For Random Learning Comes: Essays Fiction and Poetry by Andrea LeDew

For Random Learning Comes

For Random Learning Comes: Essays Fiction and Poetry by Andrea LeDew

A variety of slightly wilted Dutch striped tulips in a mason jar full of water in the sheltered portico at Great Dixter, overlooking roofs and hedges. Copyright Andrea LeDew.

Wild

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Coniston Water, Lake District, England © Google Maps

{This is my response to a prompt from What Pegman Saw, a Google-Maps-inspired challenge of 150 words. }

I sat, high on my wooden branch perch, counting sheep.

This was my routine.  The woods were cool that day, but dry.  My tent was well-hidden. I had a canopy of branches above my head and a carpet of ferns at my feet.  I smelled like the earth.  What more could a man want?

In a few hours, the nibbling sheep would have gone back home, to their pre-packaged kibble and slimy water basins.  No one subsisted from Nature anymore, not even the animals.

Round about now, there would be cheese down on the farm.  The presses would be done dripping, and the fresh taste would have turned sharp and robust.  Surely, they would not miss a single wheel.

I checked again to make sure the modern-day shepherd, with his pretentious tweed coat and precious pipe, had settled down for a snooze.  Then I knew it was safe to go.

For Random Learning Comes

Writings of Andrea LeDew

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For Random Learning Comes

Writings of Andrea LeDew

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  3. Kelvin M. Knight's blog

    Hey Andrea – I wonder what he had done… is going to do… maybe steal the modern-day sheepherder’s quad bike?! He has a wonderful knowledge of the land and it’s processes, though, so I wonder if revenge is not his motive… whatsoever he is going to do…

    The sense of place was strong, but maybe a tiny bit too strong, as if it were for you rather than your character and reader?

    Reply

    • Andrea LeDew

      Good question Kelvin. I guess I left his intentions open-ended, although you could infer that he is going to take the cheese. This could be an opportunity for surprise, if he actually does something unexpected!

      He does sound a little snippy, talking about the shepherd, so perhaps they have a history and he is plotting revenge.

      Thank you for the comments about the scene overwhelming the story. I think I was channeling Minnesota or the German woods, which both have the same temperate forest feel. Here in Florida the woods look much different. Sorry if it diminished the story–I’ll try to be alert to this potential flaw in the future. Much appreciated!

    • Andrea LeDew

      Sorry to post my reply to your comment twice Kelvin. I lost it on my comment page and thought the computer had eaten it, only to find it published!

  4. Alicia Jamtaas

    He seems to take his time ~ counting sheep, waiting for the shepherd to settle down for a snooze, and simply enjoying his day ~ before going out to collect necessities of life.

    Reply

    • Andrea LeDew

      Yes somewhat idyllic, don’t you think, for him anyway. As long as you don’t mind smelling like the earth and risking jail, that is.

    • Andrea LeDew

      Good question about counting, Penny. I do not resolve that mystery in this, do I? I guess I just imagined that, living in the woods as a hobo, more or less, he had developed routines to keep him occupied in the long hours between meals and tramps through the woods. Maybe it comes from my experiences living with a kid with autism, the concept, that routines can be an end in themselves.

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