Writing Assignment – Day 1
FREE WRITING ASSIGNMENT #1 – JUNE 2, 2014
(I used to assign this activity to the teenagers in my English class and they used to look at me with wide eyes and an open mouth – Has anything changed?) I had to dig deep to find this in the annals of my mind. Here goes …………
It was 1976, May long weekend to be exact – Tom had three days – one more than the usual 2 day weekend. The old blue/green truck was loaded: sleeping bags (two just in case the night was cold), chain saw, food, portable barbeque, cooking utensils, etc. Tom was going to spend the weekend clearing some trees from the property that he and his wife owned, in preparation for building a summer cottage.
Three years previously, he and his wife had bought a lot on which they had planned to build one day. Well, the one day had arrived. They had gotten tired of the ‘ugly’ bathrooms in campgrounds and had decided that a more permanent summer place rather than campgrounds would be more suitable and more comfortable for their 6 weeks of holiday during the summer.
Tom looked at the forest. It was drizzling rain and the prospect of cutting down trees seemed depressing and dreary. The mosquitoes and black flies swarmed around this intruder, the undergrowth was so thick he couldn’t see more than ten feet in front of his nose and the silence of the forest was scary, especially for someone who had always been afraid of the dark.
There were no lights that night as Tom snuggled into the sleeping bag in the back of his truck. There was no electricity up this part of this hill. The electrical line only went as far as the lower bend of the road. The next morning, after a fretful night of unrest and defense against the gnats, Tom awoke early ………….. probably around 5:00 a.m. as it was just getting light.
“I need to clear a space for a cottage,” he spoke aloud, “I have only a couple of days.”
Interesting enough, he was not alone even though he came out there alone. Another human being, a neighbour right across the road was on his lot doing exactly the same thing.
All day, the chain saws buzzed and the trees fell to the forest floor – crash after crash could be heard echoing through the silence of the forest.
Two days later, Tom returned home – mentally tired, physically weary and covered with welts from insect bites. He looked at Jane, shook his head and uttered, “We must be out of our minds to be building a cottage out there in that wilderness. There is no power …….. the bugs are horrific ………..the silence is almost overpowering.”
That was simply the beginning of …………… an adventure and many adventures to come.
