The Forest

Gold

She watched him wake up to the dawn of first light as the morning entered in through the trees.  Eyes, quiet with a generous optimism.  Her image, dressed in a sheer mist of color, dusted the wind with gentle words and the brilliance of his dream lay calm in the stillness of his mind.  

He sat up, supporting his body with his long arms from behind and grounded himself firmly into the dirt.  The remnants of dream awake in him with a contagious innocence.  Jule was still next to him curled up in a circle of security and both were startled by the lavish riddle surrounding them in glitter.

The breeze, masquerading its strength, sent glitter floating around them like delicate leaves falling safely to the ground.  It brushed his cheek with a voice of silent lyrics and he watched the treetops sway above with a cadence of intrigue.  She sat there holding the tree as if it were hers.  As if she had been sitting there all her life, waiting for just one moment to speak.  Jule suddenly unraveled his sleep and glanced up at Jack, knowing the riddle he once found was soon to present itself.  And in a perplexed outcome of relief, he calmed the tired mind beside him and they both listened intently to what she told them.

"Choose a flake of glitter surrounding you, and throw it up to the wind. Then watch where it goes. Gently trace it with your eyes through its unpredictable patterns and follow it until you cannot follow it anymore. Then take another flake and do the same. Follow it and never let it out of your sight. Follow it until you can no longer see it anymore and it fades from your memory."

Jack did exactly as she said.  He stood up, carefully dusting the glitter from his clothes and chose just one. He lifted his arm and in his hand and watched the glitter launch off of his fingertips, sweeping a path through the air.  It glided and danced like a goal with a reason.  It sailed and shifted through the weight of the wind and gently regained the rhythm of one.  They both watched in synchronized astonishment.  The flash of color blazed along unharmed until it was further away from their sight.  And from a distance, they could see as it bounced and jolted, even rebelling at times in its attempt to maintain a course.  They watched it collide with the same intense vision of the others until it faded into a tiny speck, almost gone.

"Does it seem unremarkable to you?"

Their eyes were stuck, stalled in a stare.  Her voice, calm and sure. 

"The forest owns it now.  But it isn't entirely gone.  You can find it again sometime if you really try hard enough.  You see, the ground you walk on is making a mark for you."

Their eyes parted from the speck in an abrupt instant. 

Jule was sure of her.  And Jack could feel the weight of his dream now alive with reality.  He knew she wouldn't lie to him.   

 "That was incredible!" Jack said. 

"You're right, it is. It is incredible."

The excitement left an eager attempt at more as Jack began a frantic search for another piece of glitter scattered around him.  He was searching for the perfect piece.  They all appeared to be equal but he knew his careful choice would be genuinely rewarded.  He picked up another and examined it closely.  This time, he spent time appreciating its appearance of strength and depth of color and held it like he didn't want to let it go.  

"It's part of you now.  Release it and watch where it goes."

Jack listened and aimed his arm high up to the sky again.  Closing his eyes, he let the flake of glitter release from his palm and attach to the wind.  It paraded around the leafless trees in a  mist of energy it couldn't contain.  Up and down the trunks of uneven trees it raced.  It hid and reappeared, then hid again, only to emerge as a glimpse of perfection.  It channeled a source and held a path.  It simmered in question and starved a way forward, never losing its source.

Their eyes, lost in amazement, traced it through the sky, watching as it sailed high and dipped low into a rising vortex.  It never escaped.  It always endured.  They watched until the flash of bright color trailed its lead with a vibrant gash across the sky and virtually disappeared.  

"Wow!  Where did it go?  Is it gone?" 

"It isn't gone Jack.  Do you know what it is?"

"I don't know.  I mean, I'm not sure what it is."

"Well then, if you're not entirely sure, choose another and see where this one leads you."

He walked closer to the tree she sat against, canvassing the ground for another flake of glitter; one that would stain his hand with a memory of color, just like the other.  Reaching down, he picked up a shiny gold petal he recognized.  It was chiseled with a sophisticated elegance.  It lacked a frailty and held an edge.  He held it like it was his.  Like he would never leave it.  Like it was his forever.    

She watched as he reluctantly hesitated its release.  He was holding a gem inside, protecting it like it was a story yet to be told.  A story that would carefully unfold in his palm one day.  She could hear Jule now beside him and a faint melody of a song approaching her.  She was so pleased he remembered the words.  

"Jack, would you like to let it go and see where it takes you?"

Jack closed his eyes again and reached up his arm in defeat and exhaled.  He wasn't ready.  His arm became a sudden obstacle, a hindrance to an unmistakable drive that would derail his contentment.

"Would you like to choose another?  Is this one too heavy for you?"

He shook his head wildly in front of her; his lips pursed, like he was holding on to words too stubborn to come out.  One breath filled his nostrils with an explodable reason and he gently guided it up with an intuition that demanded his attention. It sifted through the air and hovered above him waiting for a command.  It was a bond of security that would travel distances with him.  He followed it.  He could see it higher than he.  It showed him the treetops and the sun that always lasted in his presence.  It was his to follow.  

He paused and looked at her with an assured reality, telling her that everything he dreamed of would come true.  And she already knew.