INNEREAL ADVENTURES - ONE

THE LITTLE MAN

THE LITTLE MAN

It always took a period of time for Byron to get into the woods. (And by that I mean for him to listen to his heart and to the wind, and to feel the warmth of the sun and to take in the smell of the air to determine what the day was bringing to him. This particular day turned out to be the greatest adventure of his life up to that point and may very well never be topped.)

The adventure began when Byron suddenly heard a slight rustling sound near the base of Old Oaken. He was sitting on the opposite side of the tree when he heard it, so he got on all fours and crawled around to where the rustling sound was coming from. He was surprised that, after all of the time that he had spent there in his favorite spot, and also considering the level of intimacy that he had developed with Old Oaken, he had never before noticed this particular area at its base that somewhat resembled a small doorway. As he examined it more carefully, he discovered that it was like the entrance to a small wooden cottage. (Byron really did know every nook and cranny in Old Oaken. He had climbed and explored it for years and had many an adventure around its broad gnarled trunk and twisted roots and glorious sprawling branches.)

As Byron began to explore the door further, he pulled away some spongy green moss and several dried up leaves and a few old rotted acorns to reveal what clearly and shockingly was indeed an old wooden door. It was quite small, though, only about ten inches high. (Possibly why he hadn’t noticed it before.)

Two brass hinges were visible on the left of it and the brass knob on the right side was lovely with intricate little carvings in it. The shape of the door came to a rounded point at the top and there was a small round window, presumably at eye level, for whoever might go in and out of this small door.

As Byron cleared away more of the debris, he noticed that a narrow root had grown across the door making it obviously quite impossible to open. So, he reached into his pocket and took out his pocketknife and began to cut away at the small root.

Just as Byron was making some headway at one end of the root, he was startled by a stern voice behind him, “What on earth are you doing?”

Byron turned around quickly and found himself in the presence of the most amazing little man that he had ever seen or even ever imagined. It was one of those moments of pure excitement and astonishment and wonder with a bit of fear and trepidation mixed in.

[“What is trepanation, Daddy?” came the question from the back seat. “That is a good question,” said I. “I’m not exactly sure, but it always seems to get paired with fear, so I think it just means scared and cautious.” “Keep going, Dad,” said the child in the seat next to mine.]

The little man was quite splendid in appearance. He was just the right height to go in and out of the door, of course. But, Byron was most enamored by his exquisite clothing.

[“Daddy, what’s exquis… ?” “Shoush!” “It’s Ok,” said I to the one in the seat next to mine. That’s how you learned all of the big words, too. Anyway, I’ll just say that exquisite in this case means cleverly and quaintly made out of different types of forest materials, such as, bark and moss and leaves and twigs and spider webs.]

The little man’s hat was obviously an acorn top, but it was well crafted with a brim made out of the underside of some soft leaf and a band around it of woven spider webs with a small Blue Jay feather neatly tucked into the right side of it. The shirt was amber linen, which was covered with a vest of what looked like wisteria seedpods hammered into a soft pliable material. The trousers were crafted from the shiny black insides of black walnut husks and the shoes, well… they were a bit too small to determine what they might be made of. (Byron would find out later that it would have been impossible for him to know what the material was, since it was not of this particular world.)

“What have you done to my lovely carpeting?” said the little man.

“What?” asked Byron.

“My carpeting! There, my carpeting. You thrashed my lovely carpeting!” said the little man, distressed.

“Oh,” said Byron, as he picked up the green moss that he had pulled away from the entrance of the door and started to tuck it back from where he had removed it.

“No, no, no! It’s ruined now,” said the little man. “Oh, what a shame. All those years of grooming and manicuring, dashed away with one fell swoop.”

“I am so very sorry, sir,” apologized Byron.Then the little man took a deep breath and gave a slight shrug of his shoulders looked up at Byron, and said, “Jacobis.”