Life's Funny That Way

Write about a forest and curiosity

As Ellen sulked into the wooded area near the back of her new home, she immediately felt it was not like any of the others places she and her father had lived.  There were no sirens, no catcalls.  She saw no taxis or city buses.  The emerald tree tops did not speak of crime or pollution.  She had not lived in the city all of her life, but those had been the sights and sounds she had become accustomed to before they moved… again. 

Ellen thought back to another time.  A better time, before they had moved away and the road had taken them even farther.  She remembered the forest back then.  She remembered its calm and peaceful feeling.  While there was nothing foreboding about these acres, there was something different.  That peace and calm did not grip her, no matter how far into the wood she went.  She noticed the sun did not fully penetrate the foliage in any spot, but that it was in no way dark there.  Instead the light seemed to come from the forest itself, from the very trees.  She thought about going back to her new house, but what was the use?  She had no friends there.  She had nothing to do but sit around and watch her father prepare for his new position as the CEO of Hauser-Jennings.  His job, always his life.  As his positions grew in importance, she felt hers with him diminished exponentially.  Books.  Her books were all she had.  Her friends lived in them.  They were friends she never had to leave;  friends who would never let her down.

But now she had this forest.  A strange forest, she mused.  A squirrel ran by her, up the peeling bark of a white birch tree.  It paused, seeming to wonder why she was here.

“I don’t know, either,” she replied to the unasked question.  “I just moved here.  Dad’s busy.  I have no friends here.  I’m just walking.  That’s all.”  The squirrel watched her as she moved on, only to appear again many feet down the path.

“What?” Ellen asked, almost annoyed.  The squirrel cocked its gray, furry heat at her, scampered a few feet away, and looked back, as if to see if she was following, she thought.

“Ell, you’re being crazy.  Jet lag, or something.  What, you’re going to have a squirrel for a friend?  Great plan.  That will get you far in life!”  Ellen said to herself as she turned to walk back out of the woods.