Toby was running through a field, chasing a small lizard, when he tripped and fell. He skinned his knees and elbows, and his palms burned with pain. The grass before him ruffled with movement as the lizard fled through it. The lizard was getting away.

Toby jumped up and continued the chase. He looked ahead and saw that he was nearing the old, wooden fence that separated the farm from the woods. A vision of his father appeared in Toby's mind.

"Don't go in those woods, Toby," his father had warned him many times. "There are things in those woods..."

His father never finished or said what kinds of things lived in the nearby woods, which made it that much scarier to Toby. He never went near the woods, even though some of his friends often did. His friends were all eight years old, same as Toby, but Toby thought for sure that his friends hadn't been warned by their fathers about what lived in those woods. His father had though, because his father knew what kind of terrible things lived in the woods.

To further back up his father's warnings, Toby sometimes heard strange noises coming from the forest on long, cool summer nights when the air was still and not a breeze stirred the trees. Sometimes he heard drums beating wildly and strange sounds like singing, but it was the type of singing that didn't come from the throats of any human. Toby was afraid at the thought of strange, terrible creatures running loose in the woods and for protection he often pulled his blankets tight around him even on hot nights.

The wooden fence was right in front of him now, and Toby stopped right before he ran into it. The lizard had gotten away. Toby watched as it rushed out of the tall grass of the field and scampered over a thick root sticking out of the ground and into the darkness of the woods.

With one last fearful glance at the woods, Toby turned around. The lizard had won again, but there would be other days. If he hadn't tripped he would have caught the lizard for sure. As he walked he looked down at his burning palms, and never noticed that the lizard followed close behind as he made his way back across the field. The lizard's head poked up over the tall grass as it followed the boy. Halfway back to the house, the lizard stopped and stared at Toby with it's head tilted to one side in a way that suggested it was thinking. The lizard's green eyes blinked rapidly and it's head tilted to the other side. The corners of it's mouth moved upward in a little smile and a forked tongue flicked in and out rapidly before the lizard's head vanished down into the tall grass.

Toby made it back to his house and he went in through the back door. He looked out a window at the field and then over at the wooden fence and the dark woods beyond. He went out the front door and saw his father talking to one of his friends near the mail post by the side of the road. Toby rubbed his burning palms together as he walked towards the two men.

"I'll have nothing to do with it, Patrick," Toby heard his father say in an angry tone. "I have my family to take care of, you know that."

"Aye, I know," Patrick responded. "I have my own family to think of, but they say the battles are drawing near and they are asking for volunteers as well as calling for the militia! And you know that if they don't get the volunteers they ask for they'll start taking all eligible men like they did when we were lads!"

"I remember that! But what am I supposed to do? I can't go, and Toby here is just too young! I have to stay here and take care of the farm, the family."

Toby stepped up beside his father and felt a hand settle on his head.

"You're right, Del," Patrick said as he glanced down at Toby. "I have grown boys though, and they could very well be eligible."

"Can I go to Ritchie's house?" Toby suddenly asked his father. "I won't be gone long."

"Aye, you can go, but be back for dinner. I don't want your mother angry at me."

Toby turned and walked away down the road as the two men started talking heatedly once more. He hadn't understood everything the two men had said, but his father's friend, Patrick, had said something about battles and the militia. Whatever was going on, Ritchie would know more. Ritchie always seemed to know a lot more about what the grown-ups were doing than all his other friends. Toby had already forgotten his burning palms as he walked down the road past several farms and eventually arrived at Ritchie's house.

He knocked on the door, but Ritchie's older brother Kile answered the door. Kile was a big boy and most of the kids Toby knew had heard of him. Sometimes he heard stories of what Kile had done that made Toby shiver with fear, but he knew those were just stories and some of them just couldn't be true. Kile had longer hair than most boys and he was one of those kids that always did what grown-ups told him not to do.

"Is Ritchie here?" Toby asked as he tried to look around Kile and into the house.

"Nah. He went into town with my father."

"Can you tell him I came by?"

"Sure. You're Toby Erickson right?"

"Right. I live down the road a ways," Toby said and pointed in the direction of his farm.

"I'll tell Ritch you were here."

"Thank you," Toby said as he turned away and headed back down the road to his farm. On his way home, Toby passed Patrick who was walking back the other way. Toby waved and smiled, but Patrick seemed not to notice Toby at all.

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Most recent update: 07 May 03
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