A Walk in the Woods

You know that warm sultry time of late summer. Time seems to slow down on those hot sunny days when everything you do seems to take twice as long and, frankly, you don’t care either. The sheer abundant luxuriance of this time invites a kind of laziness that has as much to do with conserving energy as anything else. Eddie was feeling like that right now. He had come out for a walk as a diversion and for some exercise. A favourite wooded walk was his choice. It was a favourite because it combined everything he liked about walking. It combined woody glades with open fields and views over a fair distance. It was that perfect combination of woodland that draped itself languorously over a hill with fingers that held the hillside like a huge green hand.

Eddie liked walking. It was his favourite exercise in that it provided variety and allowed his thoughts to wander as well as views to peruse. He could disappear into his imagination and then reappear at will as and when the mood took him and the outside world distracted or interested him. It made him feel good about himself too. He could feel the muscles working. It calmed him. He was not a calm man. Outwardly easy going, inwardly, his mind was a cauldron of perceived slights, over sensitive reactions to other people’s behaviour both positive and negative. His emotions were not grey at all. He presented a façade of affable calm but spent his time within his imagination careering through a world of vividly coloured passion. He enjoyed it for most of the time but there were those times when it just got a bit too much and he would resort to dulling the intensity with drink or, a better option, a walk. He drank more during the bad weather. He was a fair weather walker.

Unlike many walkers he did not have all the gear. Not for him the proper walking socks, rucksack, pants and the rest. He did have good footwear and a decent rainproof jacket with a hood. But that was it. This was unusual for Eddie as his other hobbies and interests tended to bring out that tendency of all men, a tendency to spend money on toys associated with the hobby.

Today was an almost ideal kind of day for such a walk. By almost let’s just say that it was a little too warm to get a really good stride in. That gave him more time to linger over the walk itself. The paths were good and he could take various loops of various lengths depending on mood, time and inclination. Today he had the time so he took the longest loop that carried him around the perimeter of the wood and just cut across a finger or two that hugged the sides of the hill. It was about seven miles which was a comfortable distance that did not intrude on the whole day or tire him too much but did allow him the luxury of feeling that he had had a good work out. It represented, to him, the perfect balance of exercise and enjoyment. The only thing it didn’t have was a pond or a decent river to walk by, although it did have a small stream that scurried down.

He wandered along the meandering path with the comfort of trees to his right and a view down a gentle green ravine towards more low hills on the other side of a patchwork valley of fields, farms and a small settlement. As he rounded the head of the ravine the path entered the wood and a cooler stretch washed in a greenish hue. He loved this section of the path; the exhilaration of the open view giving way to the cool green mystery of the wood. It was like a door into another world; the branches swaying at either side of the path like arms beckoning him in. Through he went, enjoying the cooler air that caressed him almost seductively. Further ahead and higher up the wood cleared a little, opening up into a glade that had some picnic table and benches. There was also a very old oak that he had found to be the perfect place to sit with his back resting on its comforting trunk. He’d sit there to have some sandwiches sometimes. Today he had only brought water and a chocolate bar. He still fancied a rest though, not because he was tired but because it enhanced and lengthened the whole experience of his walk. A break gave a depth to the walk, a sort of before and after that would allow him to have different memories of the different parts of his walk. If he stayed long enough the second part of his amble out would often take on a completely different mood. The light would sometimes change, clouds would appear; even rain. He liked that.

He sat down and had a swig of his water. Where he sat was pleasantly shielded from the glare of the sun. It was comfortable too, with the tree trunk sloping as though contoured to his body. A couple of young women passed by in a babble of feminine chitter-chatter. Unlike him they didn’t seem interested in their surroundings, or him, but were engrossed in whatever it was they were talking about. They barely gave him a glance. He wasn’t bothered. Funny, that, he thought. Eddie didn’t want conversation or, indeed, any human interaction here. He wanted to observe, to experience, to feel, to fantasise and to stay in his own head whilst using his surroundings as stimuli. He could watch and absorb the warmth at a distance whilst he drifted in and out of his own thoughts and dreams. As he bit into his chocolate bar he allowed his eyes to wander over to a patch of brightness that picked out some small flies buzzing around in a seemingly aimless fuzzy whirl. The daydreams became more surreal as his subconscious started to make itself felt. He was going to doze and he knew it. He welcomed it. It was all part of the experience.
It seemed a long time before the dozing lifted. In fact it hadn’t been a doze, more a full blown crash out, he thought. The sunlight had faded a little and this told him that the day had moved on. Automatically he looked at his watch. It wasn’t there. Vaguely puzzled, he looked at the ground where his arm had rested. It wasn’t there either but as he did so he became aware that something was on his head. It was a hat. A hat for chrissake. Pulling it down to see it he saw that it looked like those old-fashioned deerstalkers but without the flaps. What the fuck was this? Had some kids stuck it on his head while he was sleeping?

By now he was fully awake and starting to become uncomfortably aware of other things. He smelt. It was him too. He smelt sweaty, not unclean, just an earthy sweaty smell of someone who had not showered or bathed for a couple of days. Then he noticed his feet. Instead of the walking boots that he had put on they were encased in well-worn brown leather laced up affairs. He didn’t own anything like that. His eyes ran up his legs in puzzled bemusement as he realized that all his clothing was different from what he had set out in. His trousers were a thick brown woolly type that ended at his knees from where thick green woollen socks ran down to these brown leather ankle boots. His jacket was brown too and more like a conventional thing worn to the office but with more pockets and made of a thick tweedy type of material. Everything seemed so substantial and, well, heavy.

Eddie was wide-awake now. He sprang to his feet and examined his newfound clothing with the scrutiny and interest of a young boy who has discovered his penis. He was agog. What on earth had lead to all of this? Was it some enormous practical joke? He was standing now and for the first time noticed the tree he had been resting against. It was different. It was ever so slightly smaller. He shuddered at that. Eddie turned to the path. That was different too. Where there had been a path of compacted grit there was now a track of beaten earth. When Eddie realised that the picnic benches weren’t there he shivered.

Voices in the wood provided respite to his jumbled thoughts. He looked at the source of them as they entered the clearing he was in. Two young women again. Only this time they were dressed in something that looked like it should have come from a historical drama. Long dark skirts with tight bodices and all topped by little hats that reminded him of those very old films of late Victorian times. They sported small parasols too. These two were different in another way. They looked over to him as though expecting something. Without thinking he doffed his hat and smiled. It seemed appropriate, although he didn’t have time to give it much thought. They smiled and nodded and walked on.

Eddie just stood there completely nonplussed as to what had happened. He felt warm too. The clothes he was wearing were heavy and not what he was used to. Was this some great practical joke? The best way to get to the bottom of this was to walk back to his car. That would give him a reference point although he doubted it. The change to the tree and the paths unnerved him. No practical joker could do that.

He woke with a start. His heart was pounding. Quickly he ran his hands over his head and body and to his intense relief the hat and the heavy clothing had disappeared; a dream with a dream. Getting up he stamped his feet and patted the tree as though to reassure himself that he wasn’t still dreaming. It was time to get back to his car he thought and didn’t so much walk as march back to it. Eddie wanted to be in as much contact with the modern world as he possibly could. As he walked back he pondered on what had happened, remembering that the woods did have a history, a history of murder that he would have to look up when he got back.