[Nature] Boy

In hindsight, I realize that teaching a wild thing to be tame is cruel. I watch the tourists around here and think, "You're not doing that deer any favors, letting it get accustomed to nibbling feed from your hand." So when I first saw the kid- catching the flash of his eyewhites in the brush at the edge of the woods- I wish now I'd just turned around and gone back inside.

In the summer of my fourteenth year, I was staying at my family's summer property, set like a desert island in a deep sea of old growth forest. It's temperate, mossy, moist- and lonely.

And this brings me to the first in a tedious list of justifications I will tick off as the tale is told: I was so lonesome, and just a kid myself. So when I spied that figure crouching in the undergrowth, I leaned over the deck railing and waved. My heart leapt into my throat as he shot up and bolted, sprinting hunched and fleet as a buck into the woods.

I noted with shock that he was nude. Also, that as quickly as he moved, his passage through the vegetation was almost silent; no cracking twigs, no rustling branches. He had a thick, bramble-stuck mess of matted mouse-colored hair that hung to his waist. My first thought was that maybe he was a hippie who'd gotten too laced on whatever and wandered away from one of the leftover communes that still limped on out there in the boonies. I felt very uneasy about the incident, acutely conscious of the house's isolation and my own vunerability.

Nevertheless, that night I placed a pair of dad's old sweatpants, a sandwich and an apple in a little pile by the place I'd first seen him. The next morning, only the apple was missing, but the wrapping on the sandwich had been torn open. The sweatpants were untouched.

Although I sat on the deck all day waiting, the boy never showed. I left an apple on the grass each night for a week, and my first waking thought every morning was to check to see if it had been taken. Wading out barefoot into the dewy grass, always finding a fresh wash of tender early sunlight on the empty patch- the boy liked his apples.

The morning of the seventh day, I was so eager to check the spot that I nearly planted my foot on the remains of a woodchuck. The poor wee thing was curled on the doormat, its head craned round in a way that suggested a broken neck. I knew somehow that the boy had left it there- was he trying to threaten me?

That didn't seem right.

What then? I was convinced that it was intended to be a gift. This was no hippie- this was something a whole lot stranger. Suspecting myself to be observed from cover, I made certain to not let my face show the sqeamish sorrow I felt as I picked up the limp little body and closed the door. I didn't want him to think I was ungrateful.

I sat stationed on the window seat through the dark hours, peering through the blinds and sipping anxiously at stale, cold coffee. As the lights came up outside, turning the world from black to blue, he crept warily from the dim interior. He was curled over, holding his hands in front of him like a bunny. A vole dangled from his fingers.

I moved as quietly as I could to the door. Sensing him there, I opened it quickly, holding an apple in front of me at arm's length. He was crouched in the act of placing the vole on the mat when I startled him. He sprung up, then froze there expressionless, huge eyes fixed on the apple in my hand. He was, I thought, my age. Fifteen at the most. Stringy, filthy, and very whiffy.

"Hey," I said softly.

His eyes darted to my mouth, back to the apple again. I hunkered down and put it within reach on the ground, stepped back. He slowly took it, solemnly holding my gaze as he replaced it with the vole.

"Thanks," I smiled.

He bared his teeth and emitted a weird chittering growl at me, then drew his hands back to his chest and sprinted off into the brightening flickershow of sunlight under the canopy.

He was, I thought, pretty cute under all that dirt.

That was very good! I liked it very much... SnF

reply to post by OpinionatedB


Awesome, thank you.

I have yet to check out all the other submissions, but think I'll mosey on over to yours right now.

reply to post by Eidolon23


Wow. What a great read. SnF.

I have to ask, is this based on a true story? It sounded so real. Good luck in the contest.

Great read Eidolon23, I enjoyed the story very much.

reply to post by Druid42


Hee. Thanks. It's entirely fictional, but I've been reading a lot of case studies on feral children for the last few days. Sad but enthralling subject.

Originally posted by Eidolon23
Awesome, thank you.

I have yet to check out all the other submissions, but think I'll mosey on over to yours right now.

Your very welcome, it was definitely high quality writing and a most enjoyable read.

Thank you. but mine is not as good as yours I am certain....

reply to post by Eidolon23


So now your a writer E23, big surprise there.

You know I think we may have read a few of the same stories on feral children judging from you story, but seeing as there are a few stories and cases I think everybody who read stories on feral children read the same ones. I think there was even a thread or two on ATS about feral children a few years ago. But ya cool story, a bit disappointed as there were no ninjas, and you could use more practice. But it was a good story in all, I got the feeling it played out a bit like a documentary you had in your head.

This is my favourite story in this [NATURE] competition by far. Yet somehow it seems unfinished...

You start the story by saying that you'd wished you'd just turned your back and gone inside when you first saw him and you end it by saying that he's pretty cute. I feel kinda like I've been left hanging - sorta like I've just watched the preview to some great movie that I'll never get to watch.

Great job anyway - S&F

reply to post by 1littlewolf


Thanks, man.

It is indeed unfinished- there will be more installments.

Very nice indeed.


Feral child? Wood elf? or something more sinister?

reply to post by sonnny1


I guess you'll find out.

Muah ha ha.

reply to post by Eidolon23


That was a wonderful story, Eidolon. You have a gift for writing.



X.

ok,,u can stop eating dirt/dust of the earth,,and the right hand,, interesting,,lol

reply to post by Eidolon23
I look forward to more.

Well done!

S&F

[Nature] Boy II

Really engaging story, and I very much enjoyed your style. I always know I'll like a story when it evokes a narrative voice in my mind.

reply to post by argentus


Thank you kindly.

Tres Cool. I still feel it. Of to Deux.