The Mystery Of The Carolina Knoll

Jimmy lay in the cool green grass atop the knoll of the open field. Large billowy cumulous clouds drifted like slow awkward giants across the western sky. Meadow Larks and Blue birds skittered above the tall grass and the wildflowers danced merrily on the wind in full bloom. Carolina is easy when one is only nine. It was a place where dreams still exist; a place that always will be enigmatically caressed by the sun.

**************************************************************

Jimmy starred empty into the pale blue Carolina sky and dreamed of far away places. The wind blew in small tight circles lifting the dandelion seeds around him airborne like small spaceships into some unknown realm. It was here upon this knoll that Jimmy was able to be whatever Jimmy wanted to be. Here he was free from the ridicule of the other boys from school, free to dance the dance of summer secrets, the secrets that only he knew. Jimmy liked it like this and he hoped that it would never end.

Just as he was about to fall back into a peaceful slumber a bright flash of light creased the meadow bringing him bolt up into a sitting position. “What was that” he thought as he scanned the hilltop down to the forest below. He saw nothing, but he heard a strange humming coming from down in the wood. Jimmy arose easy from his sitting position dusting the beggar lice from his britches. He looked around to see if anyone was around and to his relief there was not. He then walked straight forward in the direction of the humming noise which had grown fainter in the last few minutes. Walking faster now and only stopping to pick up the sound, Jimmy soon found himself in the cool shadows of the tall forest. Life was different here than on the hilltop where he loved to sit. The smells that came from the forest smelled of what Jimmy imagined old dead things would smell like and he was hesitant to enter into the dark calling of the wood, yet it was his curiosity that clamored within that kept him moving forward…the hum grew ever fainter as Jimmy stepped from the light of the sunny meadow into the darkness…. 

J. Allen Wilson ©

To Be Continued...