The old cabin

            The Old Man,an old Cabin in the Woods, and Life.
                                    The Old Cabin

It stands an ancient bastion against mother nature. Set deep into the wooded valley with a small stream passing by.The cabin showing it's age, the siding worn and weathered  The roof shingles covered with thick moss and holes.One of the feet of the cabin on the left side had crumbled and fallen away, allowing that corner to settle and gravity to start to pull the cabin down. The windows all broken and hanging at varying angles allowing the beasts of the woods to use the cabin as a home during the summer months.Only one pane of glass still hanging on as the wooden frame slowly rotted away around it. The front porch steps and floor boards broken and full of holes. The door having lost it's top hinge hung at an awkward angle leaning into the cabin looking as if the next strong breeze would tear it off it's remaining hinge to crash down to the floor.The giant oak tree off to the right, it's huge arms reaching out over the cabin shading it during the summer heat now barren of leaves and sagging from the weight of the last snowfall and freezing temperatures hangs heavy, a branch old and eaten away from wood rot ready to fall and crush the cabin completely.One old rope from the swing still hanging where he and his wife and then their two children would play,relax and lay and watch the clouds drift past.The yard area now overgrown with weeds and small thorn bushes blocks the small sidewalk leading to the cabin.The winter snow laying thick and ice covered makes getting to the cabin most difficult.Out of the end dormer window opening an owl steps through an flies off to hunt for it's next meal.
   
                                  The Old Man

  In his younger day's he stood just under six feet tall,strong ,handsome ,a rugged farm boy. Now fifty-five years later he stands with the help of a cane.Stooped over from long days and years of hard farm work.He walks with a slow shuffle,still if watched closely, you can see the remnants of the strength that was there.His gnarled and crooked fingers holding the cane. The skin tanned and leathery like, spotted with age,wrinkled at the knuckles.His shoulders hunched over and back curved from long years of carrying heavy tools and posts to fixing machinery and repairing the barns and house. The face suntanned and leathery just like his hands wrinkled and drawn tight but still pleasant and happy.That crafty glint in his eyes knowing that tomorrow would be a better day as he planned his escape.

                                        Life

    He comes, out from the small town where he has spent the last few years of his life in a nursing home..Dressed in well worn dress shoe's polished to their best shine,the suit pants worn and shiny in the seat,the white shirt pressed to perfection.His coat fraying at the sleeve ends, patches at the elbows,the collar pulled up to help protect from the thirty-one degree winter weather with a heavy snow storm moving in that will drop the temperature to zero overnight. He walks slowly, breathing heavily, up the snow covered path that leads to the cabin.The effort draining his strength with each step,he pushes on, to the large boulder where he would sit and look at the cabin as his wife and two children would work and play. Reaching the boulder, he found his spot and sat down heavily. A long bout of coughing followed. He grew winded and took out a handkerchief and blew his nose. When he finished, he neatly folded the hankie and put it in his breast coat pocket. Taking a long look at the cabin not seeing it as it is, but as it was when he and his family lived there.Knowing that this time would be his last time here in this lifetime.Slowly as the cold seeps into him his breathing grows slower and more labored. From the corner of his eye he sees them coming,the police and paramedics rushing to try and help him,but it's too late.His last thought is a un-uttered laugh.  He stands up and bounces across the stream happier and more energetic than ever before.He runs to the porch calling out "Becky,Becky, I'm home."As she opens the door and gives him a hug and kiss.