A walk in the woods

A walk in the woods



         “You’re not going to believe what I found!” ten year old Angela said to her brother Mike, who was twelve.

         “What?  A new doll?” he snickered.

         “No, smartie.  I found a group of elves in the woods!”

         Mike looked at her, incredulous.  “You’re a little old to believe in elves, aren’t you Ang?”

         “It’s true!” Angela insisted.  “They said I could bring you to see them, but you have to swear to keep it a secret.  We have to go at night, though.”

         “Oh, I will,” Mike said.  He was thinking if his friends heard about this, he’d never hear the end of it.”



         Later that night, Mike was following his sister into the woods.  The moon was a silver crescent, so there wasn’t much light, other than their weak flashlights.  Mike felt like a fool, but Angela was determined to show him those elves.

         “Here,” Angela said, stopping so abruptly Mike nearly crashed into her.  “This where I saw them.”

         They stopped in a clearing.  Mike shone his flashlight around but didn’t see anything. 

         “There’s nothing here, Angela,” he said. 

         There was a loud bang and a puff of purple smoke. Scared, Mike dropped his flashlight.  A group of elves appeared on a tree stump, chattering and sneering at him maliciously.          Angela never wavered.

         “Here they are,” she said triumphantly. Mike was speechless.

         “E…El…Elves?” he squeaked.  “In our woods?  How is this possible?”

         Angela gave him a look nearly as malicious as the elves did. 

         “I asked them to come here for you.”

         “For me?” he squeaked out again.  “What? Why? I don’t understand.”

         “You were being mean to my kitten,” Angela snarled at him.  “You were mean to her!” she shrieked. 

         Mike shut up.  It was true he hadn’t been as nice as he should have been to Angela’s ten week old fur ball.

         “They are taking you away where you can’t hurt anyone,” she continued.

         There was another loud explosion.  Mike screamed and tried to run but he was tackled by surprisingly strong elves.

         The head elf walked up to him, said something in Elfish, and sprinkled purple powder on Mike’s body.  The elves stood him up.  He began to grow.  Ten feet…twelve feet…fifteen feet.  His skin began to turn brown and harden.  He sprouted more limbs.

         Angela watched in satisfaction as her brother became a tree.  “He’ll never hurt anyone again,” she smiled.  “Serves him right, the jerk.  Mom warned him to be nice.”

         She handed the head elf her mother’s gold earrings as payment and went home, delighted that she’d gotten rid of her brother.