Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Entry #56

The Move
by Helen Flatley


Six hundred men stood in a circle around the forest. Hawks flew overhead, keeping beady eyes on the proceedings. Blade drones worked underground, slicing through the pedosphere.

The sun was bright and high; it would scorch the soil left behind. This did not matter, for the weathermen had predicted that the valley would be under water within a year. And so the race had begun to transport the forest - trees, animals and all - to a safer place. It was too precious to lose.

A roar rumbled through the sky: the fleet of flat-roofed vehicles had arrived. Men stepped back to let them through, and the vehicles crept up to the edge of the trees. One by one they tilted, in order to slip the lip of the forest floor onto their roofs. One by one they inched forward, until one hundred of the mobile platforms were in that strange place betwixt tree and scarred ground. Between them, they lifted the forest completely off the earth.

The men approached again. They would guide the machines over the plains to a clearing on safer ground, where another six hundred were preparing the transplant area for its new arrival.

They did not know that the forest would not like its new home, that it would retaliate, that it would let itself die, that it would whisper, in its last moments, only two sentences, over and over: You left our soul behind. The stars are different here.

10 comments:

JRVogt said...

Intriguing. The last two lines are the most affecting, though I wonder what perspective this story is being told from.

Anonymous said...

This is different. An interesting idea. The end is surprising.

AngelConradie said...

i LIKE it!

Bernita said...

"The stars are different here" - such a cry of exile.

Hoodie said...

I really like this. That last line is awesome. I love the creativity, the soft scifi feel.

Unknown said...

This is so beautiful, haunting almost. Lovely!

Anonymous said...

This was just awesome. Reminds me of Silent Running (with Bruce Dern).

SzélsőFa said...

I like the concept of a forest, as a community, having its own soul. Beautiful last lines.

jenn said...

Wow. This piece leaves me with a mixture of emotion- profound sadness for the forest as well as the people who tried so hard to save it, surprise at the novelty of a whole community trying to save a forest, and frustration that we don't see such things in reality. Well done.

Anonymous said...

Good tight language and a clever idea. Trees may be more aware than we think.

High marks!