Slingshot

By Jim Bates

He was quiet that fall. Withdrawn. He’d started classes in a new grade at a new school. Old friends were drifting away. He couldn’t help it, but he felt sad much of the time. He didn’t know why.

He took to walking in the nearby woods after school. He found, surprisingly, that he liked the feeling of aloneness, of being by himself with his thoughts, mulling things over and thinking about life.

One day on a whim he whittled a slingshot. Why did he do such a thing? He had no idea but he was just compelled to do it. Using his pocket knife he carved on a “Y” shaped branch from a young hackberry sapling until the wood glistened. He added stout rubber bands and a leather pouch to hold the projectiles he would shoot. He chose acorns, not dangerous steel bb’s like a serious hunter would. He didn’t really want to hurt anything. And he didn’t. He missed every time. 

But being in the forest with an unfamiliar mind and mulling over what may lay ahead in his life, being out there with the safe wildlife in the peace and quiet of the woods was a good place to be. It was exactly what he needed during those months, roaming those secure tree-lined paths. Not sure where life was taking him, but for a time he was comfortable right there in the forest. Right there discovering that even though he was by himself, he really wasn’t lonely anymore.

Jim lives in a small town twenty miles west of Minneapolis, Minnesota. His stories have appeared online in CafeLit, The Writers’ Cafe Magazine, Cabinet of Heed, Paragraph Planet, Nailpolish Stories, Ariel Chart, Potato Soup Journal, Literary Yard, Spillwords and The Drabble, and in print publications: A Million Ways, Mused Literary Journal, Gleam Flash Fiction Anthology #2 and The Best of CafeLit 8. You can also check out his blog to see more: www.theviewfromlonglake.wordpress.com.