Weird story, right? Was the woman some kind of witch, or princess under an enchantment? What finally got into the bones of the old man to take to the forest that day?
What I like about the story is that, short as it is, it doesn’t accommodate such questions. Instead, it invites you to practice what a Disney animator friend of mine calls confusion tolerance. Part of that is knowing that sometimes you have to ask different questions.
For me, the story has a lot of time imagery to it. An old man getting older. A deadline that coincides with the shift between maximum potential to waning energies. And strange prognostications about the future told from nature’s perspective. The story reminds me of what I find myself remembering each time I spend a serious stint out in the woods: modern life has put us into orbit. We’re going a million miles an hour standing still.
