"This is beautiful,"
said Ernie who had recently become engaged to his girlfriend, Tricia. "I
love the forest at midnight."
"I don't know about
that!" she replied, hesitantly. "It is so eerie!"
Tricia wondered if her decision
to go along with Ernie's suggestion for a midnight drive through the forest had
been wise.
"It seems really ominous
to me," she continued.
The forest was so heavily
overgrown that Tricia could barely see the rapidly rising, full moon, through the
trees. She had spent her whole life living in the heart of the city, so being
in total wilderness country felt quite foreboding and very intimidating to her.
Moments later, Ernie slowed
down, pulled the car off to the side of the gravel road and rolled down the
window. Suddenly, a large, white owl
hooted in a nearby oak tree, startling them both. Ernie just laughed, but
Tricia was terrified and started shivering.
"That is just an
owl," Ernie said, gently. "You know something, I would love to build
our dream home right in the middle of this forest," he continued, wrapping
his warm jacket around her. "I would keep you safe."
To her, the tree branches hung
like huge tentacles, reaching out to draw her in. Suddenly, they started
swaying in the wind, casting weird shadows everywhere. In the distance, a wolf
howled, followed by the response of other wolves.
"This is the one place in
the entire world where I would always be totally content," said Ernie.
"We would raise our family here."
He waited for her to speak.
"That does it!"
thought Tricia to herself. "No way!"
"You would get used to
it," argued Ernie, "In time, you would grow to love it. The forest is
not like that horrible, city jungle you live in."
"I hate the forest!"
she said, angrily.
Tricia immediately pulled the
engagement ring off her finger and handed it to Ernie, much to his amazement.
"I am so sorry, Ernie, but
I really glad that I came out here with you tonight. Now I know that I cannot
ever marry you. This is not my idea of where I want to live. Obviously, you
have your dreams and I have mine."
"And mine just
crashed," thought Ernie to himself.
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