The Never Ending Trail
by Eowyn Ady
Every day I saw it towering above me like a giant for the past 20 years, and now here I am ready to climb it. I took a step, then another, then another. I was just starting to feel more confident when suddenly something or someone grabbed me and began to pull.
I screamed for help. I was sinking into the ground. "Help!", I cried again, but I knew it was no use. People have died on this mountain. Nobody comes anywhere near it if they can help it. Then I realized something. I was no longer being pulled into the earth. Instead, something seemed to be tying my feet together. But that's not what was surprising me most. The rope felt very much like tree root. Then it hit me that it *was* tree root, tree root that was still connected to its sapling. They were going to grow the tree on top of me. I remember my mother once telling about these creatures. They wait for you to die then grow the tree on top of you then the tree eats you. There's only one way to get away--laughter! I thought, then I said a joke that made everybody laugh.
LAUGHTER IS THE ANSWER, WISE EOWYN! LOVE YOU! AND I AM HONOURED TO BE KIND OF MENTIONED IN THE STORY, AS THE MOTHER WHO ONCE TOLD THE PROTAGONIST OF THESE TREES... GR8 STORY M8!
ReplyDeleteThe trees sound similar to the ones in "Speaker for the Dead" (in the Ender's Game series). I love the role of laughter...very lovely denouement.
ReplyDeleteImaginejuly! Do I know you? =).
ReplyDeleteYes--you're right--I was reminded of the trees in Speaker for the dead as well!
I'm a long time lurker, and you were wonderful enough to accept my friend request on facebook when you once mentioned that you were posting more often there than here. I stumbled across your blog via a comment you had left on om's facebook page....
ReplyDeleteOkay, Imaginejuly. Awesome. welcome =). And who are you? (I'm not getting any hits for imaginejuly on facebook) =)
ReplyDeletetry facebook.com/imaginejuly
ReplyDeleteand I'm not ignoring your request about describing the "crawl"....i just have a hard time putting it into words.
ReplyDeleteAha! that worked, IJ =)
ReplyDeleteWhy do you have a hard time putting it into words?