Quincunx Posted July 11, 2005 Report Posted July 11, 2005 When I open the back gate and leave the yard, I don't step out into nature; in fact, if I took three steps past the gate, I'd be standing in the westbound lane of a busy asphalt road. The road is a major thoroughfare in this clotted suburban area, although it was never meant to be one; no other road can take its place. The sidewalk gives misguided pedestrians like me a safe place to walk, at the price of any roadside greenery. The power lines are major thoroughfares of energy, and are most practical when placed there. They can't be blamed for willfully destroying the nature outside my back gate. Whatever moron decided to tie a pair of old sneakers together by the laces and toss them up onto the power lines, though--he can be blamed. (Yes, I say he. What woman would waste a serviceable pair of shoes. . .scratch that, what woman would buy sneakers in _that_ shade of green?) I don't care if those shoes are well out of my reach; they're coming down. I've already brought a plastic tissue-bag from the grocery store along with me to carry home the litter I'll find, and stuffed into it a rusted-off trailer hitch that was lying in the shoulder of the road. It's small, compact, just weighty enough. I wait for the light up the hill to turn red and the cars to clear away, then lean back for the windup and lob the trailer hitch straight up, or I meant to. It flies across the road and crashes into the only wild thicket left in a two-mile radius, couple of oak saplings and honeysuckle vines and a drainage ditch underneath. Birds flutter out in a panic, and who can blame them? They scatter to fences, porch rails, bird feeders, power lines; one of them even lands on the sneakers. Woodpecker or sapsucker, hard to distinguish from this angle, but no other type of bird would cling to the laces that way, and. . .put its head inside? I stand there and watch it feed the chicks, then fly back to the thicket along with some of the other birds, then keep on going. It'll be a good nature walk today.
Sweetcherrie Posted July 12, 2005 Report Posted July 12, 2005 I read this and a smile appeared on my face, during the day it came back into my mind a couple of times, and each time I had to smile... Thanks
Peredhil Posted July 12, 2005 Report Posted July 12, 2005 I love the irony of the ending. Mankind thinks they are the center, but life goes on. Hmmm, I can make a pendantic message out of anything! ( Really liked this one. Vivid descriptions and the character shows through words and deeds brightly without being laboriously and explicitely described.
Two Posted July 13, 2005 Report Posted July 13, 2005 I enjoyed this story very much! It is an interesting and appropriate way to describe power lines, “thoroughfares of energy.” I would like to hear the story of how the rusted-off trailer hitch came to be lying in the shoulder. I wonder if it came off a trailer that was being towed at the time. You can find all sorts of strange things on the shoulder of a road. I especially like the twist for the ending. I like to write stories that surprise at the end. There are some sneakers hanging from lines near my house. It is an odd thing but now I will look to see if they have baby birds in them. Thanks,
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