DARK FOREST eBook

Please enjoy an excerpt from my eBook, DARK FOREST.  If you are interested in seeing more, go to http://www.tinyurl.com/6mu5k74 and download to your Kindle or to Kindle Cloud app on your computer. 

Here is what one reviewer says about DARK FOREST:

"Each of the stories in this collection are steeped in 60's nostalgia. A dark spectre haunts each narrative and prevents you from succumbing to the lure of innocence, BLT's and bubblegum. The darkness in these stories is just a glimmer that you catch out of the corner of your eye, evaporating by the time you give it your full attention. This imbues each story with a satisfying tension and a kind of anxiety that hides deep in your belly while you apprehensively wait for the nameless shadow to take hold." by M.C. Hewins

DARK FOREST

 Soon hot, soon cold.

English Proverb

 If you wish to drown, do not torture yourself with shallow water.

 Bulgarian Proverb

Please your man.

My mother

My mother and sister were sitting at the picnic table on the back porch while I rinsed lunch dishes in the kitchen sink, eavesdropping through the open window.  Annie brushed a crumb from the corner of Mother's mouth.  A raven croaked from the treetop and Mother chirped, "Find a good man to marry.  Find a man."

I wasn't like them.  Who would intentionally seek love's prison?  Beyond them, across the yard, I could see the trail inviting me into the woods to sit amongst the alders, maples and firs.  Navigating underbrush was effortless, but stumbling over the eggshells I walked on around my mother, well...

I wanted to tell Annie not to listen to Mother's advice.  The small strokes were turning her thoughts to birdseed and their conversation would soon tumble into a tailspin.  But I found conflict distressing and knew Annie would spar in defense of Mother's proclivities.  So I kept quiet.

When I was fifteen, we had a mother-daughter talk.  Mother said I needed to get my priorities straight.  Being a good wife was all there was to life and I wasn't too young for an engagement ring.  Time to leave the woods to the children, she advised.  That's when I began to question love as a responsibility.  Like the Russian Proverb says, The heart of a maiden is a dark forest.

~Dark Forest by Nancy Canyon