Short Stories

In the Woods

     The limbs of the Redbud trees were covered with tiny redbuds. The black locust was beautiful with its' fragrant white pea like flowers. The snowy limbs of the low growing dogwood trees bowed down to the ground. I walked over the hills and through the dense undergrowth of the woods, tripping over vines. I stepped around the small bushes, trees, and the rocks that were scattered everywhere. The briars pulled at my clothes and it hurt when they pricked my skin. The sunshine filtered through the moving leaves overhead, and danced on the ground. I felt its warmth on my skin, and smelled the freshness of the cool breeze in my face. But sometimes I could smell the decay from the thick carpet of dead leaves and branches that lay on the ground. I felt the soft crunch under my bare feet. Wild flowers grew up through the debris of the woods floor. I saw yellow lady slipper orchids, white may apples, wild purple violets, bloodroot, solomon's seal, yellow daffodils and many others. I smelled their sweet perfume. Colorful butterflies and yellow striped honey bees floated from flower to flower. A Mockingbird was singing in a maple tree above me. I listened as it sang the songs of many different birds. Wild Strawberries grew everywhere. I picked some and enjoyed their delicious juicy sweetness. A gray cottontail Rabbit ran across my path. A Robin flew to her nest in a maple tree with a wriggling brown earthworm in her beak. I heard chirps and saw orange beaks opened wide over the edge of the nest. Above my head I saw a shiny black snake curled around a poplar limb, staring down at me. I ran down a hill and into a spider web and felt it’s stickiness against my face. I shuddered as I brushed the web from my skin. Then I found the shiny yellow spider in its web, and relieved, I admired the beautiful web glistening in the sun- light. I picked some sour grass and chewed on the tangy leaves. "Rat a tat tat, rat a tat tat." A magnificent black and white bird with a red crest was drilling holes in a dead stump. The Ivory billed Woodpecker was hunting the beetle larvae in the dead wood. I watched in awe until the splendid bird flew away. My arms itched. Scratching the bites, I noticed the swarm of mosquitoes all around me. I stopped to pick a wild pink rose from its' bush and stuck myself with a thorn, and it hurt. Then I smelled the roses' sweetness and forgot about the hurt. A Gray Squirrel ran up an old oak tree. I laughed as it watched me from the safety of a limb, shaking its' bushy tail and chattering nervously. I heard my mom calling me to supper. I started back home, and on the way I picked her some yellow daffodils.

Click any painting below to see examples of my work:

"Winter Home" - oils 18"X24"

"Yellow Iris" - watercolors 11"X14"

"Bald Eagle"  - watercolors 8"X10"

"Old Homeplace" - oils 14"X18"

"Pink Roses" - watercolors 8"X10"