Member-only story
Into The Woods Journal
Year 2024 — Week Twenty-One
May 20
Primal Chord
When I woke up, the light on the alarm clock was just getting bright, but my wife was nowhere to be found. I stood up out of bed and stumbled into the living room, where I found her sleeping on the couch, barely covered by a small blanket. She had moved in the middle of the night because I was snoring, something I hadn’t done in a while. One look at her face told me everything I needed to know. She didn’t sleep well, and she was exhausted.
We sipped down some hot coffee, sitting together on her makeshift bed. She wasn’t mad at me. She never was. But, I still felt bad for interrupting her sleep. When it was time for her to go, I helped her carry her things out to the car and then wiped down her windows and mirrors. We said goodbye, and she drove off. I would miss her, but she planned on coming back this afternoon. It would be nice to have her home on a Monday evening.
I went for my morning walk in the woods. Along the trails, in the soft dirt, several hoof prints from deer showed they were using the trails we cleared. I was happy they were taking advantage of our hard work. In the grove, where I usually saw two eastern gray squirrels, I noticed a friend had joined them. The three squirrels ran in circles, chasing each other…
