NO SEX! A story about a girl who has a magical experience in the woods behind her house.
Finley loved the woods behind her house. The pines and spruces, the oaks and maples, the scattering of edible berry bushes, the bubbling brook that cut across one corner of their property all seemed magical to her, right out of a fairy-tale.
It was the only place she felt completely at ease, didn’t have to pretend to smile to hide her pain.
She was following a worn deer path, enjoying the sun on her face where it found its way through the canopy of trees. The smile on her face wasn’t forced as she capered along. Being in the woods always brought a smile to her face, a real one.
A whimpering in the brush to her left caught her attention, and she came to a halt. Holding her breath, she listened intently. It didn’t come, again, and she thought she might have imagined it. She was about to continue on her way when she heard it again.
Frowning, she thought it sounded like a hurt animal.
Carefully, she pushed through the brush, making sure to make enough noise not to startle the beast if she suddenly appeared. She figured it would have bolted by the time she struggled through the underbrush, scared off by her thrashing.
She was wrong, though. As she came through the tangle, she saw a wolf looking at her with beautiful blue eyes. She gasped at the sight, froze in fear. Her heart was thundering in her chest, and she felt hot with adrenaline.
Those stunning eyes beseeched her, and she couldn’t look away. She was mesmerized, bewitched by their beauty. Only when the beast looked at its leg stretched out awkwardly behind it could she blink. She followed its gaze and saw its paw caught in a hunter’s snare. With her watching, it tried to free itself, yelping in pain as the wire cut into its already sore leg. It gave up and looked at her beseechingly, again.
Something in the way the wolf looked at her, something in its eyes sent a chill up her spine. There was an intelligence in its eyes, an awareness uncharacteristic of a wild animal. She knew wolves were intelligent creatures, but this seemed… Special.
“You’ve gotten yourself caught, haven’t you, Pup?” she said, soothingly.
She gasped when the wolf nodded. Taking a step back, she sat down hard when she tripped over a rock. From this new perspective, she regarded the wolf in amazement. Surely the wolf hadn’t understood her, had to just made a gesture that seemed like it did.
Still, she asked, “Can you understand me? Nod just twice if you can.”
She swore the wolf grinned at her, then nodded its noble head once, then twice. It fixed her with its beautiful eyes, waited to see if she had any more tasks for it. It yawned when she seemed satisfied, bored with the game.
“You really can understand me,” she said, her heart racing but not with fear anymore, “that is so cool!”
The wolf looked pointedly at its snared foot, again, then back at her. Its message couldn’t have been clearer than if it had spoken out loud. She laughed excitedly. This was almost too good to be true- a super intelligent wolf for her storybook forest.
“If I help you,” she said, tilting her head to one side questioningly, “do you promise to behave? No biting. If you understand, bark once.”
The wolf barked once, then looked at her with those lovely eyes.
“You understand that helping you is a bad idea for me, right? I’d be putting my neck out. So I need to be sure you will behave.”
Finley hadn’t known a wolf could look frustrated, but this one did. She had to grin as it tried to think of a way to ease her mind. It was enough to assuage her fear, and she held up her hand to stop it from looking around. It stopped, regarded her expectantly. She grinned at it and it visibly relaxed, seemed to smile back at her.
“I’m going to help you,” she said, easing forward, “it might hurt a little until I get the wire off. Please don’t think I’m doing it on purpose.”
It nodded, whimpered.
She produced the pocket knife her father had given her. She smiled at it, her most treasured possession. Her father had had a sheepish grin on his face when he gave it to her, said it was more a gift for a boy, but since she spent so much time in the woods, she should have it.
She’d hugged him so tight that he said she was cracking his ribs.
It had a bunch of different blades, including one with teeth like a saw. She found the branch the snare was attached to, began sawing it. The wolf was watching her with interest, not at all spooked by the sound. It seemed to understand what she was doing. She didn’t have any trouble believing that it did.
Sawing through the thick branch with the knife took some work, and her shoulder was burning before she was even halfway through. Still, the wolf’s whimpering kept her sawing, and eventually, the branch hung low, then splintered at the cut. She managed to twist it free, and it fell to the forest floor.
She was afraid the wolf would bolt now that it was mostly free, drag the limb behind it sadly, but it didn’t move. Taking a deep breath, she followed the wire right up to its rear leg. She met the wolf’s eyes, and it nodded slightly. Grinning, she realized it had given her permission.
It was such a magical moment that it buoyed her spirits higher than they had been in a long time.
Her touch was as tender as possible as she worked on the snare where it had dug into the flesh of the wolf’s leg. Still, it yelped, and she cringed in anticipation of the snapping teeth. The bite never came. Even in pain, it was a well-behaved wolf.
She managed to slip the wire trap from its paw, wincing at the bloody mess it had made. The poor thing must be in agony.
Free, it didn’t run away. Turning, it regarded Finley with those bright, intelligent blue eyes. Finley didn’t feel threatened, which was the natural reaction to being eye to eye with a wolf. It slinked closer, closer still. Still, she sensed it wasn’t going to attack her. After all, she had its word. Then it nuzzled her neck, licked her cheek. Giggling, she put her arms around its neck like it was a family pet. It submitted to her stroking, making this little chuffing sound of enjoyment at the attention she was giving it. Finally, it pulled back, grinning at her. She was sure it was grinning this time.
“You are such a silly wolf,” she said, returning the grin.
“Such beautiful eyes. You are lovely,” she said. Her smile slipped a little when she said, “I wish I were as pretty as you. I used to be, but that was a long time, ago.”
The wolf looked at her with what appeared to be sadness and tears stung her eyes. Before her vision could blur, she saw the scars on her face and neck reflected in its bottomless eyes, could still feel the greedy lick of the fire that had given them to her.
She had escaped the house but not the heavy burden of her ruined face. Some of the more mean-spirited kids would make fun of her at school, but that was okay. It was the sympathy and pity on the face of strangers that hurt the most. That kindness tore her up inside.
Again, the wolf nuzzled her neck, licked her face. Wiping her tears, she smiled at the wolf, “I’m okay. I get sad sometimes, is all.”
The wolf threw its head back and let out a mournful howl that seemed to echo the sadness in her heart. Then with one more look in her eyes, it turned and limped away. She watched it go, thought it looked majestic even with its uneven gait. It was such a proud, beautiful creature.
Again, she wished she could be just like it.
*****
“You have a package.”
“Me?” Finley asked, her eyes widening at the box sitting on the table.
“Yes, you silly,” her mother said, smiling at her, “open it, so we can see what you got.”
“Who’s it from?” she asked, looking at the woman.
“There is a card attached to it. See what it says.”
She opened the little card, read the carefully penned message: To my savior, one brave girl who wasn’t afraid to help me even when she should have been. Allow me to repay your kindness with one of my own. May your inner beauty match your outer self.
Frowning, she read the message, again. Her eyes widened when she thought about the wolf she had rescued from the snare. Could it be…
She opened the box in a hurry, tore the wrapping paper to shreds in her need to see what was inside. She pulled out a mirror with a silver handle, her eyes widening at the unusual gift. Her mother saw it in her hand, her jaw set angrily. She must think it was a cruel joke at her daughter’s expense.
Finley hardly noticed, couldn’t look away from her reflection. Her scars were gone, her face as it had been before the fire. The illusion was so real that she had to touch her face. The feel of the raised bumps killed her hope that something truly magical had happened, that they were gone for real.
Her shoulders fell, and fresh tears stung her eyes. That fragile hope the mirror had given her had softened her calluses a little, and the insult of feeling the scars on her face had hurt more than they had in a long time.
Looking at her mother, she saw the woman staring at her, her hand over her mouth in surprise and maybe horror. The woman went to the sink, grabbed a dish towel. Finley frowned at her, wondered what her mother was up to. Hesitantly, she pressed the towel to Finley’s cheek, rubbing it. When she pulled it back, Finley gasped at the sight of the twisted skin on the cloth.
Her mother put her hand to her mouth, again and she looked wide-eyed at her daughter. Tears welled in her eyes and spilled down her cheeks. She leaned in and kissed Finley’s forehead, then began wiping her face and neck with the towel.
“What, Momma,” Finley asked, shaking with fear, “what is it? Why are you crying?”
“Oh, Baby,” her mother said, smiling through her tears, “my beautiful, beautiful baby girl. It’s a miracle. A miracle.”
“What are you talking about, Momma?”
Her mother took the mirror from her, showed her her reflection, the one without the scars. Again, the illusion was so real that she just had to touch her face… And felt nothing but smooth skin.
*****
Her gift received, and her gratitude paid, the free-spirited woman turned from the window she had been spying through. Limping away, she had to smile at the look of sheer joy on the girl’s face. The smile lit up her face, especially her beautiful blue eyes.
I had forgotten about this story until someone asked about it. I thought I’d dust it off and post it here. Don’t worry, this doesn’t count as the chapter I promised. I’ll have a chapter of The Wild up probably Tuesday or Wednesday. Hopefully, this will give you something to read until then.
And no, Blue is not a free spirited woman.
Okay, so I did read this story already and yes I still want a sequel to it!!!
Oh come on Ebo, there’s no way this isnt part of Blue’s origin. You’re just teasing us. As for the story itself, made me tear up a little (yes im a male and I get emotional, deal with it), such a lovely story, and I also would like a sequel or even a series, maybe in the vein of The Littlest Hobo (old 80s tv show) where the free spirited woman goes around as the wolf helping people. Looking forward to The Wild chapter (FINALLY!! :P)
The communication with the wolf reminds me very much of a conversation I had with my wife’s cat. I wanted to give hers and mine some leftover turkey, so I shook the kitty treats container to get their attention. They both came running, and I set some turkey down in front of them both. My cat tucked in without hesitation, my wife’s cat looked at the turkey, then looked at me, saying plain as with English, “I believe I was promised kitty treats.”
I like it. I’d be interested to see you branch out more into the supernatural, Ebo. Natty barely even qualifies as a ghost, really. But her existence (especially if one thinks of your stories as taking place in the same universe, as I do) raises the question: What else is out there?
Miri writes
Dear Mr Ebo.
Now it was Sunday the last, at the evening and story time again and Susy and me put the pajamas on ready for our bedtime and like usual, I sit between my gentle Susy’s long legs with the computer on my knees and popcorn next to us and I do the reading tonight and Susy feeds us the popcorn. I tell Susy that it is a pretty little story Susy and I say that not others are like this when I have finished. Some of the parts were not easy for me but I try to make me proud for Susy and after we finished our cuddling afterwards was warm and wonderful and Susy tells to me I did very very well with my reading and kisses me special as my English is getting better.
Your super nice and magical story must have the next chapter because there are questions you need to answer for us and me and Susy think Nathan gives the answer – Blue is about this story.
Susy says
We know of a young girl, Mary, some time ago who had become disfigured in a car crash. Her life changed overnight. After the incident, the happy and bouncy girl she once was, disappeared the first time she looked in a mirror. Not long afterwards she moved away so we do not know what became of her but with luck, the cosmetic surgeon she was scheduled to see, will have helped her. If so, that young girl will have been returned to her parents full of life and joy will have filled her heart. This joy Mary would have felt will also have come to Finley at the close of your heart wrenching story.
In her woods, Finley spent time escaping from the reality of her scarred life and when the wolf appeared to understand and answer her questions – she knew the woods were magical – in some way – and when she was able to put her arms around the wolf’s neck, the magic was complete and the forest did indeed, hold magical properties.
Despite Finley’s obvious belief, she did not as some might have done, wish good things for herself, she was just overcome with happiness that she had managed to help the stricken wolf. Such was her belief in the magic world of her woods – and what had transpired – that she had very little difficulty in believing the card with the gift, was from the wolf she had met. In fact, such was her belief, that she thought the unscarred face staring back from the mirror, was an illusion and happily went along with her belief – so strong was her wish and so desperate was her need, to be normal once more. Some of the magic must have rubbed off on Finley’s mother who, following blind instinct, wiped her daughter’s face in expectation. Finley on the other hand, would go to sleep, happy and assured that her belief in her magic wood had not been misplaced. Miri kept repeating that it was indeed a “magical” story.
It was difficult not to agree with my darling Miri and the following morning (Monday) she was giving Philip a wash with warm soapy water (as always I was doing the bucket fetching and carrying) and she stopped and gave me a quizzical look and the conversation went something like:
“What’s wrong sweetie?”
“Nothing wrong Susy, I have just thought there is no lovemaking in the wolf story.”
“Yes”, I said, “Ebo told us at the start there was none in the story.”
We chatted about it whilst we finished washing and drying Philip and to be completely honest Ebo, we think any sex could/would, have spoiled the nature of the story. We thought it wasn’t necessary and let’s face it, with just three characters in the story – options were a little limited.
Eventually, Miri realised the limping, blue-eyed woman at the end was the wolf – maybe? However, at the end of the day, it matters not what secrets may lie within this adorable tale, what matters more than anything, is that it was written for the enjoyment of we readers and to that end, our dear Ebo you did not let us down. Until next time, love as always, Susy and Miri. xx
I third the request for a sequel.
And Nathan, real men cry. We have feelings, and screw that whole macho crap. So continue not listening to anyone who tries to tell you otherwise. You are much wiser than they; humans weren’t meat to suppress our emotions. As one guy to another, I thank you for your courage to admit your feelings.