Nature

The leaves above rustled in the gentle spring breeze as the sun slowly decended toward the green fields that could be seen for miles from atop the gentle hill. She lifted her small thin arm to her brow to see through the glare and soak in the golden light cast upon the rolling hills and green grass and fields of wheat that swayed as if in a dance that hoped to ward off the night with it crisp air and clinging damp that would surely come as the night settled across the land. Her mind wondered, wondered, and fleeting thoughts came and went that she could not grasp for the beauty of the sun set would not allow her to take control of her thoughts, so she gave in to the reverie and instead imagined herself floating just above the soft green earth as its protector and guardian. She floated down the hill and over the swaying wheat. The wheat made soft music that she knew only she could hear, a slow steady swoosh that rose and fell in pitch. Then the birds above swooped down before her and chirpped and flapped their wings in recognition of her authority. She commanded them to fly beside her that they would all enjoy the companionship. Ahead in the distance a family of deer ran as she flew into the decending golden light of the sun. She extended her arms from her chest and opened them as if to embrace them, they looked behind and saw her, and leapt with grace so that she may see their beauty and there worth. The shadows of their antlers and ears running long along their sleek backs covered in soft brown fur. The deer hoofs making a constant thump as if drums were keeping the beat of natures music.
Suddenly her thoughts became lucid and she smiled as she again took pen to paper and began to write about the female entity that she had yet to know how to describe acuratley. She had been struggling for hours sitting cramped and a bit chilly under the large shade tree. She changed her position and sat cross legged with the book of empty pages rested on her winged legs. She wrote furiously, ‘ The lady flew over the grass and felt very powerful. She listened to the air and the plants and knew it was musical. The animals all ran with her and the sun set making the land all yellow.’
She took her pencil and scribbled with frustration through what she had written. That isn’t at all how she had imagined it! She stared at the white paper then slammed the empty book closed and threw the pencil into the dirt. She rested her hands on her knees and cupped her chin in her palms and sighed.
Just then she heard a squeaky voice to her right. She turned her head startled and her eyes settled on a short boy who was smiling but not smiling. He looked as though he wanted to walk right up to her and say hello and at the same time as though he wanted to run away quickly in fright, just as a deer will when it is startled. “How long have you been standing there?” she asked indignantly. “Ummm, ahhh, who me?” He asked as he looked behind him clearly believing she might have spoken to another person. “Come closer if your going to speak, don’t act like such a scared beast. What exactly are you doing here, I have never seen you here before. How old are you anyway and gee are you ever going to say your name or answer my question?” Looking totally confused and at odds with himself the young boy moved closer and fumbled with the large book in his hands and shifted his shoulder to keep the small tan bag from slipping off. “You sure do ask a lot of questions” the boy replied with hesitation, his voice not quite even. His lips wereslightly parted accenting his teeth which were white and smal l and even.  They were a good match to his thin lips and broad mouth she thought. “My name is Jacob. I didn’t mean to interupt you, I was coming to draw the sunset. I am, well I want to be an artist someday.”
She considered him for a moment as they both looked at each other in the eyes. She imagined there was an electrical spark linking there eyes together and felt as if all of who he was was being passed along that spark into her mind. “Well, perhaps you had better come sit and start drawing before the sunset passes and all you have to draw is the dark of the night.”  With undefined trepidation Jacob made his way to to the tree and sat lightly on the bare dirt that surronded the trunk of the shade tree. As he sat he allowed the tan bag to slide off his shoulder and fall to the dirt at his side and with practiced hands opened the large book to a blank page. As he flipped through the pages to find a blank one she watched all the vibrant colors that seemed to jump from the pages, the pages flipped so quickly she was unable to form them into consise pictures.  “That’s a very large book and the colors seem to be living on the pages,” she remarked as off handedly as she could. She was defineately interested in seeing the drawings but didn’t want to divulge her eagerness. “This is a sketch pad, not really a book, ones this large are difficult to come by in this area. This one comes from an art store in the city and it was very expensive,”  he replied with reserved ride. As he spoke he appeared to settle into a comfortable routine as he opened the bag and began laying out pencils, brushes, pastels, small jars of oil paints and a pallet. He clearly was in his element as his hands moved swiftly to organize his belongings and and she watched there very quickly began to appear an image on the paper. She hardly could remember him mixing the paints or dipping the brushes, the more she thought about it the more she was convinced she must have been day dreaming for the paper was very quickly transformed into the landscape that lay before them. He looked over at her and smiled and then turned his attention back to his work. Suddenly he paused, his hands still and his fingers glistening with spattered paint. “Strange,” he said as if thinking out loud, “something is missing in this picture and I don’t understand why.” She moved closer and looked at the painting, her curiosity aroused.  As she leaned in closer she realised she could no longer make out the colors on the page, she could not see the landscape that had so quickly appeared on the page. As if a fog was lifting from her mind she came to realise the sun had set and the growing darkness under the tree prevented her from seeing what was on the page. Slowly she rose to her feet with her book and pencil in hand, she pulled the book close to her chest and breathed a deep breath. He watched her very closely, she knew is eyes were staring into hers even though the darknes was growing so quickly that she could barely make out the features of his face. “I had better go home now, I am supposed to be home by dark.” As she spoke it was as if the voice that projected the words so slowly from her mouth was not her own. She turned slowly, feeling confused and out of place as she began to walk down the hill. She wanted to looke back but an uncanny fear seemed to wash over her consume her with every step as she walked faster and faster.
When she reached the wooden step of the back porch she realised she had run most of the way home and she couldn’t remember Jacob saying good bye. In fact she was no longer certain that he had said anything at all.