i get at bored at work. the following ensues.
note to self: create website feature to save longer works (short stories) and not publish them on the site until they're done.
the real purpose of this post: it's time to continue a classic short story about a boy and a girl in the forest:
there the boy sat, with his back to the giant tree, all but chained to the ground by the girl, silent with admiration. he did the best he could to ignore the tree, but he couldn't look anywhere without seeing its giant branches curling down, encapsulating him, the girl, and everyone else in the world beneath that one large tree. the boy painfully wished to see the smaller things in the forest, the small, colorful flowers, the rare flying insect that's friendly, the degenerative moss that's responsible for the rebirth of the forest, but the girl simply couldn't understand why he'd want to.
"why?" she asked.
"because that's where the real beauty lies," the boy replied. "don't you see that anyone can see the giant tree in the forest? even the ignorant man can't help but notice it from the windows inside his small, dark house in the village. even the blind man can feel it from the way the wind blows around it. and even the simple, innocent child, who can't see it above the tops of the other trees, knows it's there by that sort of inexplicable conscience we all had before we lost our innocense." all the girl thought to say in response was, "huh?" "fine, i give up," said the boy. "look at your stupid tree and be happy. if it makes you happy, that's what matters, doesn't it? i just want you to know that i'm not happy because you had to force me to sit here." "no, really, what's wrong?"
"i just told you what's wrong!"
"no you didn't," the girl insisted.
"yes, i did. and you decided to ignore it because i made you feel stupid. you realized that the fool is the only one who still respects the big tree. it's only a tree, after all. so here you are, feigning incompetence, still keeping me under this damned tree. i'm through with it. don't ever bring me out here again." the boy got up and began to walk home, looking at neither the tree nor the smaller things he had wanted to see so badly. he knew the girl would become lost in the forest on her way home, but he sarcasically reassured himself that the girl could find her way by the big tree. it really didn't matter to him whether or not he ever saw the girl again; he had spent his childhood laughing at the fool more than the clown because the clown was wittingly acting stupid. the girl promptly blamed the whole incident on the tree. soon after the boy left, she got up and began to walk home. she was lost until she found more familiar landmarks in the form of giant logs from big trees fallen years ago. she would never walk to that big tree again, but she'd never learn to see the flowers either.
"because that's where the real beauty lies," the boy replied. "don't you see that anyone can see the giant tree in the forest? even the ignorant man can't help but notice it from the windows inside his small, dark house in the village. even the blind man can feel it from the way the wind blows around it. and even the simple, innocent child, who can't see it above the tops of the other trees, knows it's there by that sort of inexplicable conscience we all had before we lost our innocense." all the girl thought to say in response was, "huh?" "fine, i give up," said the boy. "look at your stupid tree and be happy. if it makes you happy, that's what matters, doesn't it? i just want you to know that i'm not happy because you had to force me to sit here." "no, really, what's wrong?"
"i just told you what's wrong!"
"no you didn't," the girl insisted.
"yes, i did. and you decided to ignore it because i made you feel stupid. you realized that the fool is the only one who still respects the big tree. it's only a tree, after all. so here you are, feigning incompetence, still keeping me under this damned tree. i'm through with it. don't ever bring me out here again." the boy got up and began to walk home, looking at neither the tree nor the smaller things he had wanted to see so badly. he knew the girl would become lost in the forest on her way home, but he sarcasically reassured himself that the girl could find her way by the big tree. it really didn't matter to him whether or not he ever saw the girl again; he had spent his childhood laughing at the fool more than the clown because the clown was wittingly acting stupid. the girl promptly blamed the whole incident on the tree. soon after the boy left, she got up and began to walk home. she was lost until she found more familiar landmarks in the form of giant logs from big trees fallen years ago. she would never walk to that big tree again, but she'd never learn to see the flowers either.