If You Go Down to the Woods

by Norah Backwards - June, 2003

The woman made her way along the wooded footpath. Her feet kicked the dead and fallen leaves as she walked. Her life was a mess. With a pending divorce and rebellious teenage daughter, all she got was an overwhelming feeling to run, to run anywhere as long as she could leave it all behind.

The normally pleasant walk today afforded none of the usual pleasure. Today was the day she'd snapped. The latest row with her soon-to-be-ex, the daughter mouthing the latest excuse for being in trouble at school. All of it had been too much and the woman had run out of the house and into the woods.

As the woman came along side a large tree, the frustration welled up and she turned and beat the truck with her fists. A howl of anger echoed through the trees as the woman let go of her feelings.

Pain of scratched hands made her stop the pounding. Looking round, she started to feel sheepish at her behaviour and hoped no one else was in the vicinity. Rubbing her hands she walked on down the path.

After a few more miles of ducking down different paths, the woman stopped for a rest. A small spring gave up its bounty to quench her thirst. Her hands stung as they dipped in the water. Sitting, she rested against a moss covered fallen tree trunk. Closing her eyes, she thought over the days events, mentally kicking herself at the way she let them upset her.

The quietness began to soothe her shattered nerves and she began to relax against the tree. The only sounds heard were the occasional birdcalls and the water gently bubbling in the spring. Soon she was lulled into a doze.

A voice startled her eyes open. "You think you've got a hard life? You don't have to put up with the things I do."

The woman stared at the small man sitting at the opposite side of the spring. His clothes and cloak seemed to blend into the background.

"Wh... Who the hell are you?" she couldn't help but ask.

"Don't you know?" he replied, lazily scratching his left arm pit. "I'm Jack in the Green."

The woman was stunned into silence except her mouth opened and closed a few times, looking as if she was a fish.

Jack stopped scratching and began to pick under his toenails with a piece of twig.

"What? Haven't you got comments of, 'You don't exist?' Or maybe you think you're dreaming."

"I know very well I'm not dreaming." The woman huffily looked at Jack. She began to think that his habits were unsavoury. "I'm not that stupid!"

Jack stared at her for a while and the woman felt uncomfortable and started to fidget. She unwisely wished that the ground would swallow her up, and with a twinkle of Jack's eye, they were both shooting downwards. The woman could feel a hand holding her wrist.

"Stop struggling and breathe normally," he advised as she fought against the suffocating feeling.

The woman landed heavily on her bottom and let out a startled cry. She tried to stand up and caught her head on a hard rocky roof. The woman sat down heavily again, not knowing which hurt more, head or arse. Once the pain had subsided a little, the woman began to take notice of her surroundings.

She appeared to be sat in a wide circular cavern with a low roof. In the middle was a small pool from which light emanated and gave the cavern a sparkly appearance. The woman crawled across to the pool and looked into its depths. There seemed to be large, clear crystals lining the bottom. She was about to plunge a hand in to pick up a crystal when the little man slapped her wrist.

"Hey! They're mine." Jack scowled.

"I was only going to look!" The woman pouted.

"If you want to look at shiny stuff you can look at the walls." Jack gesticulated with an arm.

The woman saw the walls shimmered and twinkled in places and started to crawl across on her hands and knees. The rough rock hurt and the woman wished out loud that the floor were smoother. Jack waggled a finger and the woman suddenly felt herself slip and fall on an ultra smooth, marble-like surface. After she had dragged herself back up on her hands and knees twice, the woman made it across to a wall.

She risked lifting a hand and stroked the shiny different coloured pieces of stone jutting out of the rock.

"Hey! Are these...?" the woman's voice tailed off in wonder.

"Yes. Emeralds, rubies, sapphires," Jack answered her unfinished question.

"But these are set in limestone. Even I know you don't get precious stones naturally in that."

"I like the place to look nice so I added them," Jack said airily.

The woman sat and wondered what the inside of her house would look like covered in jewels.

She was brought out of her reverie by the sound of Jack shuffling about. The woman slid back over to the pool and watched him pull out transparent drawers from the wall. He was taking out clothes and stuffing them into a backpack. Once he finished, Jack slung the pack on a shoulder.

"Right. It's vacation time." With that, the little man disappeared into the roof. The woman sat open mouthed then realised she was alone.

"Wait!" a small wail echoed round the cavern.

Frantic hands tested the roof then the walls. There was no normal way out for a mortal. The woman almost started to panic when Jack's apologetic head emerged from the rock above her.

"Sorry. I'm getting so forgetful. I really should have retired years ago."

The woman sighed with relief when he dropped down onto the floor.

"I forgot to let my friend know I was on the way!" Jack said cheerily.

"What about me?" the woman pointed out indignantly.

"Okay, you too." The little man rolled his eyes. "Follow me."

She scrabbled across the floor to where Jack waited near the wall. The little man walked through an opening that appeared like magic. The woman shot through after him on her hands and knees, determined he wouldn't forget her this time. After a short crawl, her hands touched something familiar: Carpet, soft, deep pile carpet!

The amazed female stood up to gaze round a high tech office. Jack sat at a desk and typed on a keyboard. The woman staggered over to him and watched. He was typing an e-mail to someone called Jack in New Zealand. She could see his open address book on the screen. All the names were the same as his but all in different countries.

"What's this? I thought there was only one Jack who looked after all nature in the world." The woman sounded scandalised.

"You must be joking!" Jack was appalled. "Do you really think one being can look after the whole world? No. There are at least fifty of us. Although I got a smallish patch, it's very hard now to keep Nature on an even keel."

The little man suddenly gave a small snigger. "It makes me laugh when these idiots pour their concrete over everything and they don't expect it to crack when my little darlings eventually grow through."

The woman gave Jack a look. "If you're so great, what do you need this lot for?" She flailed an arm at the screens showing satellite weather pictures and databases.

"We do live in the 21st century you know," Jack replied loftily.

The woman glanced under the desks lining the walls. None of the computer systems were plugged into any power sockets.

Jack answered the question on her lips with another. "Why use electricity when I can use magic for free?"

She shrugged and waited for the little man to finish what he was doing. He clicked the send button with satisfaction.

"There. That should get there before I do."

"Come on. I'm ready for the off." Jack took hold of the bemused woman's wrist. She felt an overwhelming suffocating feeling again as they shot upwards through rock and soil. The woman found herself standing a few yards from the stream and moss-covered log. "Well, here you are. Nice meeting you." Jack let go of her and was about to leave when she asked him to wait a minute.

The little man looked impatient but stayed in place.

"What did you mean when you said you should have retired years ago?" she finally asked.

"I am well past my retirement century. I haven't found anyone suitable to take my place yet." With these words he disappeared to start his vacation in New Zealand.

The woman was left to ponder his words as she walked home. She walked in the back door as the moon rose. A familiar whining voice made her cringe and sigh.

"Mum, where's my best top?"

"Where you left it, dear," the woman replied putting on a false happy tone.

The daughter stamped about shouting until her mother grabbed her hand and led her to the top that had somehow fallen behind the teen's bed. The daughter quietly grumbled about it not being washed and her mother gave her a long warning look.

After the troublesome girl had gone out and left her in peace, the woman switched on the computer and started to search the Internet. She scribbled things down and did maths. Finally, the woman went to bed in a jolly mood.

Getting up with the lark she set the plan she'd formulated the night before into action. Soon boxes and belongings were packed into the back of the car just as her daughter arrived home from a night on the tiles.

The woman stuffed the tired teenager into the passenger seat and set off. The car stopped in front of her ex-husband's rented accommodation. She bundled her now protesting offspring through to the kitchen.

"She's yours for the time being. I'm selling the house."

The woman then quickly emptied the car of the strangely quiet girl's stuff and left before they could make any comment.

Next stop was the estate agent's office. Next day, a "for sale" sign went up in front of the woman's house. She spent the next few days sorting and boxing her belongings ready to go into storage. Within a week, a buyer had been found and the woman put down a deposit on a small field a few miles away. By the time the sale was finalised, she'd installed a small trailer on the field and erected a large greenhouse.

By the end of winter, the greenhouse was full of trays of small seedlings. By the start of spring she opened for business. The customers came in dribs and drabs but soon she found it hard to keep up with demand for her organically grown plants. The business was so successful, she'd added another greenhouse and employed two people to help within a month.

The woman decided it was time to give Jack a visit. She walked to the stream and sat down resting her back against the moss-covered log.

The woman shouted to him and waited. After what seemed an eternity he popped up in front of her.

"What do you want?" he said shortly. "I'm busy!"

"Do you still want to retire?" the woman asked.

"Of course!" the little man retorted.

"Well, what about me taking your place?" she suggested.

Jack tried to keep the gleam from his eye and shrugged in a non-committal way.

"Come with me!" It was the woman's turn to take hold of Jack's wrist and drag him along. She took the little man to her greenhouses.

"See. I can grow things too!"

"Okay," Jack agreed, trying not to look triumphant. "We'll give it a go. I'll send you an e-mail when I'm ready." With that he went back to his work.

A month later, the woman's laptop received a message. She was to meet him at the usual place on summer solstice eve. The little man arrived on the stroke of midnight.

"Right. Let's get on with it." He sounded impatient.

"Okay. Here. Take these." The woman handed Jack the keys to her business. "You'll need some way of earning a living."

"I haven't got anything to give you except my powers... apart from one." Jack muttered the last bit under his breath.

"So what happens now?" She looked at him enquiringly.

"Leave it to me."

The little man took hold of both her hands and began an incantation. The woman shut her eyes. She felt dizzy and strange. After what seemed an age, she opened her eyes to see a woman's body stood before her. It took a few seconds to realise it was her own. The former woman looked down and saw she was now in a little man's body.

She was furious. "This wasn't supposed to happen!"

"Sorry, my dear." The new woman smiled. "The Jack-in-the-Green have always been small men." Then she set off down the path to start her new life. The little man fumed and stamped round for a while. After he was sure the woman had gone he disappeared underground to the office. He started to search the database that the former Jack had been so helpful to leave running.

'So that was her little game!' he thought, after looking through the data.

A few days later, the new Jack paid a visit to the greenhouse field. The trailer where the woman lived stood quietly apart from a light snoring sound emanating from it.

'Good grief!' he thought. 'Did his former body really make a noise like that?'

Jack waited until he heard the woman start to move around. He wiggled a finger and the trailer sunk deep beneath the field. Jack heard a scream as the trailer came to rest. He appeared inside the trailer to find the woman wildly looking though window after window.

"What have you done?" The woman looked as if she would hit him. "You got what you wanted."

"Not quite." The little man smiled. "You were holding out on me."

"I don't know what you mean!" The woman did her best to keep the guilt from her eyes.

"Yes, you do. Hand it over or you'll stay here for good." Jack turned slightly as if to leave.

"Okay! Just don't make me stay here." The woman looked miserable.

"Well, give me your last power and I'll send you back up," Jack promised.

The little man held the woman's hand while she transferred the power.

As good as his word, the trailer shot back to the surface as if it had never moved at all.

Jack left the woman. She would have to stay as she was. The little man retired to his high tech underground office. He concentrated for a few seconds and went over to the computer.

Slim, white hands tapped in a new e-mail address. Jackie Green, the beautiful nymph, became Nature's newest guardian.

*** The end ***

 © 2010 by Norah Backwards. This work may not be replicated in whole or in part by any means electronic or otherwise without the express consent of the Author (copyright holder). All Rights Reserved. This is a work of Fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this story are fictional and any resemblance to real people or incidents past, present or future is purely coincidental.