She slid down the felled tree. This time last year, the tree grew wide and tall near the Crack in the Earth. This year El climbed down its trunk into the depths, holding the remains of branches, praying they would not snap at their bases.
A tunnel of green light beckoned her at the bottom. The rocks were sharp. There was a long deep pool of water at the base of the tree .
Briefly she saw a black wolf. The wolf reappeared and circled her again. She wanted to flee. Fear of a confrontation gripped her. The Oak she climbed down to get her was slick and steep with few branches to get handholds on. The wolf would be on her before she could ascend, she would be crazy off balance. And everybody knows you can’t run from a dog. Which has a wolf deep inside somewhere.
El stood still and looked at the wolf.
The Wolf growled. Then he sat. He looked all the world like a friendly dog, as if she could walk to him and pet his head. Then the wolf had her son’s face. He called to her, moaning. “Please let me come to you.”
She wanted to go to him, to comfort and allow him the love which is everyone’s birthright. His face, burning earnestly, “I need food, money, medical help. I am homeless.”
He leapt up and instantly was right beside her snarling, “Please help me, please help me”.
El’s heart beat wildly in her chest, burning. Sobs racked her. Her urge to flee was almost uncontainable. She was terrified. Her son’s face begged her in a wolf’s snarling body. The snarling did not abate. She wanted to slip back up the tree, through the woods and slam her door. And somehow, she found herself gone, absent. In her bed.
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