Woody

The story of a young stone age man suffering from mania and his fate An extract from my novel 'FULL CIRCLE' about mans journey from a stone age past to a possible stone age future!

Woody

 

 

The following morning, when the dull light of dawn finally filtered into the cave the sound of excited whispers took the place of the usual snores. There was a real sense of anticipation at the prospect of their imminent adventure across the river.  Any exhilaration was abruptly cut short when Hunter startled everyone by shouting out with real panic in his voice, “where’s Woody?”

 

All the chat immediately stopped and everyone looked around - but there was no sign of him!  Some remembered that Woody had been acting a bit furtively recently. He would disappear for long spells into the forest above, and then reappear quietly to take objects from his pouch and hide them surreptitiously under his sleeping fur.  Since the day he had come up with the idea for crossing the river, Woody had barely been able to contain his excitement and had worn everyone out with his non-stop deluge of ideas.

“What on earth is he up to this time?”  Spark said.  

“He never comes to any harm - we just have to keep an eye on him until he calms down.”   Crafty tried to reassure them.

This particular morning, however, they were all too busy getting ready for their outing across the river to go searching for Woody and in the excitement they all quickly forgot about his disappearance.  Some time later their preparations were interrupted by Lefty’s loud shout of alarm from the riverside.

“It’s Woody - he’s up there!”  Every single member of the clan stopped what they were doing and looked down at Lefty who was pointing up to the rim of the gorge, just upstream of the cave.

The tone of alarm in Lefty’s voice made them all drop what they were doing and run down to the waters edge where, without exception, they looked up at Woody in stunned amazement.

 

Late the previous evening, when the others had all been sleeping, Woody’s head had been spinning with ideas.  

‘It’s far too closed in down here,’  he thought to himself.  ‘I need space to think.  I need to be up there where I can see everything.’  Careful not to disturb the others, Woody quietly lifted the mysterious items he had been collecting from below his sleeping fur and packed them into his leather shoulder bag.  

With the moon a sliver from fullness, and still well above the rocky edge on the opposite side of the gorge, he had plenty of light to scramble up the secret path.  On one of the ledges Woody surprised a deer lying resting.  For a few precious moments the two creatures of the forest locked eyes until the deer suddenly remembered to be afraid and sprang off.  When Woody reached the top of the crag he stood up and breathed deeply of the cool night air.  The opposite rim of the gorge lay deep in charcoal shadow but further upstream a shimmering sparkle of moon-dance picked out the tumbling water. As he looked slowly around at the moonlit scene Woody soaked in each exquisite detail to the depths of his being - each shadowed tree, each icy stone, the frosted grass sparkling in the moon, the owl sitting in the fork of the tree, the deer asleep by the bush, each icy fang of mountain to the north.  He heard the deep silence of the frozen forest, broken only by the low rumble and murmur of the water.

 

Woody sat down, his legs dangling over the edge of the crag, his mind expanding.

‘This is a good place to think.  I am at the centre of it all here - the forest, the mountains, the river, the sky and all the creatures that live here.  But what does it all mean?  Has it all been here always?  We don’t have many answers but we have to ask the questions first.  How about us - are we different, are we special?  We can feel, think and understand.  Does that make us different?  Most things just seem to happen, but of all the creatures, only men are able to plan and control.  Is all of this we can see our dominion?’  Woody pondered this question deeply as he looked around.

‘It’s my thoughts turning to actions that can let me change all this.  But is there a limit - my thoughts can have no limits but can the actions follow?’  Woody’s mind flew back to the cave paintings that had so affected him, and he knew that the men that had created these images knew the link between thought and action.  He thought of his own creations on the cave wall that Wolf had seen and thought deeply about them.  As he pondered, the moon grazed the mountains and as it slid steadily from view the darkness swallowed the mountains and forest.  The stars which had played court to the brilliance of the moon now blazed in their own undiminished splendour.  The shimmering haze of countless stars lit the sky with the great arch of milky brightness dividing the sky.  Woody lay back and gazed up at the sky mesmerised.  

As he watched, his awareness of time slowed, and he became one with the earth as the vast cosmic display circled around above him.  All at once the truth blazed into his mind - the sky was the Great Spirit home to which they would all return.  Suddenly, as if the Great Spirit was delivering a personal sign of the truth that Woody’s mind had just reached, a blinding trail of fire burst across the sky.  The image of his creations on the cave wall immediately flooded his mind.  ‘Of course!  I had the idea.  I created it on the wall and now I can turn the thought into action.  I don’t have to wait to return to the Great Spirit - I can choose to go when I want.’

Woody’s demented and fevered mind had now reached the point when thought was indeed turning to action, and he started collecting some long thin branches from the nearby trees.  He carefully unpacked his secret collection from the pack and worked quickly using all of his considerable skills.  By the time he was finished the morning light was growing steadily and Woody carefully arranged his creation.  

‘Not long now!’  Woody stood on the lip of the crag and again stilled his thoughts until he ‘became’ one with all around him.  His empty mind became as calm water, reflecting grass, crag, mountain, tree and sky until a glance of sun illuminated his face. Woody felt the breeze on his face.  The Great Spirit called to him.  He took a step forward and he ‘flew’.

 

“What on earth?”  Dreamer looked up at her brother Woody in horror.  He was standing right on the edge of the vertical cliff with an incredible construction attached to his back and arms.  His arms were stretched out but somehow transmuted into what looked like wings covered with feathers.  In spite of their shouts, Woody gazed unflinching in the direction of the imminent sunrise.  They could see the first kiss of the sun on the treetop behind Woody and watched it slowly slide down until it lit his face.  Later, some of them swore that they had seen him smile before he leaned forward and leapt.  For a moment of disbelief at what they were witnessing they looked up transfixed as Woody’s tragic figure swooped in a moment of glorious flight. Then he dropped like a stone, to crash shattered at the foot of the crag.

For a few moments there was stunned silence.

Then, unexpectedly, Wolf laughed.

“My poor brother!  What a way to go!  One thing is certain - they’ll remember him in the sagas long after we’re all forgotten.”

There was nothing they could do, nothing they could say.  All the impending excitement of their trip across to the far bank disappeared as dust through their fingers and they spent the rest of the day in mourning around the cave.  Later, Wolf and Hunter retrieved Woody’s shattered body and before the sun went down the clan gathered to lay him on his small funeral bier.  Storyteller folded her son’s arms about the broken wings and they slipped the raft into the river.  They watched as the current caught the raft and carried it rapidly downriver to disappear moments later.

“He’s going where he wanted now anyway - back to the Great Spirit.  At least he’ll be at rest now. We all know that Woody was troubled much of the time but he could see things that none of the rest of us could.”  Wolf spoke for them all.  “We’ll make our visit across the river tomorrow.  I know we will all be thinking about Woody for some time but we just have to get on with life.”     

Reviews

[raven]

this was incredible. the flow is peaceful and natural, but at the same time passionate and rich. it has such a beautiful style. but on top of this all, the subject is just mesmerizing. it is so deep on a philosophical level. i love to see it that he was the one to really understand this universe, and that is the absurd. great work as always!

[alanwgraham]

Thanks very much. This is one chapter of a novel I wrote a few years ago called full circle. Woody is one chapter based on how I feel myself when I feel manic every few years- thankfully not quite that manic!
All the best with your own writing,
Alan

[Kathy Van Kurin]

'Woody'
alanwgraham'
Quite a story! The beauty in this one swirls with descriptive elements. Words which give reality to the environment and surroundings of your characters. I just enjoyed your position of Woody's thoughts playing with the beauty of life and creation. I felt the inner workings of the mind of your character. It was really fun! Of course I wish that that his flying experiment would of been a success. That part was not fun at all. So I wish you continued inspiration and good things in your life.
Bless you much,
Kathy

[barleygirl]

I wanted to read this, after reading your other piece about the cliff-jumper . . . I'm beginning to wonder if this isn't a recurring theme in your own personal imaginations. Your writing here is very well done with great descriptions written in original ways. There will be tiny little alterations such as the moon being just a shade off full, which separates your imagery from the typical ten thousand descriptions of full moons. I also like the way you brought in Great Spirit which gives your story a sense of victory, instead of failure. I think some of the best inventions & art have been conceived by people who are half out of their minds for one reason or another.

[alanwgraham]

Thanks for your review, M. The real life story of the jumper came from a friend who told me that there was a high correlation between top climbers and various conditions such as OCD, Bipolar andeating disorders and also a high incidence of suicide. In my book I wanted to use my own experience of BP and develop the idea the the creative urge released during mania may have been a driving force in mankinds development (Einstein, Newton etc). While I've never had any suicidal thoughts I have used my own experience of the 'quickening' of thoughts during mania and combined it with the story of this poor climber.
Thanks again,
Alan

[Usman Muhammad]

Excellent story. First of all i would like to praise your writing skill, as soon as i started reading story i came to realize that you are a great artist when it comes to the use of words like (The following morning when the dull light of dawn finally filtered into the cave the sound of excited whispers took the place of the usual snores.)now in this line [finally filtered into the cave] i was amazed to read the way you described an ordinary scene in a different and beautiful way. Next thing is your constant use of Thought and action fits the story you were writing and i liked it very much. In the end i feel sorry for this poor fella "Woody".... very sorry .
Once again well done Sir
Regards
Usman

[alanwgraham]

Thanks. This one chapter from my novel called 'full circle' by Alan w Graham that you can get on Amazon. I am planning to put a few more chapters on here. It is about the past present and future of mankind.
Thanks again,
Alan

[Will Neill]

Woody, I never chose the stories featured preferring to look at some of the first posted. I enjoyed this story, it was steady and had good characters. Well done.
Will

[alanwgraham]

What about?
Woody- He took a step forward........

Funeral bier?? or pyre??

A worthwhile snapshot of the longer version!

[Rell E. Tyrots]

I like this piece; it is a very nice story, and very well told. The story flows and the transitions between its parts are natural. The language is very good as well, natural yet diverse. The descriptions of the surroundings are vivid. The part of the inner-thoughts of Woody is the essence of this piece, and you wrote it well. Also, it is worth metioning that the structure of the story is very good, and the way you connected Woody's point of view to that of his family/friends is fantastic. All in all, well done.

One thing that I think needs some revision is the punctuation. The wording is excellent, the structure is excellent, but the punctuation is, at times, nonexistent. I'll give you some exapmles:
- "The following morning when the dull light of dawn finally filtered into the cave the sound of excited whispers took the place of the usual snores." I think that some commas would help, like so: "The following morning, when the dull light of dawn finally filtered into the cave, the sound of excited whispers took the place of the usual snores." Again, great wording.
- "Since the day he had come up with the idea for crossing the river Woody had barely been able to contain his excitement and had worn everyone out with his non-stop deluge of ideas." Again, commas, em dashes, whatever, just splice it: "Since the day he had come up with the idea for crossing the river, Woody had barely been able to contain his excitement, and had worn everyone out with his non-stop deluge of ideas."

It is worth mentioning that you do punctuate well mostly, but there are some little things like these, that in my opinion turn the story much more readable. Just go through it and see if there are places where you think there should be some sort of a stop (comma, semicolon, em dash, period). You can also just cut sentences altogether and devide a long sentence into two shorter ones, if you prefer that.

Another thing, more storywise, is that I am not certain that the last sentence of the 'Woody' part is really necessary: "He took a step forward and he ‘flew’." I mean, I see what you wanted to do there, but the story isn't finished after that sentence. Then you, kind of, go back in time to before he jumped again, which somewhat disrupts the flow of the story. Maybe removing it would be a good idea. Read the transition without it, I think is flows better.
On the other hand, it is kind of crucial to see it from his point of view, so I'd completely understand if you choose to keep it. I'll leave the choice to you.

But those points are pretty minor, and I mean well by pointing them out. Overall, great story, great imagery, great storytelling. Continue writing!

[alanwgraham]

Thanks Rell. I really appreciate these very full comments and I feel that your suggestions on simplifying the writing by the use of punctuation and reducing sentences are good. It is something I do attempt to do but don't always achieve. Stick in with your own writing.
Thanks again. Alan

[alanwgraham]

Thanks Rell. I really appreciate these very full comments and I feel that your suggestions on simplifying the writing by the use of punctuation and reducing sentences are good. It is something I do attempt to do but don't always achieve. Stick in with your own writing.
Thanks again. Alan