A Trip Through the Woods

The child had lived in a small cabin in the woods all his life. He did not remember anyone else, nor could he remember having gone out of the woods, or further from the small cabin than a dozen steps to gather wood.

As time rolled by, the child became both bored and curious. Bored of the forest, and curious to know what, if anything lay in between the trees.

But the forest was a fearsome place, and it was days before boredom overtook fear, and the child gathered food in a bag, and ventured out into the trees.

The child walked for hours upon end, until night fell. Then he slept. When he woke up again, he had lost his way, but it did not matter, and he continued. And he walked for days, until his food ran out.

He lived on acorns and tree bark for a few days, and was beginning to feel malnourished, when he heard sounds, voices, coming from near by.

He walked toward the sound, and came to a clearing, where was parked an old VW wagon, painted with flowers, and some people were ambling around it, wearing strange clothes.

One of them saw the child, a woman, and she walked to him smiling amiably as she asked, “Hi Freddy, how was your trip?”

Copyright © 2005 by Bewildering Stories on behalf of the author