11-03-2005, 01:01 PM
A light breeze swept through the air, rustling the fallen leaves and dampening the sound of my soft sigh. Whipped into a whirling dervish of wind, the red and yellow leaves swept across the ground, crunching sharply as they came to a sudden stop under my old, worn tennis shoes. At least I think they crunched sharply. I was hard to tell. That didn?t matter, I just continued on my slow march. The cracked sideway sprawled out before me lead me onwards. The world faded in and out as I passed through the shadow of the trees to my left. Just beyond the trees lay a small, two-lane road; it was empty? or I assumed it was. I didn?t bother to check. The tall wooden fence to my right shuddered. Why? A dog, I told myself. In-between the wooden planks that comprised this fence I could see the shape of a small dog.
There it is! I proclaimed to myself triumphantly, as though I had just won a bet.
While distracted by my victory over my own self doubt I stumbled. Looking down, I saw that the sidewalk was no longer under my feet. The road that I decided was empty had split. While it continued forward, it also turned to my right. I followed it, with my eyes, into a small cul de sac, but didn?t slow down. Soon the sidewalk was back in it proper place beneath me and fences stretched on where they should. My slow, yet ever-steady, journey continued. That?s when it dawned on me. Was I really on a journey? I couldn?t remember. It seemed to fit, but for reasons that were not entering my head.
Where am I going? I asked the sidewalk. It, after all, was the one leading me.
No answer.
Where am I GOING?! More forceful this time. Why?
You don?t like being ignored. I explained to myself. Of course. Who did?
Why is it ignoring me? Confusion crept its way across my face.
A sidewalk can?t talk.
Well that certainly made sense. How silly of me to get mad at a sidewalk. The confusion now dispelled, I continued on. Didn?t I? I wasn?t moving. Looking around it soon became apparent why. My foot had caught the root of a tree that had wandered its way through the sidewalk that I had just been yelling at. In my confusion I had probably tripped. Silly 2, me 0. I got up and continued on my way, once again putting my faith in the leadership of this sidewalk, despite the tree roots that compromised it. I would simply have to be on the lookout for more of those cursed roots, lest they get the best of me once again. How did the old saying go?
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. I told myself.
Shame on you indeed, I thought about the tree root. But, I compromised, I had long since passed the root and should forgive its shenanigans. My focus returned to the path that stretched out ahead of me? or it tried to. A car caught my attention. A Honda? though I don?t know why I knew that. The man in the car waved at me, though it didn?t seem to be a greeting. He was yelling something out his window. Wasn?t he? No sound reached my ears, though his mouth was moving quite vigorously. It looked like he was having fun, but it didn?t last long. The car had its street to follow and I had my sidewalk. We were not destined to share our journey and the man sped away. What a nice man.
He wasn?t very nice. I corrected myself.
How could you say that!? I was appalled. He seemed nice enough.
He didn?t say nice things to you.
That means he wasn?t nice? More confusion. I didn?t like it.
It does for that man. He?s not someone to be nice to.
Now the confusion was replaced with sadness. Maybe it wasn?t his fault he had said those not nice things. Maybe he hadn?t actually said them. No? he must have said them. I couldn?t very well lie to myself. If he wasn?t a nice man, he must have been bad. Maybe he had told me that I shouldn?t be on my journey. Maybe he had tried to get me to stop. What an awful thing for him to do. The sidewalk would continue to lead me, as it always had. Had it always? Of course? what else would lead me?
My mental wanders were cut short as I walked into something. I stumbled backwards and almost fell once again. This time, however, it was not the work of those devious tree roots. I looked around, confused once more. This was become a very unwelcome habit, confusion. There was a man. A tall man. He was on my sidewalk. He looked confused too. Maybe he had not seen me and was confused when he hit me. No? I ran into him. That was awfully careless of me. He was having fun just like the Honda man. His mouth was moving in very odd shapes, and his hands were moving around excitedly. At least? it was exciting for me. I smiled and walked around him, but he put a hand on my shoulder and stopped my walking. Now I was mad.
I glared at the man and tried to take his arm off of me, but it didn?t work. My hand didn?t want to touch the man. Maybe he was another not nice person. Before I could decide how to continue on my journey, the man tapped his nose rapidly. I wanted to have fun too, and did the same. My smile came back, chasing away the frown that had replaced it. Thinking the man was now content, I tried to resume my journey. But I was mistaken. He held me fast once more. Now he was pointing to my hand. I looked down and was surprised to see that he had turned my finger red. I opened my mouth to thank him for the exciting gift, but my mouth didn?t want to thank the man. It moved on its own, and then closed. The man took a step backwards, shook his head (this was also fun) and then walked away. He certainly was nice! Now I could keep going.
There?s nowhere to go. I shocked myself with this information.
But why not? I?m on a journey.
The journey is over. We?re here.
(That's the introduction chapter to a work of mine that's in progress. The rest of the piece probably won't be written in first person, like that is.)
There it is! I proclaimed to myself triumphantly, as though I had just won a bet.
While distracted by my victory over my own self doubt I stumbled. Looking down, I saw that the sidewalk was no longer under my feet. The road that I decided was empty had split. While it continued forward, it also turned to my right. I followed it, with my eyes, into a small cul de sac, but didn?t slow down. Soon the sidewalk was back in it proper place beneath me and fences stretched on where they should. My slow, yet ever-steady, journey continued. That?s when it dawned on me. Was I really on a journey? I couldn?t remember. It seemed to fit, but for reasons that were not entering my head.
Where am I going? I asked the sidewalk. It, after all, was the one leading me.
No answer.
Where am I GOING?! More forceful this time. Why?
You don?t like being ignored. I explained to myself. Of course. Who did?
Why is it ignoring me? Confusion crept its way across my face.
A sidewalk can?t talk.
Well that certainly made sense. How silly of me to get mad at a sidewalk. The confusion now dispelled, I continued on. Didn?t I? I wasn?t moving. Looking around it soon became apparent why. My foot had caught the root of a tree that had wandered its way through the sidewalk that I had just been yelling at. In my confusion I had probably tripped. Silly 2, me 0. I got up and continued on my way, once again putting my faith in the leadership of this sidewalk, despite the tree roots that compromised it. I would simply have to be on the lookout for more of those cursed roots, lest they get the best of me once again. How did the old saying go?
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. I told myself.
Shame on you indeed, I thought about the tree root. But, I compromised, I had long since passed the root and should forgive its shenanigans. My focus returned to the path that stretched out ahead of me? or it tried to. A car caught my attention. A Honda? though I don?t know why I knew that. The man in the car waved at me, though it didn?t seem to be a greeting. He was yelling something out his window. Wasn?t he? No sound reached my ears, though his mouth was moving quite vigorously. It looked like he was having fun, but it didn?t last long. The car had its street to follow and I had my sidewalk. We were not destined to share our journey and the man sped away. What a nice man.
He wasn?t very nice. I corrected myself.
How could you say that!? I was appalled. He seemed nice enough.
He didn?t say nice things to you.
That means he wasn?t nice? More confusion. I didn?t like it.
It does for that man. He?s not someone to be nice to.
Now the confusion was replaced with sadness. Maybe it wasn?t his fault he had said those not nice things. Maybe he hadn?t actually said them. No? he must have said them. I couldn?t very well lie to myself. If he wasn?t a nice man, he must have been bad. Maybe he had told me that I shouldn?t be on my journey. Maybe he had tried to get me to stop. What an awful thing for him to do. The sidewalk would continue to lead me, as it always had. Had it always? Of course? what else would lead me?
My mental wanders were cut short as I walked into something. I stumbled backwards and almost fell once again. This time, however, it was not the work of those devious tree roots. I looked around, confused once more. This was become a very unwelcome habit, confusion. There was a man. A tall man. He was on my sidewalk. He looked confused too. Maybe he had not seen me and was confused when he hit me. No? I ran into him. That was awfully careless of me. He was having fun just like the Honda man. His mouth was moving in very odd shapes, and his hands were moving around excitedly. At least? it was exciting for me. I smiled and walked around him, but he put a hand on my shoulder and stopped my walking. Now I was mad.
I glared at the man and tried to take his arm off of me, but it didn?t work. My hand didn?t want to touch the man. Maybe he was another not nice person. Before I could decide how to continue on my journey, the man tapped his nose rapidly. I wanted to have fun too, and did the same. My smile came back, chasing away the frown that had replaced it. Thinking the man was now content, I tried to resume my journey. But I was mistaken. He held me fast once more. Now he was pointing to my hand. I looked down and was surprised to see that he had turned my finger red. I opened my mouth to thank him for the exciting gift, but my mouth didn?t want to thank the man. It moved on its own, and then closed. The man took a step backwards, shook his head (this was also fun) and then walked away. He certainly was nice! Now I could keep going.
There?s nowhere to go. I shocked myself with this information.
But why not? I?m on a journey.
The journey is over. We?re here.
(That's the introduction chapter to a work of mine that's in progress. The rest of the piece probably won't be written in first person, like that is.)
![[Image: Kaden2.jpg]](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v403/Nezumi16/Sigs/Kaden2.jpg)
"It's on my brain, driving me insane. It's on my mind, all of
the time, and if it left... I would be fine."
![[Image: v4339d.png]](http://i42.tinypic.com/v4339d.png)
![[Image: Dirty_Harry.png]](http://fp.profiles.us.playstation.com/playstation/psn/pid/Dirty_Harry.png)