There once was a boy in the woods. He lived with his grandfather who taught the boy how to care for the woods and the creatures in them. One day they saw smoke in the distance and the grandfather went to investigate. It was only supposed to be a couple of days.  

  

      After two days the boy climbed to the top of the hill outside the garden wall. He sat and watched for his grandfather. When night came, he went inside. He thought to himself that his grandfather would be home tomorrow. 

  

      Tomorrow came and his grandfather wasn’t home. The boy grew worried about his grandfather but continued the work the woods needed. 

  

      At night he would look at the picture of his grandfather and sigh before going to bed. He would dream about his grandfather coming over the hill and through the garden gate. He would run up and hug him. He dreamt that his grandfather would tell him about the adventures of the smoke. Then his dreams of his grandfather turned to terror. He would dream dark dreams about the smoke stealing his grandfather. Dreams of the smoke hurting him. The scary parts of the dream would wake him up and he would cry. 

 

– 
  

      Weeks went by, then months. After months and months of the boy being alone, his grandfather never came home. Before too long, he realized that he had to do all the work himself. So, every day he got up, looked at his grandfather’s picture, sighed, ate breakfast and started on his day tending to the woods and the creatures.  

  

     He was always watching the smoke in the distance. Over the years he watched the smoke get closer and closer. Every animal that got too close to where the smoke was coming from would never return. 

 
–  

 

      The now-grown man still worked the woods. He was frightened of the smoke. He would do his best to ignore it as he worked on keeping the woods healthy and the creatures of the woods happy. But ignoring a problem doesn’t make it go away. 

 
–  

 

      One day the man got up, got dressed and made breakfast like usual. But when it was time for the sun to come up, the east-facing windows in his old cabin didn’t fill with light. The man peeked out the window to see if it was cloudy. 

  

      He could see the trees and the grass. He could see his garden wall surrounding his cabin, and the hill past that. But behind the hill wasn't visible. He couldn’t see the other trees or the other hills. If it were fog, it would have filled between the hill and his cabin. He thought it was very odd fog, but fog it had to be, so he continued with his morning routine. 

  

      He had his breakfast, put on his boots. He stopped to look at the photo of his grandfather. With a heavy sigh, he put the photo down and opened his journal to see what needed to get done today. 

  

      With such a big list, he decided he needed to get started. He grabbed his axe and hat before heading out the door. He whistled a little song as he stepped outside to take a big breath of fresh air. 

  

      When he stepped outside to take a breath, he choked. The air smelt different. It tasted different. And there was so much noise. Unnatural noise. He turned to his right and saw the smoke from the distance. But it wasn’t the distance it was right at his garden wall. 

  

      There was something different about this smoke. It didn’t smell like the smoke from his fireplace. It smelled bad and hurt his nose and lungs. Shocked, the man flung open the gate in the garden wall and ran to the top of the hill. 
  

      His eyes stung from the smoke as he tried to look through it. At first, he didn’t see anything. After a little bit, he could make out squares and rectangles where there was a forest before. He could see things moving so he tried to look harder. That’s when he realized, the things moving were people. 

  

      The people stopped what they were doing to stare at the man for a few seconds before going about their ways. Children would crane their necks around trying to stare at the man. Then returned to looking at some thin book looking thing that glowed in the smoke and didn’t have pages. 

  

      The man saw strange large carts. They looked like the carts he used but nobody was pulling them. They billowed out smoke as they moved down large paths. 

  

      Seeing all that scared the man, so he ran back down the hill. Through the garden wall gate, making sure the gate latched for the first time behind him. He backed up a few steps before turning to run into his cabin. But as he turned, he saw the animals of the woods coming out of the tree line and coming to his cabin. 

  

      Running back to the animals, he realized some were limping. Some were carrying others. Some animals were leaning on their friends. But all looked worse for the wear. So, the man ran to help a struggling bear to the cabin. Then he ran out to help the deer carry his friend the elk. Running back and forth from the cabin to the animals each time carrying an injured animal. Over and over the man ran to help until all the animals he could find, were inside or around his cabin. 

  

      He treated each one with what little he had. He shared his food with the ones that were hungry, all the while he and all the animals would turn to look at the smoke. 

  

      Finally, he decided that something in the smoke was hurting the animals. But if he could be brave for a short time, he could find someone to help him in the smoke. He decided that the next morning he would go for help. 

  

      At the time the next morning sun should have come up, he finished cleaning wounds. He put on his boots, grabbed his journal. He filled an old satchel with a little food, water, small hand tools, and a compass. Scared, the man walked out the door, giving a nod to the coyote helping him with the injured. He walked past all the injured and sick animals that had gathered in his yard and made his way to the garden wall gate. 

  

      Gulping hard and looking back one last time he opened the gate and walked up the hill. From the top of the hill, he let his eyes get adjusted to the smoke. When he could see the squares and rectangles, he started down the hill. 

  

      He reached into his bag and pulled out a compass and his notebook. He pointed the compass at the biggest rectangle and wrote it down. Then he turned completely around and pointed the compass at the hill and wrote down the numbers. If he was going to find his way home, he was going to need to get to this spot. 

  

      The man walked across a log over the creek and saw fish dead floating in the water. He walked to the first rectangle he saw. As he got closer, he would turn back, every so often, to look at the hill until he could no longer see the hill. 

  

      Scared he walked on the large paths realizing they were hard as one big rock. He was almost hit by one of the strange carts that smoked. The cart made a loud noise, like a goose but meaner. The man jumped out of the way. He found himself on the edge of that path and on a different colored path as hard as the first but smaller. People walked on that path. He neared the tall gray rectangle and realized it was a very tall cabin. He drew it in his journal and wrote down the words on a sign next to it. 

  

      He tried to get their attention, but nobody would stop to help. They would pass and stare at him. He reached into the crowd and grabbed a woman. He begged the woman to help. The woman just yelled. 

  

      Two men wearing the same clothes as each other came. They grabbed the man and carried him off. He begged that they helped him. They said they will, but he must come with them first. 

  

      The two men that said they would help put the man from the woods in a place with bars and angry men. After a couple of days, the man with matching clothes took the man of the woods to see a lady behind a large desk. She told him he was dangerous and sentenced him to another place with bars and angry men. 

  

      The men with matching cloths put him in one of the weird carts and took him to a large gray rectangle. There, they took away his bag and his compass. They made him wear the same things as the angry men. They made him stay in an unloving place without animals or trees. 

 

      This place made the man sad and lonely. He didn’t understand this place. He missed the woods and his animal friends. He missed his flannel and his bed. He missed his cabin and the picture of his grandfather. 

 

– 

 

      A couple of years had passed when the man of the woods left the place with bars and angry men. The men in matching clothes gave him back his bag and his compass. 

  

      The man set out to try and find his cabin and his friends. They must be so worried about him. He had been gone for so long. He wondered if they would recognize him. He had become skinny and his hair had turned gray. He wondered how well they did through the winters without him there to help with the hard stuff. He wondered how many dead trees would be standing since he wasn’t there to cut them down. But either way, he was joyful not to be in the unloving place with bars and angry men. He couldn’t wait to be home with his friends. 

  

      As the man walked, he realized that he couldn’t tell the gray rectangles apart. Each one seemed as big as the others. Each rectangle was the same color as the others. Undaunted, he went to every one of them he saw. He pointed his compass in the direction the hill should be before starting to walk. 

  

      Each time, he didn’t find the hill. Each time it would lead to more hard paths and more gray rectangles and squares. The man of the woods was lost. 

 
– 

 

      More years passed. The man’s journal was filled with a map he had drawn trying to keep track of the gray rectangles. His journal was filled with his failure to find home. 

  

      The man grew older and skinnier as time passed. His heart broke more and more. And he got lonelier and lonelier. The man missed his friends and missed his cabin. He missed having a gate he never closed. He missed the woods. 

 
–  

 

     After years stumbling around, he came across a park called Leafy Tree Park. His spirits lifted as he saw the shape of a tree through the smoke. He was never so happy in his life. 

  

      The man ran to the tree. It was a big tree. He could see that it had plenty of leaves. It survived all the dark skies and smoky air. It wasn’t home, but it was the first tree he had seen since he left home years ago.  

  

      When he finally got to the tree ran up and hugged it. But when he did, it was cold. It didn’t smell like a tree. Made of metal, it only looked like a tree. 

  

      He looked up and the branches of metal held leaves of metal. All the good things that came rushing back to him when he saw the tree, rushed away as fast as they came. The people in the park stared at him as he sat on a bench and cried. 

  

      The now old man from the woods cried and cried. He cried because he didn’t know if he would ever see his friends again. He cried because he didn’t know if he would ever see his cabin again, or the picture of his grandfather. He cried because he missed the woods, where he felt safe and everything made sense to him. Where trees smelled like trees and the grass was soft. He cried while he was awake, he even cried while he was asleep. He cried for days because his heart was broken. He felt he didn’t have a reason to live. 

 
– 

 

      After a few days, he had cried so much he ran out of tears to cry. So, he opened his eyes and wiped his nose. After his eyes cleared, he saw something green. It was a small plant, pushing through the cracks of a sidewalk. 

  

      The old man of the woods knew that the plant wouldn’t survive here and needed his help. He felt like he had a reason to be alive again. 

  

      He opened his bag and pulled out a small garden trawl. He tried to scoop the plant up. But was held prisoner, he had to break the concrete. He pried, hoping to break the plant free, but it didn’t work. 
  

      The old man looked around for something, anything he could use to help free the little plant. That’s when he saw an iron fence with iron rods that were falling off. 

  

      He ripped one of the rods off the fence and used it to pry at the concrete. The concrete only budged a bit. He hit at the concrete over and over, chipping away at it to make the opening bigger. The people stood there watching. 

  

      Finally, the crack turned to a hole and he was able to scoop the plant out. He gently lifted one of the two leaves and talked to it softly. He told how he would take care of it and keep it safe. Before he could stand up, he found himself grabbed by two men in matching clothes. 

  

      The old man wrenched himself out of their grip and ran with the little plant. He ran as fast as he could. He ran out of the park and past all the large gray rectangular buildings. He ran and ran until the gray rectangles became squares. He looked back to not see the men in matching clothes. So, he stopped and looked around. He noticed it looked like the small squares had grass in front of them. 

  

      These must be peoples’ cabins. They were much bigger and made of a different type of logs. And they have grass, which means there must be a safe place to put this plant. So, he walked around looking for a safe spot. 

  

      While walking he saw a little girl picking flowers. Thinking she had a safe spot to put this plant. He watched her for a while. While he waited the old man ripped a piece of his old and tattered shirt off and wrapped the plant and the dirt with it. 

  

      After a little bit, he started to drift off. The old man tired from breaking the hard concrete and running as far as he did. When all a sudden he, jarred back awake by someone yelling. They were yelling at the little girl. The little girl was running away with he picked flowers. 

  

      The old man followed her trying to stay far enough back that he didn’t scare her. When out of the corner of his eye he saw a funny cart that had two men dressed alike in it. 

  

      They turned on flashing bright lights and started to chase him. He ran and ran and thought he could hide somewhere. So, he bolted across the grass and behind one of the gray cabins. 

  

      He dove under a bush in the back of one of the gray cabins. But he wasn’t alone. The little girl that was picking flowers was there hiding. At first, she feared him until she noticed what he was holding. She awed at the sight. The old man chuckled and showed her that she could touch the plant if she was gentle. 

  

      She handed him a flower and smiled. The old man was shocked that the flower was fake, that’s when he realized that the bush, he was hiding behind was fake. And the grass he ran across was fake. Everything in this strange world was fake. Everything but the plant in his hand. 

  

      The old man wanted to ask the little girl if she ever saw a real plant before. Before he could, he saw the legs of the two men that dressed alike. He knew that if they found him, they would hurt the plant, so he gave it to the little girl. 

  

      Awestruck, she had gotten in trouble many times for picking fake plants and here she is holding a real one. 

  

      The old man gave her his bag. She looked at him with confusion as he ran out from behind the bushes. The matching dressed men chased after him and caught him. The little girl watched as they put him in the smoking cart and drove away. 

  

      She went inside her gray cabin, went to her room, and set her new plant in a bowl. She carefully unwrapped the cloth from around the dirt and smiled. She whispered to the plant and gently lifted one of the leaves. She then opened the bag.  

  

      The bag had only a few things left in it: the old man’s journal, compass, and hand tools. The important things to a man of the woods. 

  

      In his journal, there was a section about young plants. She went through the pictures and decided it was a tree sapling. She followed the directions on how to take care of it the best she could. 
  

      She had to dig up a part of fake grass from her yard to get dirt. She filled a big pot with the dirt. It needed to be strong enough to go outside. And growing it where she could watch it every day would help. 

  

      The little girl read that plants need water to grow. Excited, she ran to the fridge to get a bottle of water for her new growing friend. She poured the water on the little tree and imagined how much fun it would be to climb the tree when it got big enough. 

  

      The tree didn’t grow right away and that made her worried that she was doing something wrong. She read the entire book from start to finish trying to learn all she could about real plants. She read that trees take many years to grow. But she wasn’t deterred. She knew this little tree needed her and she loved it so. 
  

      Every day she watered it. Every day she talked to it and measured it. Every day it grew taller, even if it was by a little. And the tree grew stronger. Until she had to plant it outside because it grew too big for her pots and her room. 

 

– 

 

      After years had passed the little girl, now a young woman went to a new museum. The museum was about plants and talked about the history of the last wild place before it "was tamed by humans". 

  

      The woman drove over a bridge. It was a bridge over what had been the last running creek, before it had been purchased by a water bottling plant. She drove over a hill covered in fake grass and past a rusted old gate latched to what was left of a crumbling old wall. 

  

      The museum was large, and dome shaped. Inside of it was a little cabin made of logs and a display of wild creatures with big metal trees and plastic bushes. Plastic grass covered the floor with fake flowers popping up at random. The woman walked by them all. Until she came to the last one. It was a display of tools and notebooks with two pictures of two old men. One picture was of the grandfather and the other was a mugshot of an old man. There were also flannel shirts and the bones of The Last Man of the Woods. 

  

      The woman cried because one of the pictures was the old man that gave her his bag and the little tree. Reaching into her bag, she pulled out the compass and the old man’s journal. She ran outside. She ran through the broken-down wall next to the rusty gate to the top of the hill. Where she saw a gray building pointing right where the compass and journal said they would be. After all these years he had found his way home. 

  

      In the gift shop, you could buy things to be like the last man of the woods. There were miniature-sized axes, flannel shirts, a compass, and plastic hand tools. You could even buy plastic trees in plastic dirt with plastic grass. You could buy a plastic doll that looked like him and plastic animals like the ones in the displays.  

 

      The story ends here. I would like to tell you that the woman saved the world by planting the tree, but some stories don’t have a happy ending.  

 

– 

  

      The only thing resembling life on this planet are fake flowers, grass, bushes, and metal trees. Except for one big oak tree.