Fiction Fragment 5
As always, you might want to consider reading the first, second, third and fourth parts before this one, or you'll be a little lost.
***
I was up and after it in a second, quite loth to see my only chance of a meal vanish into the woods. I sprinted over the grass and gave no thought to what I would do if I somehow caught it -- to the fact that my only knives were in the tent at least a mile north and that my capacity for strangling a hare with which I had so recently exchanged wordless recognition was dubious at best. It had gotten a head-start while I had scrambled to my feet, and was now several yards in the lead. It was lucky that I wasn't wearing my backpack, and I felt I would be able to win this race before the finish line at the tree line.
We turned up a gentle hill, and at this point several curious things happened in quick succession:
First, my hare disappeared. My eyes were glued to his brown bouncing back at one moment, and the next they were darting helplessly about in search of the vanished creature while I continued my course at full speed.
That course quickly brought me to the top of the hill, where I was barely able to kill my momentum before falling into a wide pit. It was full of slimy half-decayed leaves, from among which my big hare was frantically trying to extricate himself. But the sides of the pit were too high -- it was trapped by a few extra inches. The hare had won the race, but I had won the hare.
I jumped down into the leaves and advanced on the pitiful creature, who renewed its efforts with vigor. Looking back on what happened next almost feels like remembering a dream. To my astonishment, the hare cleared the walls of the pit, which came up past my waist, and resumed his flight. Forced to follow, I advanced four strides. One, two, three -- I remember them well -- four. On the fourth, my foot never found ground, but fell, bringing me with it. The last thing I saw before it all went dark was this: everything rising around me as I fell -- the pit walls, the meadow, the wood; my hare, once again bouncing away to the safety of the trees; and through those trees, red -- dark, brick-red -- a tall brick structure; and above that, a gray plume of smoke, reaching high into the gray sky, mingling with the gathering clouds. In an instant it was all quite gone.
We turned up a gentle hill, and at this point several curious things happened in quick succession:
First, my hare disappeared. My eyes were glued to his brown bouncing back at one moment, and the next they were darting helplessly about in search of the vanished creature while I continued my course at full speed.
That course quickly brought me to the top of the hill, where I was barely able to kill my momentum before falling into a wide pit. It was full of slimy half-decayed leaves, from among which my big hare was frantically trying to extricate himself. But the sides of the pit were too high -- it was trapped by a few extra inches. The hare had won the race, but I had won the hare.
I jumped down into the leaves and advanced on the pitiful creature, who renewed its efforts with vigor. Looking back on what happened next almost feels like remembering a dream. To my astonishment, the hare cleared the walls of the pit, which came up past my waist, and resumed his flight. Forced to follow, I advanced four strides. One, two, three -- I remember them well -- four. On the fourth, my foot never found ground, but fell, bringing me with it. The last thing I saw before it all went dark was this: everything rising around me as I fell -- the pit walls, the meadow, the wood; my hare, once again bouncing away to the safety of the trees; and through those trees, red -- dark, brick-red -- a tall brick structure; and above that, a gray plume of smoke, reaching high into the gray sky, mingling with the gathering clouds. In an instant it was all quite gone.
posted by Matthew at 1:33 PM
1 Comments:
I'm breathless, with you, waiting for the next fragment.
Post a Comment
<< Home