The Woman and The Bear
There is a Woman who lives deep in the woods, on a hill crowded by trees. She’s lived there for years, ten by now at least, in a house made of sticks and stones, draped in moss like a blanket fort. She moved there with her husband and they lived off the land, in isolation, give or take a few tools and ancient cans of beans. The Woman’s most precious and essential contribution to the home was her garden, a lush and diverse selection of herbs and vegetables that sustained both her hunger and restless mind. Her hands were always dirty, her stomach always full. In the early days, small animals would nibble at the garden, teasing The Woman with their scavenging expertise and obvious possession of the land. The Woman was sad when the animals ravaged her hard work, so one day her husband set traps a few meters into the brush on the perimeter of the garden. That night, they heard screeching noises coming from the direction of the traps and the man ran off into the night to check on them. Once he slipped into the darkness, he was gone.
