TITLE: The Clearing
AUTHOR: Lady S
E-MAIL: finger_to_keyboard@yahoo.com
SUMMARY: While riding home one afternoon, Neil happens
upon the most beautiful sight in all the world.


The Clearing
By Lady S


Everything hurt.

His neck hurt, his shoulders hurt, his back hurt, his
eyes hurt, even his hair hurt.  After being on the go
for the last five days out in Low Gap, working to save
a family that had been hurt when their cabin had been
burned to the ground, he was exhausted.  Slumped in
the saddle as Charlie walked him home Neil drifted in
and out of sleep as the pair ambled through the
forest.  As they came to the edge of a clearing a
small song began to creep into Neil’s senses.  Pulling
Charlie to a stop he raised his head, looking around
to find the source of the music.

There, in the middle of the clearing, he saw her.

She was sitting on the ground, her long hair flowing
freely in the breeze, singing out loud and she
sketched in her book, pencil flying over the paper. 
Her head tilting to the one side and then the other
she held the sketch up for a moment in examination. 
With a small smile he watched her close the sketchbook
and put it aside.  Whatever she had drawn she was
satisfied with its completion.  When her hands emerged
back into view Neil saw that she was holding a book.

Knowing he should move on, knowing he needed to get
back to his cabin and get some sleep, he continued to
watch, spellbound by the beauty of the sun shining off
her hair, her voice singing a song he didn’t know. 
Settling herself onto the ground, lying on her
stomach, book laid out in front of her, she began to
read.  Where a song had once rested on her lips Neil
know heard small sounds, little noises that sounded
almost like a cats mew.  They were sounds that he
recognized, signs that she was happy, content to lie
there on the ground reading.

As she rested on her elbows, her eyes pouring over the
book, her feet swayed happily in the air, back and
forth, criss-crossing over each other as she read. 
Every now and then she would rub one foot over the
other, and vice versa, before continuing to sway them
back and forth in the air.  Her skirt fallen to the
ground and he could just see her slim ankles above the
tall grasses of the field, her boots laced up high
over them covering the actual joint from his view.

Suddenly, from the opposite side, he saw David
approaching the clearing, about to emerge into it.  At
the noise from Prince’s hooves on the ground she
looked up, curious, startled like a little rabbit in
the forest when a bigger animal came crashing through
the brush.  Watching him for the briefest of moments
she ducked her head into the tall grass, dropped her
feet to the ground, and laying as still as a rock in
the field.  When the sound of Prince’s hoofed feet
died away she raised her head again, peering around to
ensure her privacy.

from the shadows of the forest he still watched her,
cloaked from her view.

It was obvious she wanted to be left alone, a moment
of privacy and relaxation amid her hurried life of
teaching and mission work.  Sitting atop Charlie Neil
knew he wouldn’t interrupt her.  Let her have her
peaceful afternoon.  Watching her for a few more
moments Neil finally turned his mount around, circling
back the way he came, choosing the path that led
around the clearing.  It was a longer ride to his
cabin but those precious few moments allowed him time
to store in his heart the memory of her lying in the
field, bathed in the beauty of the world around her.  

It was a sight that would greet him in his dreams when
he finally crawled into bed, sleeping the moment his
head hit the pillow.  Dreaming of his beautiful nymph,
surrounded by the tall grass in the clearing, Neil
slept with a smile on his face.

It was the blissful sleep of a man who knew of a
treasure more sweet than life itself.

Christy.



The End