A squirrel perched in the hollow of a broken, burned out tree stump and watched as we walked along the forest trail darkened by shadows of clouds. Moments later, a small airplane flew over, and I stopped to watch it go by. I have been attracted to aircraft since childhood. My dad had learned to fly in 1929, and had raised a family of pilots; seldom did we ignore the sound of a plane overhead.
My wife, however, is somewhat less interested in such things, and continued walking, leaving me behind. When my eyes returned to earth, she was hundreds of feet away. As I hustled to catch up, waves of self pity carried my imagination to a worst case scenario.
Shards of light briefly slashed between shadows of trees as the clouds momentarily parted, then closed in again. Suddenly, a bear lunged from the gloom and carried me deep into the forest, never to be seen again. Years later, if my name were to be mentioned, someone might say, “I wonder what ever happened to Howard.”
Then my wife would reply, “Yeah, me too.”
Only the squirrel would ever know.
#walk #woodw #bear #airplanes #squirrel
Eskildoodle Photos and Feelings 