When I retired 31 years ago, I decided to try writing some of my life experience to leave to my children and grandchildren. This is the first one I wrote. Since then, I have continued writing on an off and on basis, but branched more toward fiction often based on true events.
So, thought I'd post this first story to find out if it is worth while to post others now and then. Anyway, for what it is worth, here it is. This is a true story.
Approximately 746 words
Copyright 1990
When I was a red haired, freckled faced preteen boy, I was lucky that I had a very special place that had very special powers and this place was mine and mine alone. These special powers were pure magic, far more powerful than any magician’s or wizard’s. I think I am the only person in the world who knew about these powers and I knew exactly where they were and how to use them. Other people have seen this place because it was in plain sight but it seemed that no one took any special notice or if they did, had no idea what they were seeing. If anyone really did look at all, probably all they saw was a bunch of old pale gray rocks, each sort of a roundish shape ranging in size from about two to six feet in diameter. Their edges and corners were worn super smooth, I suppose from eons of weathering.
I don’t think anyone cared about those ageless rocks, actually boulders to me, or even gave then any thought. They seemed to be just kind of dumped in a scattered manner and forgotten; perhaps they were cleared from the farm land by a pioneering farmer. They were in one corner of a grove of tall Maple trees on an obscure farm where I grew up. Just how, when, or why these magnificent boulders got there I do not know, nor does it make any difference; they were there and I knew it and I knew what they could do.
To accept things at face value, just as they were, without asking how or why was all I needed to discover and use the power in those big smooth friendly boulders. As a small boy with a super colossal imagination, I found that by sitting real tight against one of those cool boulders, the magic power would flow right into my body. When I was sad or hurting this power gave me comfort and strength to cope. When I was happy this power made me feel so strong that I could leap from the mountain top of one huge boulder to the far mountain top of the next. I could literally fly through the air. It would be too hard for people to believe such a little kid could fly so I didn’t talk about it to others.
The boulder field was not part of this world. How could it be? It was another world all to itself; a different, wonderful, and fantastic world. It was a world bigger than the Maple grove, bigger than the farm, and maybe bigger than the whole county. I never knew exactly how big my private world was because there was just too much for one small boy to explore.
I do know it was a world where boulders would transform themselves into buildings of a mighty city with twisting narrow streets and secret passage ways that no one else could travel. Many times I used these passage ways as a safe haven from stampeding bulls that had their hearts set on trampling me to death. Those bulls were at least eight feet tall and had long sharp pointy horns and fire red eyes; they drooled and snorted as they thundered past me. I watched them from the safety of my secret hiding place and sometimes I’d stand up to wave and holler at them just to prove my bravery.
I also used my boulders to help Ala Baba escape from the terrifying blood thirsty group of forty thieves. I would hide behind invisible walls as the thieves galloped past on their giant black horses. They would swing their swords in the air and yell like crazy but I wasn’t afraid; I’d shoot them one at a time as they rode past in a cloud of dust. No one ever knew or even suspected that this skinny little kid was saving all the people in the county from being robbed and maybe massacred in the middle of the night.
This was indeed a magic kingdom. It was a kingdom where I was the sole ruler, a real honest to goodness king. I ruled with wisdom, fairness, and bravery beyond belief. I was a good king – a very good king. I am an old man now and the only time in my life I had complete control over anything was when I was in my private boulder kingdom. Those boulders are not there anymore. I wish they were.
So, thought I'd post this first story to find out if it is worth while to post others now and then. Anyway, for what it is worth, here it is. This is a true story.
Approximately 746 words
Copyright 1990
The Boulder Field
When I was a red haired, freckled faced preteen boy, I was lucky that I had a very special place that had very special powers and this place was mine and mine alone. These special powers were pure magic, far more powerful than any magician’s or wizard’s. I think I am the only person in the world who knew about these powers and I knew exactly where they were and how to use them. Other people have seen this place because it was in plain sight but it seemed that no one took any special notice or if they did, had no idea what they were seeing. If anyone really did look at all, probably all they saw was a bunch of old pale gray rocks, each sort of a roundish shape ranging in size from about two to six feet in diameter. Their edges and corners were worn super smooth, I suppose from eons of weathering.
I don’t think anyone cared about those ageless rocks, actually boulders to me, or even gave then any thought. They seemed to be just kind of dumped in a scattered manner and forgotten; perhaps they were cleared from the farm land by a pioneering farmer. They were in one corner of a grove of tall Maple trees on an obscure farm where I grew up. Just how, when, or why these magnificent boulders got there I do not know, nor does it make any difference; they were there and I knew it and I knew what they could do.
To accept things at face value, just as they were, without asking how or why was all I needed to discover and use the power in those big smooth friendly boulders. As a small boy with a super colossal imagination, I found that by sitting real tight against one of those cool boulders, the magic power would flow right into my body. When I was sad or hurting this power gave me comfort and strength to cope. When I was happy this power made me feel so strong that I could leap from the mountain top of one huge boulder to the far mountain top of the next. I could literally fly through the air. It would be too hard for people to believe such a little kid could fly so I didn’t talk about it to others.
The boulder field was not part of this world. How could it be? It was another world all to itself; a different, wonderful, and fantastic world. It was a world bigger than the Maple grove, bigger than the farm, and maybe bigger than the whole county. I never knew exactly how big my private world was because there was just too much for one small boy to explore.
I do know it was a world where boulders would transform themselves into buildings of a mighty city with twisting narrow streets and secret passage ways that no one else could travel. Many times I used these passage ways as a safe haven from stampeding bulls that had their hearts set on trampling me to death. Those bulls were at least eight feet tall and had long sharp pointy horns and fire red eyes; they drooled and snorted as they thundered past me. I watched them from the safety of my secret hiding place and sometimes I’d stand up to wave and holler at them just to prove my bravery.
I also used my boulders to help Ala Baba escape from the terrifying blood thirsty group of forty thieves. I would hide behind invisible walls as the thieves galloped past on their giant black horses. They would swing their swords in the air and yell like crazy but I wasn’t afraid; I’d shoot them one at a time as they rode past in a cloud of dust. No one ever knew or even suspected that this skinny little kid was saving all the people in the county from being robbed and maybe massacred in the middle of the night.
This was indeed a magic kingdom. It was a kingdom where I was the sole ruler, a real honest to goodness king. I ruled with wisdom, fairness, and bravery beyond belief. I was a good king – a very good king. I am an old man now and the only time in my life I had complete control over anything was when I was in my private boulder kingdom. Those boulders are not there anymore. I wish they were.
