Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)
This is the Six Sentence Story.
Denise is our host.
The week’s prompt word:
PINE
Nacona pulled the blanket over his head, wishing he was twice his ten years and feeling a third of them. The darkness under this makeshift teepee almost felt like night at home, yet there remained a dark corner that taunted him with the fact that his mother was five days walk to the east, down from these foothills. An almost-adult voice, in his mind, scolded him for forgetting the time he spent listening to the old men of his tribe describe their own vision quests; always, he thought ruefully, it was from around a warming fire and the security of his clan.
“If you would be a great warrior, find a powerful teacher on your quest; if you have the nerve, seek him among the pine woods that clothe the mountains to the west,” the voice of the oldest of the men who spent the days in camp, no longer able to ride and hunt, returned with a ferocity that the boy had been too young to see in his eyes.
“Trees are the earth shaking jealous fists at the sky for being left behind when the Great Spirit made the world,” his teacher’s stories took the chill out of the night, “cottonwoods and oaks, waving their green limbs in the winds are silent in the fall and winter, but the pine forests are different, they whisper among themselves, many spirits trapped between the sky and the earth.
Nacona heard a sound in the distance, gathering to itself and pacing like a wolf in a pit, moving because that was the only thing it could do, at the moment.
music (no, really! this resonated at a certain point.) (pray for me)
lol
About clarkscottroger
Really enjoyed this.
ty
Super; you always bring it.
“I’m tryin’, Ringo, I’m trying real hard.”*
* Pulp Fiction, final scene.
What a great Six. Stories of vision quests are fascinating and also at the same time seem a bit frightening to me.
As rites of passage go, the idea of seeking a vision sounds kinda cool.*
*though, that might just being the age talking…lol
Delightful story with so many layered meanings for “Pine”.
“If you would be a great warrior, find a powerful teacher on your quest; if you have the nerve, seek him among the pine woods that clothe the mountains to the west,”
Yes indeed!!!
thank you
Never know what to expect here. I liked the explanation of whispering pines. It ends a bit ominous; think he might get a little more education under those big trees.
What a nice thing to say!
what clarks* lack in polish and execution, they often make up for in novelty.
Funny you should say that, the ominous comment. This story was first about pine trees, then native Americans then rites of passage and finally, (and literally, when I got to the stage of having all the elements, descriptions, the ‘stage craft’ if you will, I asked myself, “how would it feel like, being this boy, in this place.”
Fun and somewhat risky, this writing thing, non?
* the personality type in the Wakefield Doctrine, not necessarily the writer**
** ok, the writer as well
Oh what there is to learn among the natural…such a quest we may all need from time to time. Great six.