Search This Blog

Wednesday, November 28, 2018

A short story from Fables of Good Will


A man was walking down the street one day. It was a small, quiet town. He was caught up in his thoughts as he kicked a few pebbles beneath his feet. When he passed the little well by the village gate, he began to hear a gentle whimper. The nearer he got, the whimper grew into a cry and the cry, into a yell. He came close to the well and looking down into its depths, he could not see anything. When he raised his voice, calling into the well, the response came immediately. It was a weakened yelp. The man could not see. A dog? A calf? He quickly rushed back to the town and gathered a number of others who could help. And quickly gathering some supplies, a ladder, a basket and a rope, they rushed back to the well. The man called back and received a response. The response this time was weak and even more frightened than it had been. The group gathered around the well could hear the splashing of the water as the animal struggled. Slowly, then and cautiously, the man, aided by the others, lowered the basket, which they had hastily but efficiently tied to the rope. When the rope on the basket stopped descending, they heard an excited cry and suddenly, it grew taut. The group, quickly lifted the rope to the top of the well. What they saw when the basket came in sight surprised them. It was a child! He was panting and crying now. When the basket had been completely hoisted out of the well, the group placed it on the ground. The child, no more than five years old had clearly been terrified. When he surveyed the group, he burst out in tears and held out his arms. The man lifted him up and held him, stroking the back of his head. That moment, the group started to hear other shouts. This time from the village. After a couple of minutes, a woman came running up the hill to the group. She saw her child and rushed to the man who handed him to her. She didn’t know what had happened. The group collected their tools and dispersed. The man stood at the well for a moment, watching the mother as she carried the child down the hill. The child was weeping still but through his tears and over his mother’s shoulder, he looked up to the man, standing on the hill and smiled warmly to him.
This is the first short story in my collection of short stories called Fables of Good Will.

No comments:

Post a Comment