Stranger in the Woods

by Geof Johnson

  Beepee suddenly yipped and started wagging her tail, and they all crouched again. Then Beepee whined and Zach looked to see what she was so excited about. Out of nowhere a tall figure appeared and stepped onto the trail a few yards ahead of them.

  The white giant.

  “Oh,” Zach muttered and stood up straight, and his friends did, too.

  “Hello,” Shelby said cheerfully, as if they were good friends.

  The giant raised his hand with this fingers spread, but didn’t say anything at first. He was much closer than their previous meeting, and Zach could see him more distinctly. His face was smooth and unlined, like a child’s, though he towered over them like a tree. He wore the same clothes, and Zach could see that the belt and the boots were not from a store, but hand made.

  No one spoke for a long time as they eyed each other uncertainly, until finally the stranger said, “I have come to greet you, but I cannot stay to converse. I have another task right now.” He spoke precisely and formally, with no accent that Zach could detect, almost like a television news anchor.

  “Uh….” Jason said, his mouth hanging open, “should we…should we come back some other time?”

  “Return tomorrow. We will talk at length, then.”

  “What time?”

  “It does not matter. I will know when you enter the forest.”

  “How?”

  The stranger turned his head and looked off in the distance, as if something far away were calling for his attention. “I have to leave now. Come back tomorrow.”

  “How will we know where to find you?” Justin said.

  “I will find you.”

  “But what if you can’t?”

  “I can find you. Do not worry. I will see you tomorrow.” He gazed at them impassively again, in his unnerving way. He said, “Tell no one.” He stepped off the trail into the woods and vanished so quickly that Zach almost missed it. Zach took a moment to process what had happened, and the twins rushed to the spot where the man had disappeared. Zach and Shelby joined them.

  They stood together at the edge of the dense growth, looking for the giant, but there was no sign of him, not even the sound of a stick snapping under a footfall or branches being pushed aside.

  “Where did he go?” Zach said.

  “I don’t know,” Jason said. “How can he do that? He’s like smoke. One minute he’s here, and the next he’s gone.”

  “He’s an elf,” Shelby said. “He can do things like that.”

  For once, her brothers didn’t argue the point.

  Chapter 16

  During breakfast the next day, Zach’s mother said, “Honey, is something on your mind?”

  Zach looked up from his bowl of cereal. “Um…no ma’am.”

  “You’re staring at your Raisin Bran like you’re hypnotized.”

  Zach realized that he was. The brown flakes had turned soggy from too much time immersed in the milk, and his spoon was dangling loosely from the fingers of his right hand. “Oh, uh, I’m just thinking, that’s all. No big deal.”

  But it was. His thoughts had been taken over by the white giant. It had kept him up half the night, wondering what the strange man was going to tell them that day. “Can I go back to the woods this afternoon?”

  “We need to go shopping. You desperately need some new clothes.”

  “Do I have to go? Can’t you pick some out for me?”

  “You hate it when I do that. You’ve gotten to where you won’t wear what I buy for you.”

  “I’ll wear them this time, I promise.”

  She narrowed one eye at him from across the kitchen table, where she sat with a cup of coffee and the newspaper. “I don’t believe you. You always say I pick out dorky stuff, and I don’t want to waste money on clothes you won’t wear. It’s a pain taking them back to the store and exchanging them, so I’d rather you come with me.”

  “Aw, no. Really, I don’t care what you get.”

  “Why do you want to go back to the woods so badly? You just went yesterday. Are you doing something out there that I should know about?”

  “No ma’am,” he said quickly. “We just like to explore. It’s fun.”

  She narrowed both eyes this time, and Zach felt the increased pressure of her scrutiny. He wouldn’t be able to lie to her if she pressed him, but the white giant said not to tell anyone. He held his breath while his mother looked at him in her stern, penetrating way. “By any chance are you building something out there? A tree house, maybe?”

  He nodded weakly, as if he’d been found out. “That’s it. Me and my friends. They had already started one a while back, and I’m helping them finish.” It wasn’t really a lie, he reasoned, only a slight twisting of the truth. A treehouse was like a clubhouse, wasn’t it?

  He held his breath again and waited for her reaction, and her lips slowly pulled into a wistful smile. “I remember doing that,” she said. “My friends and I tried to build one in Julie Sorenson’s backyard. We never got very far with it, not much more than making the floor and a rickety ladder, but it was fun. We thought it was really something, and only special people were allowed in it.” Her smile broadened. “No boys.”

  Zach smiled with her, picturing her as a girl, surrounded by her friends, sitting in their members-only treehouse, eating snacks or reading comic books like they were queens of the world. His mother had been a real person, once. “Yeah,” he said, “so we need to work on it before you think of something else for us to do around here. Can I go?”

  “I don’t imagine you’ll ever show it to me, will you?”

  “It’s supposed to be a secret. Please don’t tell my friends that I told you about it, okay?”

  “As long as you stay out if trouble. And if you see your grandfather, remind him that he promised to install the ceiling fans today.”

  * * *

  Zach didn’t want to bring Beepee with them to meet the white giant, but Shelby insisted. The dog trotted next to Shelby as they pedaled their bikes through the neighborhood toward the woods, and the discussion was dominated by talk of the strange, white-haired man. Zach put one finger under the chin strap of his helmet and scratched. “Sure is weird the way he knew where we were in the woods.”

  “That’s because he has magical powers,” Shelby said. “I told you so, but you didn’t believe me.”

  “I’ve been thinking about it,” Jason said. “Maybe he is an Indian after all. An albino one. His face looks like it to me, with those cheekbones and all.”

  “But he’s got blue eyes,” Justin said, riding just behind him.

  “That’s ’cause he’s an albino, dummy. Albinos don’t have brown eyes. Everybody knows that.”

  Zach squeezed his brakes to keep from running into Shelby’s rear tire as they slowed for a turn at the next corner. “That would explain how he can appear and disappear without us seeing him. Indians are good at that, aren’t they?”

  “Indians are good at lots of things,” Jason said matter-of-factly, “when it comes to the forest. That’s their natural territory.”

  They pedaled to the end of the last street and went around the barricade that marked the edge of the woods, and they became silent as the trees. Zach’s head swiveled constantly, looking for the strange man, and he nearly fell off his bike twice when his tires hit deep ruts in the path that he didn’t see.

  “Where is he?” Justin said as they struggled up the steepest part of the trail, standing up on his pedals like the others.

  “Beepee will let us know,” Shelby said.

  They hid their bikes, then resumed their quest on foot, eyes everywhere, and they walked without incident until they neared the granite mound. Jason said, “Maybe he’s at the clubhouse.”

  “No,” came a deep voice behind them, and Zach jumped. It was the white giant. “I am here.”

  He looked the same as he did the day before. Same clothes, same unnerving, unreadable expression. Beepee barked at him and wagged her tail, and he nodded once at her and a vague s
mile formed on his lips, the first Zach had seen him make.

  No one from Zach’s group seemed to have the ability to speak all of a sudden, until Shelby bobbed her head. “We came back, just like you said.”

  The giant turned his eyes to the sky and cocked his head slightly to one side as if listening to something. “We must seek shelter. A storm is coming.”

  Zach looked up, too, but all he could see through the tree tops was clear blue. “But there aren’t any clouds.”

  “A storm will be overhead before the sun has moved seven degrees.”

  Zach had no idea what that meant, and he was too embarrassed to say so. His friends seemed to feel the same way. They stared back at him, speechless, until Zach finally said, “Is that soon?”

  “We must hurry. Follow me.”

  He walked past them and Zach stared in awe. He seemed so much bigger up close. The top of Zach’s head didn’t even reach the giant’s elbow, and his shoulders were as wide as the horizon. He had an unusual scent, too, a faint, sharp tang of evergreen trees. He smells like a Christmas wreath.

  The stranger motioned for them to come with him, and he led them down the trail, skirting the granite mound, deeper into the forest. They continued without a word, Zach in his usual position at the back of the group and his thoughts running in all directions. He’s not taking us somewhere to hurt us, is he? He didn’t seem like a killer. He seemed friendly, in an odd way. He did give us those carvings. Should we trust him? Mom would say that we shouldn’t. Are we doing the right thing? They were following a complete stranger — a giant, no less — without any of their parents knowing where they were, exactly.

  He wondered if they shouldn’t be leaving a trail of breads crumbs, like Hansel and Gretel, or some other clue to their whereabouts, but for some reason, Zach trusted the giant. Apparently, so did his friends. Beepee certainly did, even though Grandpa had warned Zach that she didn’t like strange men. Her tongue lolled happily from her mouth and her tail fwipped back and forth every step of the way.

  Zach decided not to bring up any of his concerns. He tagged along silently like the others, their pace at a near trot as they moved along. They crossed the new bridge and continued on the path they had followed when they’d been chased by the bear, toward the chasm formed by the creek.

  As they approached the water, Jason said, “How are we going to get to the other side? Ain’t no way, is there?”

  They slowed near the edge of the crevasse and the giant said over his shoulder, “Do not worry. I know a route.”

  He turned left and followed the bank for a short distance, then turned again and stepped down onto a narrow track that Zach hadn’t noticed before. It descended steeply, with many loose rocks underfoot, and Zach had to move carefully to keep from slipping. His friends did, too, but not the giant. He travelled briskly and had to slow several times to let them catch up.

  They reached the bottom and the stranger led them toward the water. He crossed a wide stretch of damp, soft sand, and his boots sank inches deep with each step. Zach and his friends followed. When Zach passed the spot where the giant had trod, he eyed the huge impressions the man’s boots had left, the biggest Zach had ever seen.

  Shelby slowed ahead of him and pointed at one. “Look!” she said breathlessly. The huge hollows were disappearing, filling in as if the sand were pushing upward, reversing the action that formed them.

  The twins paused, too. “Holy shmoly,” Justin said. “Is that cool or what!”

  Jason had no immediate comment. He studied the vanishing prints, then pressed one of his feet into the sand, too, a determined look on his face as he pushed hard with his dirty sneaker. He stepped back to watch. Nothing happened. It remained in place, as deep as when he had first made it. “I don’t get it,” he muttered. He looked at his friends and Zach shrugged. Maybe the giant really does have magic.

  Zach heard a rumble of thunder and the man said, “We must make haste.” He began to cross the water, nimbly stepping on rocks and boulders as he went. Zach and his friends trailed him, eyes focused on their feet while they picked their way to the other side where their titanic guide waited.

  Once they had all reached the far bank, the giant led them up another narrow track, and Zach and his friends did their best to keep up. It was difficult, though. The footing was treacherous and the stranger’s pace was quick. Thunder rumbled again, and they moved faster.

  At the top of the embankment, the man led them into the brush at a jog. There was no visible path at first, but the thick vegetation seemed to part in front of the stranger as he neared it, and it closed behind Zach, who was the last in line. We’re moving through it like it’s not even there. He didn’t have time to wonder about it further because their group rushed onward through the woods with a sense of urgency.

  Rain began to fall, and some splattered on Zach’s face — heavy, summertime drops — and thunder boomed. They began to run, and somehow the trail was always there for them, and just wide enough, as they dashed deeper into the forest, Beepee racing with them, still on the leash in Shelby’s hand.

  “Where are we going?” Jason said.

  The giant slowed to a stop, and the path suddenly opened up to a small clearing that surrounded a cabin, unlike any Zach had ever seen.

  It was a living thing.

  It was made of logs attached crossways to towering pine trees, one at each corner, like the clubhouse, as if they were growing that way for a purpose. The roof was covered in thick, green grass and small shrubs, and Zach stared at it, trying to understand what he was seeing. “What the heck?” The rain was falling heavier and more splashed on his face, but he barely noticed, wiping his eyes with one hand while he regarded the strange building.

  He only had a moment to take it all in, because the giant said, “Quickly,” and he opened the wooden front door for them, motioning for them to enter. They hustled inside.

  Zach wiped his face again and glanced around, and was immediately struck by the vast number of books. They were everywhere, the dominating feature of the room, floor to ceiling on shelves against every wall and in multiple tall stacks near the corners, filling the space with a dense closeness and a feeling of solitude.

  Shelby turned in a slow circle, eyes and mouth rounded. “Have you read all of these?”

  “Every one,” the giant said in his deep voice, brushing water out of his thick, white hair with one massive hand. “Most of them more than once.”

  Jason gawked at them, too. “Must be a zillion of ’em.”

  “There are approximately five thousand, seven hundred and forty. That number changes as I trade for different volumes.”

  “Who do you trade with?” Jason asked.

  He didn’t respond, motioning instead toward a long wooden bench that was near the door. “You may sit there if you wish.”

  Zach took a moment to take in the rest of the room. Almost everything was made of wood — the floor, the high, beamed ceiling, the sparse furniture. He assumed the walls were, too, though they were hidden by the books. Small windows let in light, filtered through the forest foliage, but bright enough to see, now that Zach’s eyes were adjusting.

  There was a mammoth chair in the middle of the room, with a short, round table next to it, both made of rough-hewn wood. An oil lamp hung from a brass chain overhead, and in the back corner, near a rustic table and chair, was a box-shaped cast iron stove. On the rear wall was another door, with clothes and other things hanging from pegs beside it.

  Zach had the feeling that he had been transported to a cabin on the American frontier, straight out of a book that his mother had read to him when he was younger. Almost everything seemed to be handmade, but made well. The long bench was fashioned from a log split lengthways down the middle, and some bark still clung to its underside; four stout legs angled slightly outward from the ends. The top was smooth, and Zach ran his fingers over it and admired the sleek feel before sitting on it.

  His friends sat with him, Shelby on his lef
t, followed by the twins. The white-haired man dragged the big chair closer and reclined in it with his elbows on the arm rests. Zach bit his lip while he viewed the stranger up close. Even sitting down he was an imposing figure, and different, in an exotic way, with his broad, triangular face, ears that swept up in the back, white-blond hair, and enormous blue eyes that rarely blinked. The room got quiet as he riveted them with an unnerving stare.

  Now what?

  It seemed no one knew what to say, now that they were safely situated, ready to talk. Zach fought the urge to squirm and fidget like a little boy, and he glanced sideways at his friends, who wore anxious faces. Even Shelby, who’d showed audacity around the stranger before, seemed too nervous to say anything.

  Thunder cracked violently, and Zach and his friends flinched as one, but the stranger only turned his gaze to the ceiling and said, “It appears we made it just in time.”

  Torrential rain came down as if the clouds decided to drop it all at once and be done with it. Zach could see it through the windows and hear it splattering outside, though its sound was muffled overhead by the thick, vegetation-covered roof. “It will not last long,” the giant continued in his rumbling voice, “then the sun will come out again, promptly.”

  Zach took him at his word. He knows, somehow. He glanced at Shelby again, who smiled, and he guessed what she was thinking — He knows because he’s an elf and he has magic.

  It was an extraordinary scene. Zach and his friends, sitting like neighbors who’d stopped by to visit, except that they were face to face with the most unusual man they had ever met. The stranger said, “It is time for introductions.” He dipped his chin formally. “My name is Bo.”

  “Bo?” Jason’s head snapped forward as if he needed a closer look. “That’s it? That’s your real name?”

  “It is the name that I go by now. You cannot pronounce my birth name.”

  “Why?” Justin said. “Is it in a different language?”