Once Again (29 page)

Right onto my butt.

And even through several layers of clothes
and a heavy coat, the ground was wet and cold against my
backside.

Great.

But it got worse.

Staring down at me was the dumb jock football
star, at whose feet all of Sky Cove Senior High worshipped.

Todd Miller.

“Uh, Sorry,” he said, but did nothing to help
me up.

Like I needed his help.

I pushed up, gaining my feet without slipping
again on the ice. The stupid moron just stood there looking at
me.

“Watch where you’re going,” I snapped, and
walked inside, leaving him standing there in the cold.

Twenty minutes later, I emerged from the
store, a large bag of paint, wood, and other supplies dangling from
one arm. A glance toward the near-empty parking lot told me that
Todd Miller and his big, stupid truck were long gone.

Thank God for small favors.

At home, I went straight to work in my
studio. I’d developed an idea for a shadow-box display of small
wooden carvings depicting Maine wildlife. Getting accepted to
college wasn’t the problem for me, but paying for it would be. I
had high hopes that I could pick up some scholarship money in the
Coastal Maine Artists Guild student art competition.

Inspiration came quickly and pretty soon my
hands took over, each subtractive action of my carving knife and
V-tool bringing the figure further to life. The grain of the scrap
maple hardwood Mr. Pierce had given me gave extra dimension to the
little animal taking shape in my hands.

I wasn’t sure how long I worked, but when I
finished, I sat the small red fox on the table and leaned back to
look.

And smiled.

It was so life like, so playful. As if I’d
somehow captured its personality.

If I could create more like this, maybe a
bear and a moose, the display would be spectacular.

My gaze narrowed, and my peripheral vision
seemed to fall away, leaving only a small tunnel of sight that was
trained on the small fox figurine. I wanted to blink, to shake my
head and make my eyesight return to normal, but I could not take my
eyes off the fox.

Then I wasn’t looking at the figure anymore.
In front of my eyes I saw what could only be the floor of a forest.
Snow covered the ground, dotted with fallen leaves and twigs. Tree
branches moved and creaked with the wind.

The forest was dark, as if I were seeing it
exactly the way it would look at this precise moment, and all
around me I heard the organic silence of the woods.

My heartbeat picked up and my breathing
became rapid as fear surged through me. Fear of what I had no clue
- the scene in front of me was benign enough – but I felt it
nonetheless.

Lost. I felt lost. Completely enveloped in
the unknown. Suffocated by the lack of reality.

What in the world was happening?

The sight of the forest was not unfamiliar,
but somehow it felt totally foreign to me and I wanted desperately
to escape.

The front door opened, and I heard my dad
call my name. I blinked away the fog.

And I was looking at my tiny red fox
again.

Crazy.