When You’re in the Mood for a Story
- about -
A Hidden Graveyard
Jonathan Jonkerton, or Jon-Jon as his neighbors called him, was out walking in the forest with his father and two sisters. It was his father’s weekend, and Jon-Jon had known, even before he got out of bed, that the day would involve a nature walk—his father was obsessed with them. And, as much as his sisters complained about the mosquitos and having to evade racoon scat (they were teenagers, after all), Jon-Jon didn’t mind the rambles through the woods. He liked the spongy feeling of moss and pine needles under his feet. He enjoyed the feeling of smooth bark rubbed raw by a beaver’s teeth. He savored the smell of fir trees and dew that simultaneously made him want to scramble up a sand dune and take a nap on top of a boulder all at the same time. Most of all, Jon-Jon loved feeling his father’s heartbeat through his palm as he held Jon-Jon’s hand; and hearing his father’s deep, rich laughter echo off the trunks of the trees.
It was a drippy kind of forest. The kind with moss dangling from trees—almost seeming to lazily wave at you as the breeze flew through them. Today was the first day that you could almost smell frost on the horizon. The crimson leaves had already fallen, creating a red carpet along the nature path. Soon the orange leaves would follow, then the gold. It was an enchanted kind of forest—the kind that made you feel like maybe you needed to whisper, or if not whisper, at least pay attention.
“Eew! Dad! There’s something in my ha-ir!” screeched Julia, Jon-Jon’s oldest sister.
Dad let go of Jon-Jon’s hand and bounded up the path to where Julia stood, frozen. “Stand still, Jelly Belly—let me see. Oh! No worries. It’s just a spiderweb.”
To Julia, there was no such thing as “just” a spiderweb. She screamed and waved her hands in the air. “Get-it-out! Get-it-out! Get-it-ouuuuut!!!” she howled.
Jemma, Jon-Jon’s other sister, giggled and pulled out her phone, recording the whole business. Julia looked up, her eyes steaming with anger.
“Delete that. Right. Now!”
Julia lurched at Jemma, who ran away, holding her phone over her head, taunting her sister’s short stature.
The two girls tussled loudly, and Jon-Jon stood there in fascination. His sisters weren’t stupid people. Julia was in college-level classes for math—in fact, she already had a full-ride scholarship to her dream university for next fall. And Jemma could kick the snot out of anybody on the school’s basketball team—she was a fierce competitor and had made captain even as a junior. And yet, in the backdrop of nature, they seemed to revert to toddlers. And, while Jon-Jon found it highly entertaining, it was also completely shattering to the surrounding environment. This forest was special. It deserved better.
“Ladies, let’s calm down,” Jon-Jon’s father said.
The girls ignored him, still playing their antagonistic game of Keep Away/Capture the Phone. Jon-Jon noticed them not notice a large root snaking through the middle of the pathway.
“Hey, be careful of that—” he started to warn them, but then stared in horror as Jemma, in seemingly slow-motion, tripped on the root, twisted, and tumbled backwards with Julia close behind, also toppling over. Like a pair of clumsy dominos.