A Path Less Travelled (400 words)

My prompt this week over at https://moreoddsthanends.home.blog/2020/04/15/week-16-of-odd-prompts/ was a picture. It's been a busy week, but... I sat down and did a little freewriting, and ... here it is. I hope you enjoy this little walk in the woods.
 

A Path Less Travelled (400 words)

By Mike Barker

He glanced around, wondering. The path still wound back and forth through the woods, as he remembered, but... where was the giant tree, the one where they built a fort out of bits and pieces of wood they had found up, way up in a fork between the trunk and a big branch? It was such a big tree.

Oh. Maybe that was it, on the ground, in pieces? 

The birches, yes, he remembered those. But they weren’t so thick back then, were they? No one was peeling these for birch bark sheets to use for treasure maps and other fun? Someone should.

He wondered if the turtles and frogs still came out when it rained. They used to play with them, trying to catch the frogs barehanded, and teasing the turtles as they lumbered along.

He walked a few more steps, wincing at the pain in his knees. Darn it, he used to run through these woods, and now he could just barely shamble. Still, he was going to see if the tree he had scratched his initials in was still there. Let’s see, you could just see the edge of the field where they played baseball from it, so... it must be around here somewhere. If he had scratched the initials in when he was... well, about this high, where would they be? Surely the tree must have grown up since then, right?

Oh, wait! Wasn't there a sassafras tree somewhere in here? Sure. He could dig up some roots and make some tea later. He started looking for those mitten-shaped leaves, then blinked and stood still. He remembered... Uncle Bill, showing him how to find sassafras, and brew tea from the roots. Uncle Bill had loved walking in the woods, showing him some of the wonder that you could find there. But... but he was dead now, for years. Still, remembering him, he felt his eyes brim with tears, and blinked hard. Took a deep breath, and blinked again.

The woods were full of wonder, as he looked around. He knew it was just a small section, left untouched mostly because it wasn't worth developing, but still... these trees held hope and dreams and memories in their branches, just waiting for the right person to walk into their enchanted shade and look around.

So he took the path less traveled and laughed in the sunshine, one more time.

The End