 feet long and maybe 2 feet wide. Then I noticed something stranger still. The animals, the insects…the noises they make, where did they go?



The silence ….a moment.



August 1990



I don’t want to come out of my room. I don’t want to see my father today. He is angry at my



mother. I can hear him yelling at her.







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